Mark Krijgsman
The morgue
Start Writing!The morgue, unlike the police station above, was calm and mostly empty. I hadn’t been here since that case a while back. I looked around hoping to see Doctor Giggles, but instead I was greeted by a young-looking girl and her dog. “Do you two have permission to be here?” she asked in what I could only describe as English with a heavy Slavic accent
Petra looked at her and for a moment I was afraid she was going to toss the girl aside, but she calmly smiled and said, “Yes, Andreaa, we have permission to be here. Can you show us the files on the six girls of the nail murder case?” The girl nodded, walked to a computer and pressed several buttons.
“Where’s Giggles?” I asked, as she crossed over to a file cabinet and opened it, taking out a set of old tiny framed pictures I had come to know as slides.
Petra looked at her. “Why are you using those old human things?”
Andreaa smiled. “They show things as they are; digital might show things that aren’t there,” she replied as she loaded the slides into a machine.
“Where is Giggles?” I asked again as my first query had been ignored.
Finally Andreaa looked up and said, “Embalming”.
It wasn’t uncommon for smart zombies to do an embalming; it was the zombie equivalent of going to a health spa. Realizing I wouldn’t get much else out of her about Giggles I left it at that.
She dimmed the lights and turned the slide projector on.
Victim one
Name: Yasmin Green
Age: 19
Sex: female
Race: Favored
Eye color: blue
Hair color: brown
Yasmin was found with bruises on her throat indicating she had been choked to death. Upon her revival, customary to those of the Favored race, was subjected to the act of a large nail hammered through her skull into her brain causing a second and final death. The 12-inch concrete nail that was used was produced by the company Remington Home Appliances. In her blood were small traces of a frogderived sedative. The lack of bruises on the rest of her person indicates that she had succumbed to the sedative before the strangulation happened and was in no way restrained. The killer seemingly waited for Yasmin to regain consciousness before being strangled to her first death, after which the killer waited for her revival before hammering the nail through her skull and brain. No other notable markings or bruises found on her body.
Victim two
Name: Opal Salvin
Age: 22
Sex: female
Race: Favored
Eye color: green
Hair color: red
Opal was found with bruises on her throat and same nail in the skull indicating she had been been murdered with the same cause of death .
Victim three
Name: Una Kite
Age: 20
Sex: female
Race: Favored
Eye color: brown
Hair color: brown, dyed to blonde
Una was found with bruises on her throat and a nail in her skull indicating she had been murdered with the same cause of death, indications of possible serial killer noted and communicated to the Chief of Police. Suggested involvement of private detective Tara Duluc for her prior experience with a serial killer
Victim four
Name: Amber Jones
Age: 24
Sex: female
Race: Favored
Eye color: blue
Hair color: blonde
Amber was found with bruises on her throat indicating she had been murdered with the same cause of death, existence of serial killer noted and communicated to the Chief of Police. Possible victim link: all victims so far are named after a gemstone. Established victim link: killer targets Favored girls.
Petra looked up. “Gemstones? But there’s no gemstone named Una is there?”
Andreaa shook her head. “That was what I thought at first too, but when I looked it up there is a gem called unakite. At that time it was only a suspicion; there were no concrete reasons to be sure yet. That is, until the fifth girl, so if you’ll please let me continue.”
Victim five
Name: Ruby Winkler
Age: 19
Sex: female
Race: Favored
Eye color: blue
Hair color: red
Ruby was found with bruises on her throat indicating she had been been murdered with the same cause of death, existence of serial killer noted and communicated to the Chief of Police. Established victim links: all victims so far are named after a gemstone; killer targets Favored girls.
Victim six
Eka Nite
Age: 22
Sex: female
Race: Favored
Eye color: green
Hair color: blonde
Eka was found with bruises on her throat indicating she had been murdered the same cause of death, existence of serial killer noted and communicated to the Chief of Police. Established victim links: all victims are named after a gem stone; killer targets Favored girls.
Andreaa walked to the wall panel and turned the light back on. “And there you have it,” she said as she sat down and tossed a biscuit toward the large yellow dog.
“What’s his name?” I asked.
Andreaa smiled. “Cezar.”
“Nice name.”
Petra had her notepad out and looked up as she put the pen in her mouth and started to chew on it. “So what about this metal container, have you had any results back from the lab yet?”
Andreaa shook her head. “No, nothing yet. All they know so far is that the metal casing is hollowed out and would have fitted over the rib so there was no real reason to have it replace the rib.”
To me it all made little sense. “Couldn’t it have been a preexisting thing?”
To me it all made little sense. “Couldn’t it have been a preexisting thing?”
Petra’s police radio came to life and the voice of the Chief came through. “Agent, I have the list with Favored girls reported missing.”
She lifted the radio to her mouth. “Great, now put a small team on it to narrow it to girls who are named after gemstones.” She looked at me. “Well, at least that is something.”
The Chief’s voice squawked again. “Now you listen here—”
Before he could finish Petra had the radio at her mouth again. “No, you listen. We already went over this; if you do not want this to turn into a storm of clusterfucks you will put that team on it.”
The Chief took a long time to reply after that. All he had to say was, “Fine, but this insubordination will go on your file.” Petra just shrugged.
I looked at the round metal clock on the wall. “I have to go; got an appointment.”
Petra nodded. “Your demon?” I was aware she knew about me and Fraza; for that matter, everybody knew I was still with the demon that had cost me my job here.