Sapphire
After I left work early at 2:09pm, I drove to Lake Union to examine the scene of the crime. It was within the city limits of Seattle, Washington and was a home to two seaplane bases: Kenmore Air Harbor Seaplane Base (IATA: LKE, FAA LID: W55), and Seattle Seaplanes (IATA: LKE, FAA LID: 0W0), located one nautical mile (1.85 km) north of the central business district of Seattle.
Lake Union was a freshwater lake which was a major part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which carries fresh water from the much larger Lake Washington on the east to Puget Sound on the west.
The easternmost point of the lake is the Ship Canal Bridge, which carries Interstate 5 over the eastern arm of the lake and separates Lake Union from Portage Bay.
Lake Union is the namesake of the neighborhoods located on three of its shores: Eastlake, Westlake and South Lake Union. Notable destinations on the lake include Lake Union Park, the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI), and the Center for Wooden Boats on the southern shore and Gas Works Park on the northern shore.
When I arrived, everywhere was silent, the water was still and calm. When I got closer, there was actually nothing there untill the illusion gradually lifted. A fae must have created the illusion to prevent any human from stumbling on the crime of the scene.
The scene was still perfectly untouched, I crouched down to take a closer look at the ground closer to the water. I didn't put on my phone's flashlight to attract attention or alert people to my presence.
With my night vision I could see that there were skid marks on the sand as if someone was forcefully dragged away from the water and struggles to escape.
My heart skipped a little, that means that the victim supernatural creature must be an aquatic shifter. For it to try escape into the water which was it's safety place and only hope of escaping from the killer.
I stood up and walked along the side of the water and saw tiny drops of blood on the sand. Until I saw big drops of blood that caked hard on the sand.
This must be the place that the killer finally murdered the victim, It was horrifying. I wondered how the victim felt because his/her last moment on earth was terrible.
I walked back to my car, the next destination was the lab.
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I drove out of Seattle heading to Benton County in Washington. I covered 270 miles in three hours and eleven minutes at an average speed of 60km/hr.
When I reached Washington there was a little bit of traffic on the road but it subsided after five minutes. I drove to the Stanford site where one of the Paranormal Bureau Investigation Of Supernatural Crimes laboratories was located.
The Stanford Site was a decommissioned military production complex operated by the United States federal government on the Columbia River in Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington.
.After driving through the town, I reached the town's like limits and entered the forest pathway. I continued driving on a straight line for 2 miles till I turned left and drove for 100m before I saw the gate of the Stanford Site.
The big black gate looked foreboding and I would have been nervous if I haven't been to one of the labs before. The gate opened and I drove through not before showing proof of identification that I was a part of the Paranormal Bureau Investigation Of Supernatural Crimes organization.
After parking my car at the visitors stand, I came out and entered the building. The receptionist recognized me and assisted me in getting to the lab technician on time. Miss Chow must have on time for them to be attending to me quick.
The lab technician was a man though I couldn't guess his age, I knew that he was a fae. The slightly pointed ears and teeth gave it away and maybe the skin because he looked slightly pale. But I had a feeling that he wasn't a pure blooded fae and his smile proved it.
"Hi you must be Agent Stone." He brought his hand out for a handshake and I indulged him. See, faces behaved like entitled little bastards, they felt that other supernaturals were not up to their standard.
"Yes I am. and you are?" After shaking him, I kept my hands in my pocket. The room was kinda cold.
"I am Aldric the First of Elysria." He grinned at me waiting for me to burst into laughter, which I almost did. His new people as another indicator that he was a fae.
"Let's not waste your time by boring you with details about the history of the lab." Following him as he led to where the body was kept, I thanked him inwardly for skipping that protocol else I would have fainted since I was so fatigued.
We walked for a little time before turning left, on the tag on the door was 'Dissecting room.' I didn't need to be told that this was the room where autopsy was done on dead bodies.
Before entering the room, with his hand on the door's handle he spoke.
"Just be prepared for what you see." I nodded at him. For him to make that comment the sight must be gory and I had seen more gory sights that I needed to see in my life.
He opened the door and I didn't see anything scary or gory. The room was harsh to my eyes, the walls were painted white infact everything in the room was hust so sterile.
There were about three dissecting tables in the room and they were all occupied with dead bodies though they were covered with a white sheet of cloth.
Aldric walked over to one of the tables and removed the white cloth from the body. I was not prepared for what I saw at all.
The victim was a mermaid with strawberry colored locks, dark discoloured face that would have been beautiful if not that it had been touched by the cold hands of death.
Her eyes were open staring up at open space, I looked at the rest of her body as the sheet fell down to reveal one of the most gruesome sight that I have ever seen.
Her entire body was discoloured a dark blue-black colour and there were some tinges of purple. It looked as if she was dipped in weak acid. It was a truly nauseating sight that I almost felt the urge to vomit.
Her lower region was stuck in the phasing stage, both of her legs were covered in scales almost transformed into a fin. And the other leg was still looking human. I looked closer to see that her nails were sharp and pointed, those must have been what put those skid marks on the sand at Lake Union.
I finally understood what Aldric was trying to say when he said 'be prepared'. Gosh it must be painful for her to be stuck in the transformation stage. What sick bastard would something like this, a psycho would.
"What's the autopsy report?" I frowned looking at the corpse. Aldris donned on a pair of hand gloves and picked a forceps from the tray full of dissecting equipments.
Her upper region was already dissected and he spread it open with both hands. I was confronted by the view of her heart and her lungs. I saw that the partial transformation phasing did not only happen externally but also internally. One part of her throat region was gills while the other was lungs. I hadn't seen anything like that in my life.
"He pointed at the heart,
"You see this?" I nodded.
"The heart is in a contracted form meaning that it was either she died from cardiac arrest... which I am sure is not the case... or asphyxiation."
"So it's definitely asphyxiation." Aldric nodded at me and continued his explanation.
""Since asphyxiation causes your blood to stave off oxygen, vital tissues on the heart begin to die. This causes the heart to strain, triggering angina and leading to heart failure."
"So you are saying that asphyxiation triggered the cardiac arrest leaving her heart in a contracted form?" I asked trying to understand the medical jargons that he just spewed out of his mouth. Thank God that I didn't follow on my childhood dream of being a medical personnel.
"Yes, that's putting it in simple terms. The cardiovascular response to asphyxia involves redistribution of cardiac output to maintain oxygen delivery to critical organs, such as the adrenal gland, heart and brain, at the expense of other organs such as the gut, kidneys and skin." He ranted off pointing the different organs.
"So why is her skin discoloured?"
"Simple, as asphyxia progresses and more oxygen is depleted, a dark colouration of the skin and tissue called cyanosis occurs." I scratched my hair
"Ok, what caused her to asphyxiate?"
"If you noticed, she was stuck in the transformation phase half human and mermaid."
"Yes I did, but it never happens. This is my first time of seeing a situation like this." It was impossible for that to totally happen.
"It wasn't caused naturally, if my intuitions are right I think that it was induced chemically." He pulled the chest together and covered the body.
"Like a drug?" I frowned this guy liked to beat around the bush.
"Yes, the fact that she had two different respiratory organs in her partially shifted state, with one responding to air and the other to water .."
"That was what triggered the asphyxiation." I completed the statement for him.
After he disposed his facemask and hand glove in the waste bin, he washed his hands with antiseptic soap. I also washed my hands too to prevent any bacteria infestations.
'Thank you Mr Aldric."
"You are welcome Agent Stone. Hope to see you again." He winked at me and I smiled.
Now to visit the aqua world and continue my investigation on Saturday and take that as an opportunity to visit Mom and Grandma Maggie.