The Hospital

6. Case File

CPH

2019

The ball of a foot pressed hard on the brake. 

Those two bodies that sat on the driver's and passenger's seats jerked forward. The car screeched to a halt as the hospital came in the view. Two men hopped out of the car and stood upright.

The building in front of them was not a place to bring the loved ones to get treated and become better. This was a place to bring the forgotten ones. Those who needed their own space among others like them. Those who would now only get institutional love. Those who were now of no use to society. 

The asylum for the insane.

"Chestwood Psychiatric hospital." The man's mask went up to his nose as his jacket got unzipped. "Since 1999." He gawked at the horrendous sight in front of him. 

The heathered grey walls were smeared up with charcoal to cover the falling paint. Its windows were also covered with black films - half of which were already broken. The building was clearly decaying with weathering, just like any other in the town. But this one was beyond repair. They needed to demolish it first. And after throwing the scraps away, they needed to make a new one from the new materials. That was the only way to retrieve the said hospital for the mentally ill.

The LCMC was in a clear view on the left side of it. Separated by a black wall. Flourishing in the greenery and timely checked maintenance. Looking a hundred times better than the precarious asylum.

The sky was not crying for now. It was the deepest hue of castor grey.

Detective Ezio fidgeted his fingers on the brown file in his hands. He took out the case report and handed the file to Officer Mason. He stamped his foot on the ground as a stubborn leaf stuck to the sole of his shoe. His tongue rolled on his hard palate as the sound of three tsk left his mouth. 

He leant his back on the car as his eyes began to savour the soup of the alphabets spread on the page. He wanted to revise the details of the case before questioning the suspect. Her body had scratched marks, she was being dragged with very high speed. Maybe the killer tied her body to a car or truck and dragged her on the ground?

Meanwhilst, Officer Mason got busy in noticing a few people walking hither and thither - with different files trapped in between their fingers. Are they thinking that this is some kind of inspection? He could not stop himself from speculating. 

His eyes caught two middle-aged women sitting on the wet garden bench and reading books. An old lady sat beside them and kept staring at the blank space in the air. They might have behaved well, to be let out in the garden without any surveillance. 

No topiary trees were to be seen in the proximity. Nobody paid any heed to furbish the garden. It was all a nature's decor.

"Mason," Detective Ezio broke Officer Mason's scrutinisation. His finger stopped at a particular point in the report. 

"Jane's autopsy states that no sexual assault took place. Just like the last four victims. All of them were girls. No sexual assault in any of these cases. But all of them killed with almost similar brutality. There can be a deception involved here. Check the authenticity of the autopsy. Someone from the hospital is surely in it... But still, let's just say the report is right. If the killer is not doing it for any kind of sexual advantage, then what does he or she want?" Detective Ezio tucked the report back into the file as he removed his glasses.