Chapter Six

"Anyone gotten in touch with Victor yet?” Kent asked, his arms folded on his Chest, as he looked out his office window.

"Um-I have Sir", Larry uttered.

"And?"

"He's in Florida", Larry said.


Kent turned and to face his deputies who had gathered in his office.

"What the hell is he doing in Florida?", Kent asked.


"Well", Larry started. "He's there with his entire family, so i'm assuming, sir, that he's on vacation".


"Jesus christ", Kent hissed as he clenched his Jaw and punched his table.

He thought for a second, and then looked up at his team.

"So how the hell are we supposed to carry out an Autopsy on these Bodies, when our Coroner is on vacation?", The chief hissed.


Donovan's brows furrowed as he looked up at the chief. "An Autopsy?", He uttered.


"Is that necessary?", Helen asked.


"Of course it is", Kent said. "I'm gonna need to tell the Mayor something".


"You're gonna tell the Mayor?", Brent uttered.


"What?", Kent asked. "You want me to carry this whole shit on my shoulders? No way kid". He then spun back to face his window.


"Well, we don't have a Coroner for an Autopsy", Helen said. "So what do we do?".


"Send the Bodies to Denver I guess", Donovan shrugged.


"...And get the FBI involved?", Kent uttered, with his gaze still outside his window. "No way".


The room was quiet for a while, till Brent broke the silence.


"Well-eh", Brent uttered. "I guess I know someone who could help".


Kent didn't say anything. He was still looking outside his window and Brent saw that as a 'go on'.

Brent licked his lips and went on as everyone had their attention on him now.


"She's a doctor, a pathologist to be exact", He said. "She's in town with her kids for the summer. Dunno how long she's staying, but she could help".


Larry's brows furrowed in Confusion before he turned to face Brent who was standing behind him.

"Wait", He said. "Are you talking about Dr. Claire Hayes?"

"Yep".

Helen turned to face Brent beside her, her eyes wide as saucers. "Claire's in town?", She asked.


Brent turned and gave her a deadpan look. "I said that, didn't I?".


The room fell quiet as everyone turned to face the chief who was still backing them.

Kent then spun and faced his deputies.

"Well, what the hell are you waiting for ?" Kent said. "Call her up".






Leaning on the wall of the Morgue section of Cherrywood Memorial, Brent couldn't help but feel nervous as he watched Claire strutting down the hall towards him. She didn't look happy, She looked like she was going to whoop someone's Ass.

She looked like she was coming to kick his Ass for waking her up by Seven thirty in the morning. He remembered how reluctant she had been on the phone.


He blonde hair swaying down her shoulders as she moved. She wore nothing more than a white T-Shirt, blue jeans and a pair of flip flops, with her hand bag over her left shoulder.


"She wasn't kidding when she said she was on a vacation".


"I can't believe you brought me into this", Claire hissed as she met up with Brent.


"Claire, Just Relax, okay", Brent said.


"I'm on Vacation", The woman hissed, drawing her words. "Do you know what that means, Brent?"

"Look", Brent uttered. "It's just an Autopsy, five minutes and you're done".


"What the hell is this about anyway?", She asked. "You didn't say anything over the phone".


"I'm Sorry Claire", Brent Swallowed. "That's Classified".


She shot the Officer an incredulous look. "Classified? , Classif.. are you kidding me Brent?"


"Claire just be patient okay", He said, trying to calm her down. "You'll be briefed when we start okay, Come on, trust me here".


She looked at her best friend's husband, seething and resisting the urge to punch him with her fists clenched at her side.



Brent watched her for some seconds and read her mind quickly. "Yeah", He uttered. "You can kick my ass after the Autopsy".



She glared at Him for a while with her clenched jaw and then shifted her gaze down the hall and saw Chief Kent Hurry over with officers Larry and Donovan behind him.

She then narrowed her eyes and tried to get a better look at the last man in the convoy.

"Patrick Parker".

His face lit up as soon as he saw Claire while he was approaching.


"Claire?".


For the first time Claire entered that hospital, She smiled as she when in for a hug.


"Hey", Patrick said as he pulled her in for a hug. He then pulled away and stared at her. "How long have you been in town".


"A couple of weeks", She chuckled.


Patrick eyed her. "Wow, you look good".


Claire Chuckled again.


"Um- Claire?", Brent interrupted as he gestured towards Chief Kent. "This is Cherrywood's head of Police Chief Ben Kent".

He then turned to Kent. "Chief? , Dr. Claire Hayes".


He brought his hand out for a shake, ignoring the slightly surprised look on Claire's face.

Kent then cleared his throat and looked at everyone. "We don't have much time".

He then looked at Claire and gesture towards the door that was labelled 'morgue'. "After you Mrs. Hayes", He said Politely.






"Listen Dr. Hayes", Kent began. "We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused you, but our regular coroner is outta town, and we thought maybe you could be of help since you are experienced in this".

Claire Clenched her jaw and stole a Glare at Brent standing at the corner.

The entire room was quiet for a few seconds as she just stood there and thought for a while.


She then Deflated in defeat. "Okay, what am I looking at?", She sighed, throwing her hand up and bringing it down again.


"Larry?", Kent called out as he nodded towards Claire.


"Here you go Doc", Larry uttered, holding out a file to her.


She took the file from the young deputy while she watched a fat man in glasses and a white lab-coat rolled an aluminium platform into their midst. The body was covered in a white sheet on top of the platform.


Claire shifted her gaze from the body to the file in her hand as she opened up and began scanning.


It didn't take long before she realised she was about to carry out and Autopsy on two of the college students presumed missing.


She raised her wide eyes in Brent's direction and saw the young deputy looking at her with a smirk on his face.


Claire looked back down and stared at the picture of the handsome young man staring up at her with a one sided grin on his face.


"One of the missing college students", Claire realised as she felt her heart tighten at he reality of the situation.


She read his details and then slapped the file shut.


She turned to the female attendant beside her. "Gloves please", Claire uttered.


The girl hurried to the shelves at the corner, pulled out a pack while Claire was washing her hands in the sink nearby.


She put on the gloves for Claire and then stood and then pulled out what looked like a tiny microphone with a clip and clipped it to the doctor's collar.


"What the hell is this for?", Claire frowned at the girl.

Just then, Kent cleared his throat. "Record purposes Mrs. Hayes", He said.


She stopped herself from rolling her eyes and then she walked to the platform.


"Open it", She ordered.


As the fat man peeled the white sheet down to the bottom of the platform, Claire couldn't Hold her Gasp as she staggered backwards in shock, her eyes wide as saucers.


"Jesus", She heard Patrick whisper in a trembling voice.


Claire's breathing became heavy. She saw the young attendant lift a hand to cover her mouth from the corner of her eye.


"Claire?", Brent uttered in concern. "You okay?"


Claire looked up at the deputy, realising that she couldn't move. Realising that she was frozen in place.


"I'm...I'm fine", She stuttered.


She pulled off a Rubber band from her wrist and tied her blonde hair back neatly in a ponytail.


She Swallowed hard and reached for the file the attendant was holding out to her.


She moved towards the body, trying to comport herself, trying to steady her breathing at the sight before her.


She touched the microphone on her collar and began.

"This...This is an Autopsy conducted by Dr. Claire Rosemary Hayes on tuesday the...eh-"


"Sixteenth", Larry uttered.


"Sixteenth of...Um...June, Two thousand and fifteen", Claire uttered.


She Swallowed hard and licked her lips as she moved closer to the body.


"Victim's name is Michael Winston, early twenties, Caucasian male", She said.

She the leaned in Close and began to observe.


"Massive tissue loss on the neck of the victim so severe, the spinal bone is visible from the front". She then brought her gaze down, her brows furrowed in concentration.

"The Left arm has been completely severed from the shoulder region, while the right arm has been severed below the elbow, with tissue loss at the upper musculature".


Claire raised herself up and took a deep breath like a swimmer in a pool coming up for air.

She looked back down at the body and cleared her throat.

"The..Um...body...torso has been completely severed in half at the mid-thorax, with no major internal organs remaining", Claire's uttered, before she quickly moved back to the sink behind her and leaned towards it.


She felt Brent's arms suddenly rap around her back.


"It's okay", He Whispered. "We can stop if you want".


"No", She uttered in a trembling voice. "I'm fine".


She then back and face everyone.

"The next victim please", she called, moving her chin up.


The Fat guy covered up the body and rolled it out of sight, bringing another body covered in white sheet a few seconds later.

Claire walked up close to the body as the man peeled of the cover.

Her eyes just widened when she saw this particular body and she was actually surprised the Carnage before her didn't really trigger the same feeling the first body did.

She steadied herself ,opened the file again and began.


"Second victims name, Erica Burns, late teens, Caucasian female", she uttered as she leaned down towards the body, the serious look back to her features again.


"Like the first victim, there is also a massive tissue loss at the neck, but not as bad as the first. The right arm has be completely severed from the shoulder, but the left arm is still in tackle, with multiple tears on the skin".


Claire then walked over to the other side of the body.


"Massive...no...Excessive tissue loss on the Left side of the torso with the left limb completely severed from the hip, with the right leg severed below the knee and massive tissue loss on the thighs", she said.

Claire quickly went over to the sink, forced off the gloves from her hand and flung them.

She turned the tap and buried her face in the puddle of water formed in her cupped palms.


"Well done Doctor. Hayes", She heard Kent utter behind her.


The Fat man was about to roll the body away.

"Just a minute", Patrick said, as he moved closer to the body. Observing it closely.


Claire washed her hands and face and began drying them with a Towel the attendant handed to her.

She leaned on the wall, breathing heavily, like she had just finished a marathon race.

"God, I hate my job"

Brent walked over to her with a pleasant smile on his face. "You did good Claire", He said.

She glared at Him. "Oh shut up Brent", she scowled.


The officer chuckled.


"So", Kent said as he walked over to Brent and Claire and crossed his arms over his chests. "What do you think we've got?"

Claire stayed quiet for a while. Thinking. She stole a glance at Patrick. He was looking up at her now, grinning, probably thinking the same thing as she was.


Everyone had their attention on her now, including the female attendant and the fat morgue attendant.


She then looked at Brent, He looked expectant, waiting for an answer.


She thought of a better way to say it. A way to make it milder, but there was none.


The doctor then poured out her diagnosis the best way she could.



"Those kids were being eaten alive", She said and then her eyes darted to their faces and saw the shock on all of them. All of them except Patrick.



"Chief", A female officer walked into the room and called out.



Kent spun to face her without a word.



"We have a situation at the Wilson farm", She uttered.


Kent dropped his shoulders and gave an exhausting Sigh.


"Oh God", He groaned. "What now?"

Hey. Please be sure to drop your comments on what you think.

I'm having trouble making posts here so if you are interested in more chapters from the book, you can inbox me your number and i'll add you to the "Ferocious" whatsapp group for daily posts.

Gracias!

Interesting!!

horlardipupo:
Interesting!!

Thanks. I'm glad you like it.

Nice story. Its cool nd interesting.

Pls add me to your WhatsApp group on 08181017179