“Here,” he said as he reached into his jacket pocket. When he withdrew it, small, white paper packets were protruding from between his fingers. He held them out to her, and she instinctively cupped her hands beneath his as he let them fall into her palms.
“I didn’t bother sortin’ it, so there’s prob’ly some pepper in there too, sorry ‘bout that,” he told her. Then jerking his head to the side, he motioned up the street and grunted, “C’mon, let’s get movin’.”
“What’s all this for?” Felicity asked, stuffing the unsought bounty into her pockets.
He pointed at me as he started turning to head up the sidewalk. “Ta’ keep his sorry ass safe. Got a bottle’a aspirin too if ya’ need it.”
“We’re going straight to the morgue, aren’t we?” I asked, my voice coming out in a flat drone because I already knew his answer.
“Yeah,” he replied. “We’re goin’ straight to the morgue.”
I’d made far too many such visits to the Saint Louis City Medical Examiner’s office over the years, and even though I had become prematurely jaded to the sight of corpses and the cold feeling of death, I still never could get used to the place.
Every time I walked through the door of the innocuous building situated next to police headquarters, it was like being the unexpected celebrity guest at a morbid party. It almost always began with a stunned silence that went unnoticed by everyone but me-simply because the ethereal hush was falling over the ghostly voices of the dead that only I could hear in the first place. Of course, the stillness never lasted long. Within moments the screams, the cries, and the pleading voices from the other side of the veil would fill my ears in a deafening cacophony.
And then above it all, there was always the one clear voice of the soul I was supposed to help. That one always shared with me the most pain, anguish, and even physical torture. I suppose it needed something to set it apart from the crowd, although I would have gladly settled for a gentler way of capturing my attention.
As expected, today was no different. And just as I had done on each and every occasion, I fought to ignore the screams in favor of the here and now that was unfolding in front of me.
“Where’s Ceece?” Ben asked the woman behind the desk in the lobby. We were barely through the door, and she hadn’t even been afforded the chance to greet us.
“I’m sorry?” she replied.
“You know, the lady who’s s’posed ta’ be sittin’ where you’re sittin’ right now,” he explained.
She nodded as a look of understanding tweaked her features. “Oh, you mean Cecelia. She just ran out to pick up lunch. May I help you?”
Ben flashed his badge. “Yeah, I’m Detective Storm. We’re here ta’ see Doc Sanders.”
“I’m sorry, Detective, I’m afraid she’s also at lunch.”
“She should be expectin’ us.”
The woman shook her head. “I’m certain she’s at lunch.”
“She go out too, or is she in ‘er office like usual?” he asked.
“I believe she’s in her office, but as I said, she’s taking a break for lunch. She should be…”
Ben held up his hands to stop her and began shaking his head. “Ceece knew we were comin’, so did Doc Sanders.”
“I’m sorry, but neither of them said anything about it to me,” she returned.
“Well, they musta forgot.”
“Let me check…” she said as she carefully glanced over a schedule sheet while running her pen along the side and then gave it a second pass. She began shaking her head slowly as she looked up and said, “I’m very sorry, Detective Storm, but you don’t have an appointment listed here and Doctor Sanders is…”
“…at lunch, yeah, I know. Look… I’m serious. Ceece knew we were comin’. If that ain’t enough for ya’, try this on. My boss sent us over here to talk to your boss. Now I really don’t wanna have my boss jumpin’ on my ass and then callin’ your boss’ boss, ‘cause in the end the shit’s just gonna roll downhill on top of both of us. Know what I mean? So just do me a favor… Pick up the phone and let the doc know we’re here.” He shook his head again. “She says no, all good. We let her explain it. Okay?”
The woman looked at him with a sideways glance. “Are you always this intense?”
“Yes, he is,” another voice came from the doorway to our right, and a definite tone of exasperation surrounded the words.
We looked over to find Cecelia coming into the lobby from the back, door slowly swinging shut behind her. Her purse was slung over her shoulder, and she was juggling a pair of large carryout bags in her arms.
“Ceece,” Ben crooned with an air of relief.
“Don’t Ceece me, Storm. You aren’t supposed to be here yet,” she snipped as she walked across the lobby and deposited the bags on the desk. “I told you Doctor Sanders would be available after lunch.”
“Yeah, well shit happens, ya’know.”
“Especially with you,” she sighed. “Is there really some pressing reason why you have to see the doctor now?”
“Yes,” he replied.
She stood staring at him expectantly. After a moment she said, “I take it I’m not going to get an explanation?”
“I can’t get into it,” he said. “Let’s just say the doc owes me.”
“Owes you? Are you sure you don’t have that backwards?”
“Nope.”
Cecelia shook her head. “I’m not even going to ask.”
“Yeah, that’s prob’ly a good idea. B’sides, couldn’t tell ya’ anyway.”
“You’re incorrigible,” she mumbled.
Ben nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard that.”
Cecelia directed herself to the woman at the reception desk. “Go ahead and buzz Doctor Sanders, Caroline. He really is supposed to be here.” She paused for a heartbeat then added with emphasis, “After lunch.”
CHAPTER 20:
“I think it’s warmer outside than it is in here,” Ben mused aloud as he shuffled in place. I was fairly certain his dance was more out of impatience than an attempt to keep warm, even though his observation was certainly dead on the mark.
Shortly after the receptionist had buzzed Doctor Sanders, we were signed in then escorted to the cold storage area and autopsy suites at the back of the medical examiner’s building. Unfortunately, we had already been standing here for several minutes, and it was beginning to look like the M.E. was going to make us wait indefinitely.
“Yeah,” I agreed with my friend then looked over at my wife. “You okay, honey?”
She merely nodded in response. She tended to be a bit more sensitive to the cold than me, so she had already zipped up her leather jacket and was now pulling on her gloves. I was almost regretting having left my own coat back at the Jeep even though I knew there was more to the gelid atmosphere than simply the physical temperature.
I gave Felicity’s shoulder a quick squeeze then glanced around at the tiled room. It had been awhile since I’d ventured this far into the bowels of the building, but little had changed since then. Stainless steel rectangles still formed an evenly spaced checkerboard on the far wall, each one a doorway into a cubicle where earthly remains awaited their turn under the knife. At the back end of the room were doors leading into the garage where an overt but acceptable form of segregation occurred on an almost daily basis. Living people entered and exited in the front, corpses there in the back. The only thing missing was a sign reading “Dead Persons Only.”
“I guess Doctor Sanders decided to finish her lunch first,” I finally said after completing my visual inspection
