The Experimental Murders (Elysium #2)

Chapter Ten

 Trinket stood before the operating table once more, but this time the patient was neither a wounded serving girl nor the decapitated head of a wolf. Rather, it was the corpse of an undressed and mutilated woman.

She fidgeted with her skirts while she waited for Booker to gather his tools. The wheels of the cart squeaked as he rolled it up to the side of the operating table. Excitement radiated off of him, and though she found it somewhat contagious, she was also horrified by what they were about to do.

He looked up at her, a delighted smile on his face. "Ready, my dear?"

She steeled herself for what was coming next. "As ready as I'll ever be, Mr. Larkin."

He started by making two cuts from both shoulders, meeting between the woman's breasts. From there, he continued down her middle and ended just above her womanhood. Pausing as he returned the knife to the cart, he stole a glance at Trinket. Determined not to seem like the squeamish maids he had sacked in the past, she met his eyes with what she hoped was firm resolve. She must have succeeded, as he raised his eyebrows and wordlessly retrieved a different tool to peel the skin from the incisions he had made.

Disgust was overshadowed by curiosity as the insides of the woman were revealed. While Booker pinned down the flaps of skin and flesh, Trinket could not help but lean in closer to get a better look. This was what it looked like inside of a body? It was repulsive. But more than that, it was fascinating. All of these misshapen organs were what kept a person alive? It was so compact and complicated.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Booker said, a soft smile playing on his lips as he retrieved another tool.

"Do you know what each one does?"

"I know as much as the rest of the medical community. That's the beauty of science. There's always something new to learn, something unknown to discover."

Picking up a bone saw, he proceeded to break the woman's ribs. It was a sickening sound, but he didn't flinch as he sawed and tugged at the bones. Closing her eyes briefly to regain her nerve, Trinket waited until the sound of the saw had ceased. When she dared to open them again, Booker had put aside the tool and was now digging into the open cavity. Moving closer, she watched as he cut out the stomach and placed it on a tray. With careful precision, he sliced open the organ and emptied the contents into a separate dish. There wasn't much, just some unidentifiable food. He then examined the inside of the stomach carefully, even leaning down to sniff it.

"What are you doing?" Trinket asked.

"Looking for signs of poison. I didn't detect any I'm familiar with on her mouth or lips, so I need to dig deeper. The smell of the stomach and intestines can be an indicator, as can the color of their linings."

"How does it look?"

"So far, no typical signs." He dug through the remnants of food in the dish. "Doesn't seem like she ingested anything unusual. No berries, no leaves."

When he had finished with the stomach, he went on to cut out the intestines and repeated the process. Trinket watched in horrified awe as he scrutinized each and every organ until he had practically emptied the body of all of its insides.

"I should check the esophagus," he said as he picked up another knife and moved towards the neck.

"What for?"

"To see if any corrosive damage was done. Could be a sign of poison."

Hacking away at the woman's throat, he slit open the long, tubelike organ inside and leaned in closer to examine it. How could he get so close to a dead body without being sick? How many corpses had he cut open in his lifetime? She shuddered to imagine.