Smoke and Glory

•17•

It's been 3 days since I last saw Nola, 3 days since I last heard from the killer, and 3 days since I broke up with hope. But currently I'm happy, because as I sit waiting patiently in my Living room my brother, his husband and his daughter are on there way. I haven't seen them in a while but I last saw sam when I collapsed a few weeks ago, but since I broke up with hope they want to come check on me and make sure That I'm actually okay. I do miss them a lot when there not here, I love them a lot, and I love Leia and Katie as well and haven't seen them either in a long time. I check my phone and see a missed call from Nola who keeps checking in to remind me that she's okay, after all the killer threatened her life as well as mine and I'm terrified of what would happen if he went after her, and she knows that I am so she likes to keep in touch and make sure that I'm okay. I am about to ring her back when a excited knock rings out from my door, they're here. I turn my phone off making myself a mental note to call Nola back when I get the chance, and I run over to the door and open it to the face of my excited niece who gives me a hug instantaneously, "Mia, ahh I missed you" I say returning the hug as Sam and Ezra appear at the door, "sam, Ezra I missed you guys come in" I say as Ezra presents me with some beautiful pink flowers I quickly identify as Lily's as Sam gives me a bag with 2 bottles of wine in, "didn't know what we were eating so I just brought both red and white" he says as I take them into the kitchen and place the wine bottles into the wine fridge that rests in the island in the middle of my kitchen.  "Well we're having cold chicken and chips because I know how much Mia likes that." I say as I remove the chicken from the fridge and use a carving knife to carve some perfect slices, showing off my great knife skills that I learnt from cutting up bodies, not chicken. Meanwhile Sam, Ezra and Mia sit down in the dining room around the large oak table I got half price at some store on
Black Friday 2 years ago. I then place the chips on the plates and I grab out the bottle of red wine and 3 wine glasses which I place on the table along with a glass of coke for Mia. I then present the food, "this looks amazing thanks Luc" sam says as I smile sitting myself down as Ezra pours us wine and we all start eating, and then someone starts knocking at my door. "One second" I say as they continue eating while I get up to go answer the door, "hello" I say opening it and seeing Nola standing at the door dressed in her usual attire. "Hi Nola Umm I'm really busy right now my brother his husband and my niece are around what can I help you with?" I ask looking back at my family around the dinner table eating the food I spent like an hour preparing. "The body of chief Harding was found about an hour ago" she says as I look back at her my mouth falling open in shock, I realise now why she called me and I really should have phoned her back. "oh god umm do I need to come to the scene?" I ask quickly darting my eye site to the medical bag I leave in the door way for times like this. "No I knew you were doing this lunch so I just called another medical examiner from your office just to look around the scene but there seems to be the gunshot to the head like on all of the bodies but there are no other signs of trauma visible but there's so much traffic that the body won't arrive at the morgue for another 3 hours at the least but you have to do the autopsy because obviously this is your case and for accountability in court you have to have done all of the autopsy's" Nola says reciting things I already know as I nod my head thinking about what I'm going to have to do. "Well come in and meet my family" I say and Nola steps in as she passes me her coat and I place it on partially broken hanger in the incredibly untidy closet. "Hey everyone I would like you to meet my friend detective Nola Griffin" I say as we walk into the dining room as Sam and Ezra wave while Mia meets her with a friendly smile. "You've already met sam" I say as they shake hands with one another once again, "this is ezra sams husband" I say as Nola shakes hands with him, "hello there" he says greeting  her with the friendly optimism that was one of the many reasons why sam fell in love with him, "and this is my niece Mia" I say as she smiles at Nola, "I've heard a lot about you" Nola says smiling back at the 10 year old who's sitting looking at me and then back at Nola, "all good I hope" she says once again showing off her incredible intelligence and smugness that a 10 year old such as herself possesses. "Yep all good" Nola says as she eyes the food I've cooked, "would you like to eat with us" Ezra says and Nola looks at me and I nod my head, she's very welcome to and I hope she knows that and I mean things are a little strange between us since that whole one night stand that occurred a few days ago. "Sure" she says as I walk into the kitchen and get out the food from the kitchen and spoon some of the chips onto a plate for Nola of which I bring out along with a wine glass and place it in front of her. "So Nola where is the name Nola from it's just it's not really a common name?" Ezra says his slight british accent once again shining through as he keeps up his high appearance. "It's Gaelic, my grandmother was Gaelic and it means white shoulder" she says as I smile sitting back down in my seat as we all keep chatting, laughing about things while cringing as sam tells us some beautiful stories about the young me and some of the strange stuff I did, to say the least. "Wow thanks for that" I say laughing as I take everyone's plate into the kitchen where my phone is vibrating, I quickly pick it up not bothering to look at the number, "hello this is doctor Lucy Snow who is this?" I say assuming it to be a cop looking for me or telling me about the arrival of the body at the morgue but instead I'm greeted once again by the mysterious silence, "I'm sorry I shot him, I'm sorry I shot him, I'm sorry I shot him" on constant repeat, the dull tone less voice repeating the same thing over and over again and I quickly lean my head out the kitchen. "hey Nola can you help me with this" I say and she gets up out the chair and she comes in as I put my phone onto speaker. She listens. "Shit" she says "and that's all it's saying, nothing else?" She asks and I shake my head, "nothing" I state, that's the only thing it's said this entire time. "Should I hang up?" I ask and Nola nods her head as I press the red button to end the freaky call. "I think we should get to the morgue" I say and Nola nods her head as she passes me the final plate and I place it in my already crowded dishwasher. "Hey guys we need to go the job is calling, so sorry I'll be back in about 3 hours so you are welcome to stay here or go back to your hotel I'm sorry." I say hugging Mia and then Ezra and finally sam. "Nah we get it nice meeting you nola goodbye Lucy we will see you tomorrow" Ezra says as I smile at him before walking back into the entrance hall placing on my coat grabbing my medical bag as me as I throw Nola her coat and as we climb into Nola's  car which is parked in my driveway next to the black Mercedes that is mine and the red Audi that belongs to my brother. We pull away from my house driving towards the morgue but almost instantly get stuck in the traffic that has delayed the ambulance that is carrying the body. "So this is victim number 6, which according to the killer was supposed to be both me or you." I say as Nola looks at me and then back at the traffic that lies ahead. "Yeah, why isn't it us then?" Nola asks as she pulls the indicator and moves to a lane that is starting to move slowly. My phones goes off again and we fall deadly silent wondering if it's the killer again, but it's not it's Doctor Grant again, I answer, "hey Thomas what's up?" I ask holding the phone up to my ear, "the body of Chief Harding has arrived, where are you?" He asks as the traffic still stands still, frozen and not going anywhere for the moment, "we are stuck in traffic, I don't know how long we will be can you get the body ready, please so that the moment I arrive we can do the autopsy I don't want to lose any valuable evidence but goddammit this traffic isn't helping" I say, giving a driver who just passed us and pulled in ahead of us the middle finger, "something called road rage Lucy be careful" he says warning me once again of the possibility that I crash and end up on one of tables in my very own morgue. "Well I'm not driving so don't be worried" I reply thinking to myself of how id be in traffic like this, which would be a complete disaster. "Okay good, ill set up the body but try to get here as fast as you can" he says, "alright I'll try" I respond, and then I hang up, "goddammit that fucking driver" I yell pointing at another car which has just pulled in front of us, "calm down, I have an idea" Nola says as she flicks a switch on her control board and the police sirens start going off. Cars move quickly and rapidly out of the way as Nola zooms down the center of the lane until soon we are out of the traffic and pulling up by the morgue, she parks in the spot next to the chief medical examiner one which currently doesn't have my car in since my car is still at home. "well let's go see the body" I say as we climb out the car, my ears still slightly ringing because of the annoying and loud siren we had blaring for most of the way here. "I really hate traffic like that, but clearly not as much as you hate it, road rage much?" She asks laughing a little at all of the snarky comments I made and middle fingers I gave. "Yeah it's a bit of an issue but let's not worry about that for I wasn't driving so i didn't nearly kill us like that time with doctor grant." I say as Nola gives me a look as I push open the door to the morgue and am greeted by my secretary and receptionist Liam, "afternoon Doc, and afternoon detective." He says smiling and waving as he unlocks the electronic gate that guards us from the reporters who try desperately to get in, and I also have a key card that opens the gate for when I need to get in when Liam isn't around to open the gates. "Also doc, Tom told me to tell you that the body is in room 3," he says referring to Thomas as Tom again despite how many times we both tell Liam that he doesn't like being called Tom. "Thank you" I say as we walk into the lift, and I press the button to head to floor 3, where my office is and where I can get dressed into my scrubs and get my instruments that I may need for this autopsy. "He seems nice, what's his name?" Nola asks which is another reminder that this is the first time she's really been at the morgue, after all this case if the first time I've met her, and first time she's been to the morgue. "That's Liam he's my assistant and receptionist," I say as the lift pings and the doors open on floor 3 and both of us step out as we passed by Callum one of my forensic scientists who specialises in weapons and firearms. He smiles as he steps into the lift and we continue down to my office which is locked since I haven't come in to work today and wasn't meant to, so I use my key to unlock my office door as me and Nola enter. "So let's get into scrubs and then we can to the suite and begin the autopsy." I say as I chuck Nola a plastic bag that inside holds the scrubs she slides into to. I remove my coat and place it on the back of my chair before I clamber Into the scrubs and I tie the mask carefully around my  head, ready to put it on during the autopsy. I look over at Nola who's ready to go and I grab my collection of tools and we walk back to the lift where we head up a floor to floor 4 where autopsy suite 3 and 4 lay. I enter autopsy room 3 and find the body laying on the table just as doctor grant promised me, "put on your mask we don't know if there are any fumes or toxins that could be released and could be hazardous to us" I say lifting the mask up to my face as I attach the microphone to my scrub ready to record all of the findings I have. "Victim is Chief Danielle Harding, she was 42 at time of death and is believed to be victim number 6 of the playing card killer" I say as I begin looking around the body, "the only visible sign of trauma is the gunshot wound to head, which if this is a victim of the playing card killer will have the card the 10 of diamonds inside, checking now." I say as Nola passes me the tweezers and I place them into the entry wound on the frontal temple. I dig around for a second and pull out a 10 of diamonds which I covered in blood, but as I look close I see that 6 of the diamonds are crossed off. "We have found a calling card and it does have 6 diamonds crossed off confirming her as victim 6 of the killer." I state into the microphone, "now detective Nola griffin is helping me to turn the body onto its back" I say as Nola looks up from the body and walks over to help me lift the body carefully and lay her on her back. "There is the exit wound in the back of head and no other visible signs of trauma," I say taking more photos of the exit wound and measuring it with a ruler. We turn the body back around again so I cut it open and get good measurements of each of the organs. "Creating the y Incision now" I state as I cut open the body and weigh each of the organs, "the lungs are surprisingly heavier then I would have excepted and there is serious damages to the oesophagus and much of the muscle around the lungs are discoloured, suggesting she was deprived of oxygen, I believe she was drowned." I say as I cut open the lungs and find water and what looks like pond weed In her alveoli, I swab them and using tweezers place some of the pond weed into a container of which I label pond weed found in Chief Harding and them under I write needs to be tested URGENTLY. If I can find out what type of pond weed this is then it should be able to narrow down the body of water In which she was drowned in. "So she was drowned, captain quill was burnt, chief Nile was strangled, commander Davis was poisoned, victim 4 was stabbed and then Captain Stick was shot. They were all killed in different ways but all by the same killer, and are you sure Captain Quill had no gunshot?" She asks and I nod my head, "no visible gunshot wound but even if it was there the skull was so badly burnt it wouldn't have been visible but there was most definitely no card." I state facts as we think once again. "This case is doing my head in, do you want to come back to my house and we can have a drink?" Nola asks and I look at her and smile as we leave the autopsy suite, "let's go."