Chapter 4
Idon’t go anywhere because I don’t have anywhere to go.
Instead, I stare down at Andrew, wondering if I’ve made a big deal over nothing.
It’s just a bite, after all. Though it looks too deep to be from foreplay, unless Andrew was an absolute masochist who enjoyed long-term nerve damage, considering how deep the bite was.
But I could still be wrong. And calling the sheriff suddenly feels like the nuclear option over a mild curiosity.
Still, that doesn’t stop the fact that seventeen minutes later, Sheriff Adele Miller strides into the mortuary, her back straight and her expression as serious as if I’d announced a plot to kill the president.
“We’ll wait for Jenkins,” she tells me flatly when I start explaining. With her coffee thermos in hand, Adele leans against the desk on the far wall as if she’s done so a thousand times before. And honestly, she probably has, considering how often she visits Cecil.
I wonder if she’s missing Cecil as much as I’m sure he misses her.
Even though he’s still somehow oblivious to the fact that Adele is in love with him and trying to see if he returns that interest. Poor, na?ve Cecil, I can’t help but think to myself.
Someone should really tell him soon that Adele wants to make a move on him, though it’s definitely not my place to do so.
I’m just the mortuary assistant, after all. I’m here to take care of dead bodies, clean the preparation room, restock supplies, and look scary if someone ever tries to break in.
Jenkins doesn’t even wait for me to open the loading bay door after he raps on it.
Instead, he shoves it open and steps inside, already wearing sweatpants and a ratty old shirt instead of his official uniform.
The look on his face is displeased at best. At worst, I’m pretty sure he’s disgusted by my existence as he peers at me with his tiny, dark eyes.
He looks like a beetle, I can’t help thinking to myself. A round, unhappy beetle that’s just asking to be grabbed and pulled apart by a house cat.
“Why am I here?” he demands, tossing his keys on the counter with a loud, metallic clang.
“Adele, I’m sorry, but what the hell?” He gives an unhappy, snorting laugh, barely looking at me.
“I’ve ruled this a suicide. Brought him to where his mommy wanted.
Hell, your deputy told me no one liked this guy and he won’t be missed.
So why the hell are we making a big deal over nothing? ”
Adele looks at him, studying his face with her cold blue eyes. “Can you repeat what you said on the phone, Nell?” she asks, finally turning to me with a carefully controlled politeness in her tone.
Suddenly I feel like I could be in a lot of trouble. But I take a deep breath and refuse to let myself go all fuzzy at the edges. I’m medicated. I’m not seeing ghosts. I’m an adult and can hold a relatively normal conversation for at least five minutes or so.
Probably.
“I’m…sorry for bothering both of you.” Sort of. I’m sorry for bothering Adele, but Jenkins can go walk off a cliff for all I care. “I was working on this embalming and when I was done with—” I break off. They probably don’t care about the process very much.
Snapping on another pair of blue nitrile gloves, I walk toward Andrew’s body and turn his face up to the light a bit more.
It’s difficult, given how stiff he is in this stage of rigor, but I’m able to point his mouth at the light above us.
“And I saw this.” I open his mouth, prying open his jaw until it pops open like a clamshell.
“His tongue is—”
“So he bit it,” Jenkins scoffs. “While hanging himself. You think I missed it? That I haven’t seen this before?
Maybe you’re a little unfamiliar with what happens when someone is hanged by their own volition, but I can assure you, a bite to the tongue is nowhere near the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.
” I let him rant, figuring it’ll be better for all of us if he just gets it all out.
Plus, it’ll make him look like even more of an idiot if I’m right, and I can’t help but admit a sick sort of satisfaction in that.
“Right…” I agree slowly, glancing back at Adele before straightening again.
“So, I get that. And I know hanging is pretty fucking awful on the body. But I took a couple of measurements, just to make sure.” With my tongs, I pull out his tongue, keeping the ends of the tongs away from the bite mark as much as I can so they can both see.
“See the arc of the bite? It’s not from him. And it’s deep.” I lift his tongue to show the underside, where the teeth marks go almost all the way through.
“So what?” Jenkins snaps after another second. “So the fuck what?” God, he really is an asshole when challenged. Or maybe he just gets like this after midnight. Like a bigger, meaner gremlin. That, or he just needs his beauty sleep so he remembers how to not throw tantrums like a goddamn toddler.
I’m half expecting him to grab the tray of equipment he’s standing next to and flip it over just to prove a point and remind us all how upset and offended he is.
“You didn’t note this at the scene,” Adele is quick to slip in as she leans over the body. “Did you even look in his mouth, Jim?” She meets his gaze with reproach, and that’s enough to make him wilt a little.
“Well, yes. Like I said, Adele, this isn’t an uncommon—”
“But she’s already demonstrated the bite isn’t self-inflicted. Is it fresh?” she asks, looking at me. I don’t even hesitate. I nod.
“Fresh enough that I’d say it happened around when he died. We’d see signs of healing if it was from before that, I think.” I’m not exactly a coroner or a doctor, so I can only give my best estimation.
If Cecil were here, he could give more accurate times and numbers. He’s been doing this long enough that I’m pretty sure he’s seen everything when it comes to death and dying.
He would’ve known instantly if this was worth calling Adele over or not. Part of me wonders why I didn’t call him first. I’m sure he wouldn’t have chewed me out for waking him up. He probably would’ve asked for pictures and talked me through a plan.
That would’ve been the better option, I tell myself, a little displeased at my hasty actions. But I don’t have a choice but to stick with them now. So I stand there, stiff and anxious, with my arms folded over my chest and the tongs hooked over one finger.
Jenkins continues to rant, listing all the reasons it isn’t his fault and how the injury isn’t relevant.
He and Adele go back over the crime scene, discussing it in detail.
The lack of signs of a break-in or any defensive wounds.
The lack of a note, though Jenkins insists they don’t always leave a note.
“You don’t even care that much!” Jenkins snaps finally. “Name me one person in town other than his goddamned mother who will lose a wink of sleep over him being dead!”
Adele turns an icy, unfriendly look on him that could freeze lava. I swear if she were looking at me like that, I’d be apologizing on my knees and looking for a way to make things up to her immediately. Even Jenkins seems to realize he’s made a mistake. He looks down and away, shoulders hunched.
“It’s probably nothing…” My words pull both of their attention back to me, though I’m not so sure that’s a good thing right now.
“But I also noticed that he was wearing brand-new, really nice clothes. At least his pants and boxers. I don’t know if it’s relevant or just something he did anyway, but…
” I roll my shoulders in an anxious shrug.
“It seemed like he was expecting to make an impression?” But what do I know?
I’ve only tried to kill myself twice, and neither time was I that concerned over what I was wearing.
Not that I’ll say that part out loud. Ever.
They proceed to argue about that, too. Eventually, I just go about my work, or at least the parts of it that don’t require me to go near the body. Listening to Adele tear into Jenkins is cathartic, though I finally end up looping my headphones back over my ears to focus on my work.
There’s no point in trying to keep up with a conversation that I only have partial context for. And I doubt either of them wants any more of my opinions about Andrew Elliot, who lies on the table between them like he’s asleep.
Finally, Adele seems to win their argument. When Jenkins throws up his arms, I glance at him, drawn by the movement, to find him glaring over at me like I’ve personally ruined his night.
“You’re not a coroner, Miss Collins,” he scolds coolly. “And I’ll thank you to stop pretending to have my job.”
“She’s not trying to take your job, Jenkins,” Adele snaps, stepping in before I have to do more than stare at him in surprise and indignation. I’m sure there’s a comeback somewhere in me, but I’m too surprised by all of this to find it.
Is this a dream? Part of me is sure it has to be. I’ve never had a night like this, and I’m suddenly sure I’m actually dreaming, still asleep on my bed in my apartment above the coffee shop. There’s no other explanation for the way the mortuary has gotten so exciting when it has no right to be.
“Sorry,” I can’t help but murmur, when all I can hear is my breathing and the little whooshes of the sheriff sending off messages while Jenkins steps out to make an angry call.
“Hmm?” Adele glances up at me. “For what?” She seems actually perplexed, like she can’t imagine why I’m apologizing.
“For causing a scene. It’s probably nothing, I know. I feel bad getting you up and dragging him out of bed.” Though I don't really feel bad about that part, I just feel bad for us having to deal with it.
Adele shakes her head and sends one last message before shoving her phone into her pocket.
“You’ve got nothing to apologize for, Nell,” she promises me with a hand suddenly on my shoulder.
My arm twitches, fingers curling as I fight not to move back from her touch like I normally would.
It isn’t her fault that I’m not a fan of being touched casually like this.
And she has no way of knowing. Plus, she’s just trying to comfort me.
“I’d rather we’re overly thorough than the opposite.
Jenkins can actually do his job tonight and look over Andrew’s body to see what he missed.
And if there’s nothing to find, then Andrew will be back here tomorrow for you to finish up.
” As I watch, she checks for her keys and heads for the door with a last smile back at me.
“And if he finds something?” I can’t keep the question out of my mouth. Sheriff Miller takes her time making sure everything is in its place: phone, gun, handcuffs, and finally turns to glance back at me over her shoulder.
“Then you’ll hear about it with everyone else on the news.”