Chapter 24
Serenity
I had a cab take me to the office of the medical examiner. I paid the driver and got out. I walked up to the front door and saw name plates on the side with office numbers. I looked down and saw his name. Dr. Samuel Smith, office number 235. I pushed the button while praying that this wouldn’t be a worthless trip.
“Can I help you?” Shit, he was here.
“Yes. My name is Serenity and I would like to talk to you about a high-profile case that you took care of a few years back. It’s for a paper that I’m doing for school.”
Good thinking on the fly, I told myself. Then I heard a buzzing noise and hurried to grab the door. I followed the signs down a long hall, then up a flight of stairs. I walked a little further, then saw the office numbered 235. I knocked, waiting for someone to come to the door. Just when I was about to grab the handle, it opened and I jumped back slightly.
“Good afternoon, young lady. What can I do to assist you?” I grabbed the folder that I made with all the notes and followed him toward a desk. He sat behind it and gestured for me to sit on the other side. Definitely getting creepy vibes from this guy. Whatever, I didn’t have time to think about that right now.
“I am doing a story on Mr. Morono’s life as a lawyer and his untimely death.” His eyes went big and he leaned back in his chair and brought his folded hands to the back of his head.
“I didn’t think that I would hear that name ever again.” I gave him a questioning look. I decided to keep going.
“I found that he was reported to have numerous scars across his body that were no cause for concern, but also, he had a heart attack. He had no family history of heart attack and he was a healthy man,” I asked. I took another look at him and realized that he’s sweating now and seems very nervous.
“You said you were writing a report about this?” Shit.
“Yes, I am going for my LLM and he is a mentor of mine or was.” I hoped he was buying what I was saying. He got up and walked over to a cabinet that was on the far wall. He reached in and pulled out a file.
“This is what I have from that day. This has been a long time coming.” He went back behind his desk and sat. He opened the file and the first thing I saw was a picture of his back and the scars that were there.
“I discovered small traces of something in his stomach, but it wasn’t enough to get a sample. I had suspicions that he didn’t just have a heart attack, but I didn’t have enough evidence. But this wasn’t the first time that I saw something like this.”
“Do you remember who the other person was?” He started to shake his head.
“No. It was during my first week of being a medical examiner. It was so long ago, but I do remember the details.” Damn.
“So, you suspect that he was murdered?” I asked as he looked at me like he was trying to figure out if he can trust me or not.
“I believe that he didn’t just have a heart attack. The police cleared his wife of any suspicion, but that was also odd. But everything goes by evidence and proof and I didn’t have anything other than a middle-aged man who had a heart attack.”
“What do you mean, odd?” I asked. He looked down at the file again and started to move the papers.
“She never came to see him. Usually when someone loses a loved one, they want to be able to say their goodbyes for some kind of closer. She didn’t even come to get his belongings. She had me send someone to bring them to her.” Who doesn’t want to say goodbye to their dead husband?
“Thank you so much for your time. Is there any way that I can get a copy of his death certificate?” He looked up from the papers and put his hand to his face again.
“His death is public record. You already looked that up, I thought?” I smiled.
“Yes, I did, but I want the report that you wrote with your suspicions. Please.” He took a heavy sigh and reached in and pulled out a file. I saw a picture on his desk. When I looked at it more closely, I gasped. It was the doctor with Simon and Theo. I grabbed the picture and studied it. They both looked so young in this picture.
“Your sons are very handsome.” I looked up at him and see a frown on his face.
“Those are my nephews. The one there”—he pointed—“is Simon and that”s Theo. He used to work here with me. He was planning on being a doctor one day.” Why was he talking about him in the past tense? Fuck it, I was going to ask it.
“Was?” He took the picture from me and set it back on the desk and sat back, just staring at it.
“He’s not around anymore.” Did he think he was dead or something? What the hell. I couldn’t say anything to him, though. But a question popped into my head and I needed to know.
“Was he the one who brought Mr. Morono’s wife his belongings?” He turned his gaze back to me, trying to figure out why I would be asking such a question.
“Yes, he was.” That was it. This was where she met him. She probably started to follow everything that he did. Then the accident happened. Then she took all of his control. It was all starting to come together now, and I needed to call Simon.
“Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Smith. You have no idea how much you have helped me today.” He stood and walked with me toward the door.
“If there is anything else, please let me know.” I smiled and walked out the door. I grabbed my phone and searched for Simon, and sent him a message.
Me: Need to meet up, I have a lot to share with you.
Simon: I can meet you in an hour at the diner.
Me: Fine
Great, the diner. I would like to say that I wanted to see Theo there again, but at the same I needed to try to stay away from him until we figured all of this out. I grabbed a taxi and started to head that way. I told the driver to take me down to the lake quickly so I could try to clear my mind before having to go through all of this with Simon. I didn’t know what we were getting into, but I would get Theo out of this mess and maybe put a psycho behind bars in the process.