The Unborn

Chapter 22

Mike found himself back in Augie’s autopsy suite for the second time in a week. The sterility of the room always gave him the chills, but this time it was the brutal murder of a woman he knew. That gave him the chills. Augie and his two assistants, Pete and Ed, were preparing the instruments and scanning paperwork on the far side of the room. The stench of death hung thickly in the air. For the briefest moment, Mike felt as though he might be violently ill. He didn’t recall feeling this way when he attended Kylie-Anne’s autopsy, perhaps it was the familiarity that sickened him, not the surroundings.

He stared solemnly at the metal gurney in the centre of the room. Marla’s body lay there beneath a crisp white sheet. Her left hand protruded from under the white covering. The fingernails on both her hands were tattered and torn. One was completely ripped away. A deep, jagged gash appeared in the centre of her palm. Perhaps the killer did it when her breasts were being tied to them. Or perhaps it was from being dragged or pushed out the broken window in her bedroom. However it happened, Mike knew that Marla had suffered far worse than that gash, at the hands of her murderer. Her index finger was bent backwards. It hung down like a small twig hanging from a branch. The dislocation of it affected Mike more than he could understand.

“Ready to start?” Augie stood in front of him.

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

The suite suddenly buzzed like a beehive of frantic activity, Ed and Pete both like soldier bees running from one location to another, gathering bowls and surgical instruments in readiness for the queen bee, Augie. Their sterile gloves, aprons and boot covers crackled with each movement they made. Pete walked towards Marla’s limp body and pulled the sheet back, exposing her and her ravaged body to all present. Mike’s eyes traced the line of her torso and came to rest on her chest. Mangled skin and raw tissue was all that remained of her breasts. Apart from the curve of her full lips and the chiselling of her defined cheekbones, everything that made Marla feminine had been stripped from her. His eyes fixed on her abdomen. The murderers grotesque incisions left her gaping wide open from the navel down. The sight repulsed him, yet he could not look away. He needed to see this again, needed the reminder of how desperately this twisted killer had to be caught.

Augie walked over and stood beside Marla, and together with Pete and Ed, the examination commenced.

“Pete,” said Augie. “Ready with the camera?”

“Sure thing,” he replied, picking up the large black piece of equipment from the work bench.

“Taking notes, Ed?”

“I’m on it.”

“Frontal examination presents numerous abrasions to the head, face, neck and left shoulder. As per previous victims Tessa Hunt and kylie-Anne Saunders, Both breasts have been removed in their entirety. Incisions appear to be smooth and clean, instrument used was extremely sharp and accurate, my guess is a scalpel or perhaps a boning knife.”

The flash of Pete’s camera startled life back into Mike, his senses peaked and he regained composure from the trance like state that had over taken him earlier. He squinted his eyes and found his focus, the flash having temporarily blinded him. Augie continued with his external documentation.

“Both arms bear deep abrasions and sub-sequent bruising. Fingernails on right hand torn, minor cuts present. Left palm presents a deep gash approximately five centimetres long by one and a half centimetres wide. Fingernails torn, one completely removed. Index finger appears fractured and dislocated.”

“How you going there, Ed? You getting this all down?”

“On target, Dr. August.”

Augie glanced over at Mike. “How about you, Mike?”