Seeing the mayor and the first lady in despair was traumatizing, but when the car started to catch fire, things got even worse. Adam didn't think twice, and even with the other officers telling him not to go back there, he did. Thinking quickly, Adam grabbed the naked body of the teenager before the car exploded completely, and even though his feet were burned, the corpse re
Adam was devastated inside; he had hoped to find the girl alive, but now she was lying there, placed on a coroner's table, with burned feet and pale as freshly fallen snow.
The whole
"
"No! I will stay here, with my daughter, until the end, and no one will stop me," Janet replied.
The first lady,
Jack, the former sheriff, arrived at the morgue, incredulous at everything that had happened.
"I tried to send her home, but she insists on staying. I don't know what to do," Adam said.
Jack lit a cigarette, blowing smoke into the air.
"
Adam might have been an orphan, but he didn't completely misunderstand that kind of love. Despite everything, he still had an aunt who was like a mother to him.
At the police station, officers were discussing the case. The sheriff wanted to find the culprit, but Adam, deep down, knew it wouldn't be
"Officer Abrax, what did the guy who called you say?" the sheriff a
"You know what he said," Adam replied with disdain.
"We tried to trace the call, but we couldn't. This is going to be a scandal—the reporters are surrounding City Hall and the mayor's house. We've already requested reinforcements from three counties," th
"None of that matters," Adam said firmly.
"How can you say that?" th
"We might be dealing with a serial killer," Adam re
"A serial what?" the sheriff asked, confused.
"It's a new term they use for repeat murderers,"
"We don't even know how she was killed. How can you be sure?" the sheriff asked
"I'm not sure of anything. But in Quantico, we learned that it takes at least three murders with similar methods before we can classify a criminal as a serial killer," Adam said.
"What? Are you saying there will be two more deaths?" the sheriff a
Adam didn't respond. It wasn't worth it.
When the coroner's reports arrived, Adam, the sheriff, Mayor Carl, and Steven had to go there to
"What don't you understand?" asked Dr. Kowalski, the coroner.
"The report says she died because all the blood was drained from her body. Did I understand that correctly?" Adam asked.
"Yes, you understood correctly. As you can see, the cadaver's skin tone is altered. Look at the nails—they're pale too," Kowalski explained.
The sheriff and the mayor remained silent and in shock.
"Sir, well… could you have made a mistake in your diagnosis? In the report? Could something else have caused this? I don't know, maybe a fall with hemorrhaging?" the sheriff asked.
The coroner looked at him wit
"You're new to the system, so let me explain. See here, at the back of her neck?" Kowalski said.
He carefully lifted Penelope's head.
The sheriff swallowed hard. "Yes… what about it?"
"It's more about what's not there than what is. There's no injury on the neck, the head, or the rest of the body. Nothing that could cause hemorrhaging at this level. She wasn't even…" Kowalski paused and looked at the mayor, but even though he was shaken, he gestured for the doctor to continue.
"She wasn't even tied up. There are no signs of a struggle, no signs of aggression," Kowalski finished.
"Let me guess—there's no DNA from a second person?" Adam asked.
"Correct, there's not. Speaking of which…" Kowalski turned directly to the mayor.
"Sir, I am very sorry for what happened to your daughter. That being said, I hope this information brings you some comfort: There is no sign of trauma. She did not suffer in death. I know it's not much, but it's what I have to offer you. I will finish the final examinations in a few minutes and hand over your daughter's body to the funeral home as soon as I'm done. You can rest assured that I will treat her wi
The kindness and sensitivity of that man should have been non-existent, given how many years he had worked in his profession. But he knew that this body had once been alive, had a family, and for that reason, it deserved to be respected and t
The mayor was escorted out, along with the sheriff, but Adam remained with the coroner.
"Nice words you said to the ma
"I'm a doctor. It's part of my job to deliver both bad and good news. And even though it may not seem like there's good news when dealing with a corpse, believe me—there is," Kowalski said.
"What do you mean?" Adam asked.
The coroner watched as the mayor and sheriff walked away, then adjusted his glasses and said in a grim tone,
"You're what? Twenty-two years old?"
"Actually, I'm twenty," Adam corrected.
"And already a detective. Either it's nepotism, or you're good at what you do," Kowaski
"Actually, I'm not a detective yet, I'm on the way to becoming one, it's just that—" Adam s
"It's just that the new sheriff doesn't know what he's doing, and you took charge of the situation. Good job," Kowalski interrupted. "The thing is, young man, this isn't the first body to show up in these conditions. In fact, the others were much worse. That's why I said that even from a corpse, you can find good news."
"Since ancient Egypt, mortuary secrets are still kept, between those who prepare the body and the corpse itself, and there are those who say that this person, responsible for the preparation, takes these secrets along with him, to the coffin. And when that doesn't happen, when the secret is explained, terrible things happen, as if a magical sigil was broken, and everything bad in it was released." Mister Y