Danica's POV
I was finally home. After taking a little detour to get some snacks I walked into my apartment and went to my papers on the desk. I found the hard copies of my finished reports and slipped them into the corresponding folders and readied my Uni bag. My phone beeped loudly. I pulled it out and saw I had two messages one from Rodger and one from Mathew. Quickly I looked at Mathew's question.
"Easy. Bell Gate global tec and send". I looked to the other message and rolled my eyes.
'What the hell... Yes, I can meet you tonight.' I sent the message and waited a few seconds then his reply came.
'Any time and place in mind?' I shrugged.
'There's this steak house on the far east side of the CBD. At Seven thirty.' I waited and his message came through.
'I know the one. I'll make a reservation. Later Toots.' I didn't bother responding I shoved my phone back into my pocket and headed into the bedroom. I changed out of my riding clothes then pulled my Uni bag over my shoulder. With a sniff I stopped as the scent of rotting fish caught my attention. Slowly I sniffed my way around the apartment until I found the bag of money still hiding behind the sofa. I rolled my eyes and grabbed it.
In the bedroom I crawled under the bed and opened the safe. I frowned as It was still rather full of money and I had two bags of cash to try and store. With all the skills of a tetras player I slipped the wads inside. Once there was no more room I put what was left in the stinky bag into the clean bag and locked the safe. As I crawled out from under the bed I replaced the carpet and covered the full bag with a blanket.
Inside the kitchen I shoved the empty stinky bag into the washing machine as I slipped a few wads of cash into my Uni bag. My nose began to twitch again, and I went to the fridge. It wasn't too bad, but I dumped the food inside into the bin before tying it closed and pulling it out ready to take to the garbage shoot next to the elevator.
I looked down as my phone buzzed and I saw an email had arrived. I hesitated before unlocking it and looking at the email. My face fell. It was a response to the one I sent about Jessica. I dialed.
"Is something wrong?" Jenny answered the phone and I nodded subconsciously.
"I need to…" I shook my head. "I found a photo album in Maggy's bag. I assumed it was Derick and Jessica."
"Yeah, he shows Maggy the pictures of her mother every night…" She went quiet as she hesitated. "What did you do?" I sighed.
"I used my connections with the city police and asked them to look into a missing persons."
"What?"
"They want me to come to the morgue. They have three bodies that match Jessica's description." I heard her breathing sharply.
"What does that mean?"
"It means that one of these unclaimed bodies might be Jessica. So i'll need someone from the pack who knew her to come to identify the body." I heard her curse and talk to someone.
"Ok... What's happening now?" I shrugged.
"I'll make an appointment for four… will I meet you there?"
"Yeah… I'm on my way to the city to wrap up the investigation at the company. Is it just the city morgue or the police station? I mean where am I meeting you?"
"Out front of the city morgue."
"Ok."
"Is Mathew with you."
"No, I'm with Chad and Shawn… my escorts because of the hunters." I nodded and got ready to leave the apartment.
"Ok, see you then." We hung up and I left pulling the door until the lock clicked then heading for the elevator and shoved my garbage down the shoot. On my way out I phoned ahead to arrange the time with the morgue.
Uni was dull, the lessons was in accounting and it didn't interest me anymore and the class seemed to drag on like no ones business, added to that my appointment at the morgue didn't help the mood of the class. However, we finished half an hour early. Afterwards I handed in my hard copy of the assessments and spoke to the section head. Turned out there was no exam for this class. It was all based on assessment grades, and once they had graded my assessments I would officially passed the class. By the time I had finished it was nearly four. I ran from the building and dashed towards the Taxi rank and took one across the city.
Jenny stood looking pale and nervous. I paid for my taxi and got out. She throw her arms around me and shook her head.
"I can't believe you did this…" She took a deep breath. "But it'll explain why she went missing." I nodded.
"I don't know why you guys didn't do it…" She bit her lip.
"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this…" I saw the tears in her eyes as we turned and the four of us entered the morgue's reception area. I approached the front desk and the woman looked up and smiled politely.
"Can I help you?" I nodded.
"Danica Logan. I'm here to identify a body." She nodded.
"Yes, I have you right here." She looked to the others. "Are they coming with you?" I nodded.
"They know the missing person better than I do." She stood up and waved us through.
"This way then." We followed the woman as she led the way through a long corridor to the back and she sighed. "This is the long-term storage. I'll warn you the sight of the body's might alarm you." Jenny frowned and I leant towards her to whisper.
"It means they've been frozen." She licked her lips as we were brough to a viewing room. Jenny was shaking like a leaf and Shawn didn't look much better. I took a file from the table which was labelled one. Flicking through the pictures of personal effects I frowned. As I worked my way through the files Jenny and the others stood at the viewing window.
"Can we see the first one?" The man on the other side of the window nodded and slowly pulled back the sheet.
I placed the second file down and grabbed the third. I flicked through the files and photos of personal effects then froze. There was only one. A custom-made ring. I pulled out my phone and went to my photos and compared the ring.
"Jenny…" She looked to me and I showed her the ring in the photo on my phone and the one in evidence. Her hands flew to her face and she closed her eyes.
"Oh no…" She had to sit down as her body was trembling so badly.
"Why don't you wait outside…" She nodded and left with Shawn leaving me alone with Chad. I gave him a look. "Are you up to this?" He nodded looking stoic.
"She came from my pack… I'd recognize her anywhere." I nodded and pointed to a disclaimer.
"It says this body has had facial mutilations... rather brutal ones too…" He gritted his teeth and nodded. I went to the window and held my hand up indicating three. The man on the other side hesitated.
"Are you sure?" I nodded.
"Yes, Have you got an autopsy report?" He nodded but let out a sigh.
"Her case is still unsolved." I nodded as he pointed to the camera's then slowly began to pull the sheet back. Chad growled as he stared through the window and even my stomach did a flip. There was nothing recognizable as a face, it was like a child had dumped clay onto a doll then forgot they were sculpting and decided to play football instead.
"Is…" Chad took a deep breath. "Is her left foot still intact?" the man went to the other end of the table and pulled up the sheet. I watched as the man moved her left foot. A large scar on the outside of her foot stretched down from her ankle across the top of her foot and ended in a stump as the little toe was missing. Chad cursed. "It's her… I was there when she lost her toe in a fight." He muttered and turned away. I looked to the man.
"That's her. That's Jessica Sim."