by B Anders
“We have,” she agreed sadly.
For some unknown reason, talking to Edwin Dodd was making Colby misty eyed. Few men had this effect on Colby, but there was something very reassuring about Edwin Dobb. He had this calm assuredness that made people want to trust him. Colby was no exception. His smooth bedside manner was probably the sole reason his funeral home was one of the most sought after despite its location in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city.
"You still at the place on Melnea Cass?" Colby asked him with a wink and a grin.
Edwin chuckled, "I’m a creature of habit, Colby. I'll never leave my little shop. Why would I? The rent is cheap, business is good, and I live right upstairs saving on the commute." A satisfied smile crossed his lips, "It isn’t much but it allows me to do what I can to contribute to the community and I walk every day, all the way to the MFA and when I’m feeling ambitious to Kenmore Square. I’ve made so many good friends over the years and the gentrification of the Fenway has really added to my social life."
Colby laughed, "You old dog, Edwin."
He blushed a little, "What can I say, guilty as charged. But, Colby may I speak with Jessie? Just for a moment. She’s so pale and thin. I need to know if she’s okay.” Edwin asked quietly as he looked over Colby’s shoulder to where Jessie remained kneeling on the floor.
“Oh sure. Of course Edwin, just let me help her up first.” Colby quickly answered.
She leaned over and gently tugged Jessie back to her feet. Jessie didn't resist to Colby’s surprise. She had reverted to a cationic, robotic shell. Her eyes fixed firmly on the floor unwilling to meet Edwin Dodd’s penetrating gaze.
“Jessie, I don’t know if you can understand me but it’s Uncle Eddie. I want you to know I’ve missed you. I know I haven’t come to visit much and I’m sorry. Your lawyer, Ms. Swartz, didn’t think it was a good idea. I shouldn’t have listened. You’re so thin. Are you okay? Are they treating you well where you’re at? Do you have everything you need?”
Although Edwin’s tone was gentle and full of concern, Jessie didn’t answer or even attempt a response. She continued to hang her head and stare passively at her feet without a sound. Seeing Jessie was indifferent to his questions, Edwin tried a different approach.
“I know, you don’t believe me, but I do care about you very, very much. I always have and I always will. Please call if you ever want my help. I’m your only living relative now, Jessie. We shared a great deal before Marty passed away. It can be like that again. It’s not too late. You only need to ask, Jessie. I can help you. You know I can.”
Colby felt a slight shudder run the length of Jessie’s body when Edwin reached out and placed his business card into her limp, shackled hands. Otherwise, there was no other outward reaction from Jessie. It was like she was playing a childish game of possum.
Colby knew Jessie understood Edwin wanted to help. She found it unusual Jessie didn’t even lift her head up to look at him. She seemed content to continue staring at her feet. Her lack of response in the face of Edwin’s kindness embarrassed Colby.
“Sorry Edwin, I know it must upset you seeing her like this,” Colby apologized.
Edwin shook his head. “I’ve never blamed you for what happened to my Jessie. I know we’re not related by blood, but I would like nothing more than for her to be well enough to come home. It would be nice to share a home with family again. Jessie and I talked about travelling and I like to think that someday we’re able to do that, just the two of us. On the practical side," he gave a wink, "these days it is just me lifting new clients like John Doe, 179z, over there. But then as Martin Luther King Jr said ‘every man must do two things alone, he must do his own believing and his own dying’. Which reminds me, will you excuse me, Colby I'm on a bit of a tight schedule.”
They exchanged handshakes and Colby watched as Edwin Dodd walked back to where he left the stretcher with the extra-large body bag strapped down onto it.
“Need a hand?” Colby offered as Edwin dug down and started to push.
“Oh no, it’s quite alright. I’m much strong than I appear. My looks are quite deceptive.”
“Right,” Colby laughed out loud. “You’ve got a killer set of abs.”
Edwin grinned, “You caught me, Colby. I’m a real lady-killer all right. I’ll be seeing you real soon, Colby. Please take care of Jessie for me.”
***
Colby dragged the reluctant Jessie the last four feet into the autopsy room. She hip checked the swinging door open and shoved her shackled prisoner over the threshold. The dank sterile room reeking of death and decay was startling even to the most crime hardened Officers. Colby knew a couple of guys who would rather have their toe nails pulled out one by one with a set of pliers than do a visual on an autopsy.
“The floor is fuckin’ cold,” Jessie gritted out loud between chattering teeth. “I want a thicker pair of socks, you psycho cop.”
“Wow, your lack of respect for everything is amazing,” Colby replied as she pushed Jessie deeper into the room. “Me, the dead, even your uncle, you’re a cold hearted bitch.”
“You think I’m a terrible person for wanting a better pair of socks? Just read my file and you’ll learn how truly horrible I really am, Officer Willis. I’ve even asked for seconds at dinnertime on occasion. Feed me, cloth me, shelter me, I’m a real fuckin’ cry baby.”
Before Colby could open her mouth to tell Jessie to shut the fuck up, a thick, nasal voice boomed across the room interrupting their conversation. “Willis, what the fuck? You on a date? Or are you giving tours to South Bay lock up rejects now for spare change?”
“Not really, McGhoulish. Meet Jessie Walsh. The Jessie Walsh. I’m just letting the Ripper’s biggest fan come see his handy work up close and personal. You got the latest body hanging around here someplace? The Indian woman,” Colby asked as she stepped closer to the gurney keeping a firm grip on Jessie's bicep.
The Medical Examiner frowned. “Your date’s too pretty to be hanging out with a loser with a mug like yours and I’d prefer you not call me that. Try to remember when they haul your dead ass in here, I’m the one that’s gonna remove your brain and weigh it. So, show me some respect, girl.”
Colby grinned, “You sound pretty sure that I’ll kick it before you. So, now you're a friggin' psychic."
Ignoring Colby, the stoop shouldered, balding man in the green scrubs let out a long sigh before shuffling to the middle table in the row of three. Each stainless steel top held a body covered in a zippered black body bag. Stretching a little to grab the zipper tab, he began to open the second bag.
“Oh, I’m sure some irate person will do the world a favor and cap your ass long before your liver gives up on you. You’ll be dead before me. You’ll be dead before I retire. I’m never wrong about these things. My grandmother had the gift. She always knew. You best be careful, Willis.”
A chill tore across Colby’s belly at the Medical Examiner’s words, but she managed to force her bravado. “If I have to go, I hope I get knocked off by a pair of naked redheaded twin strippers or maybe their husbands.”
Colby’s last statement earned her a wicked sneer from Jessie, “Don’t be stupid, Officer Willis. You know you can’t handle a real woman, much less two.”
Colby roughly grabbed Jessie by the scruff of her neck and marshaled her over to the metal slab.
"Put your powers to police work for a change. What gives with the stiff, Old Man? You want to spill it?”
The Medical Examiner had already stitched closed the gaping wound across the victim’s throat. Colby was unsettled with the rapid completion of the autopsy.
“McGhoulish, what’s up with the vic? How’d you finish so fast?”
The disheveled older gentlemen in the blood splattered green scrubs replied sourly. “Someday you’ll call me that and I swear I’ll stab you with my scalpel. As to why I was so fast, I could remind you, Officer Willis, of my decades of practice … I was the first …”
Before
the Medical Examiner could list out his professional achievements, Jessie let out a rude snort drawing color to the old man’s cheeks.
“But, I don’t need to defend my skills to you or your girlfriend there. The kill was straight forward. Just like all the others. A caesarean like wound across the midsection. An unclottable wound with massive blood loss and mutilation of the body. Few of the vics had food in their bellies but most had water suggesting they were exercising before the attack. Multiple broken bones at strategic locations: wrists, knees, sometimes an elbow. Lips crazy glued together. The only ligature marks were to hold the body in place. The broken limbs kept the vic from getting help. The sealed mouth kept the vic quiet. Only one deviation with this body. A slice to the throat. Not to deep. I believe it was purely decorative. Yes, this is the same sadistic bastard.”
“What about the eyes on this one?” Colby asked.
She was beginning to feel dry and shaky. The smell of blood in the room was getting to her. She needed to move this part of the investigation along. Get the damned job done and out of the way, so she could get out of the fuckin’ building and go get a drink. She’d been dry for far too long. She needed a Jack to forget.
“Forget-me-not,” the Medical Examiner said. “Petals from the Myosotis flower, commonly known as the forget-me-not, were shoved into the vic’s eyes before the lids were glued shut.”
“Ah ‘silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, blossom the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.’ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline." Jessie mused before asking a single question. "What was inside the wound?”
“Inside the wound? What’s inside the wound?” The Medical Examiner asked blankly, but got no reply from Jessie other than a grim twisted smile. "You got something to say then spit it out."
“You haven’t looked, have you? Don’t you know joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift? You've been missing the messages, haven't you? You got a second chance with this one. A second wound for you to explore and still you missed it.”
Sighing heavily as he tugged out the stitches along the throat wound. The Medical Examiner took a long gleaming pair of forceps and began to dig around inside the wound. He stared off into space as he focused on making the long metal prongs an extension of his fingers.
“Son of a Bitch!” he exclaimed as he grabbed another pair of forceps. Holding the first one steady as he lined up the second. He carefully cleared a mass of blood clots obstructing the opening of the wound with the second pair of forceps allowing him to pull his prize to the surface. “Fuck me!”
“Not a chance,” Jessie quipped as she edged closer to the table to get a better look.
Welding his tools with infinite care the Medical Examiner slowly unfolded the tiny wad of blood covered paper. “He laminated it. The goddamned asshole. Shit!” The Medical Examiner swore as he hurled the surgical instrument into the metal container next to his elbow.
"C#," Colby muttered absently in response to the resulting ping.
“Let me guess, its dear old Marty’s business card.” Jessie quipped cheerfully as the silent hateful glare from the medical examiner confirmed her statement, “Now boys and girls, let’s see what the number on the back is?”
The Medical Examiner turned the card over and Colby read the number out loud. “27.”
“You guys better start exhuming bodies. You’re coming up short.” Jessie giggled suddenly tickled pink at the blind incompetence surrounding her.
Before the Medical Examiner could even muster a reply, Colby pushed Jessie back into the corridor. Grabbing a fistful of hair, she steered the smaller woman to the metal doors that Edwin Dodd exited on their way in. A firm kick was all Colby needed to achieve entry. She hustled Jessie into the darkened room. It was the cold storage for the recently carved up stiffs. The overpowering stench of formaldehyde made Jessie gag, but Colby was too angry to give in to her nausea.
“What the fuck is going on! What’s this all about? Spill it now or, so help me God, you’ll never walk out of this room,” Colby screamed as she slammed Jessie against a wall of metal drawers.
Jessie groaned, but remained defiant. “You think dying scares me? I spent three years in hell because of you. Every day I prayed for strength. If only I was brave enough to end it all and embrace the sweet relief myself. And do you know what I learned in the end? I learned that God is deaf.” Jessie chuckled bitterly before continuing with a second thought, “Or maybe he hears me just fine and the problem is I’m just not sane enough to take the hint and kill myself.”
“If you’re looking for sympathy …” Colby started before being interrupted by a mocking laugh.
“Sympathy? From you? Colby, I’m fuckin’ crazy not stupid. You are my father’s creature. You’ll never spare me a moment’s kindness even if I gave you a chance like this.”
Colby was stunned by the suddenness of Jessie’s advance. Her police training readied her to anticipate a violent physical response from her prisoner but never something like this. The kiss was innocent and warm and to Colby not nearly long enough.
“Surprised you, didn’t I?” Jessie whispered. There was no malice in the remark, only a hint of disappointment.
“Are you trying to, I mean, you’re trying to ... to what? What? Shit.” Colby babbled helplessly as she tried to make sense of Jessie’s actions, flustered beyond measure by the electric feel of Jessie’s lips on her own.
Jessie seemed dejected at Colby’s response, “Am I so ugly that you can’t even appreciate a kiss from me, Colby?”
“Shit, no. I’ve always thought that you were the most beautiful thing ever.”
Colby saw the burden of the lost years fall away from Jessie’s face as she started to smile and for a fleeting moment Colby remembered the two of them sitting out on a porch one lazy summer afternoon sharing a popsicle and laughing. They were close once. What happened? Colby wondered. When did everything start going wrong? Did things fall apart the night of Marty's murder or were they already going to shit before his last breath.
“Maybe the ugly part is the kiss ended before I got a taste of you. Maybe it would have been better like this.”
Colby eased in. She was almost shy as she gently nibbled Jessie’s lips. But, once she felt the warmth and welcoming parting, Colby plunged in deep like a woman possessed, growing bolder with each moan she elicited from the woman under her. Jessie’s tongue caressed Colby’s advance, accepting, surrendering completely to Colby’s control.
“Is that the more you were hoping for?” Colby whispered as she softly kissed Jessie’s neck.
“You don’t get it do you? This isn’t about me. This entire nightmare is about you. Don’t you understand, Colby? Don’t you see, hell is empty and all the devils are here?”
Colby’s frustration at Jessie’s riddles overwhelmed her, causing her to momentarily tighten her grip on the other woman. Jessie’s whimper of pain as Colby dug her fingers deep into her shoulders only added fuel to the fire.
“You think this hurts? Imagine how Marty felt with his guts spilling out.”
“Imagine? We both saw him suffer. You don’t have to imagine. You couldn’t save him, Colby, so you did the next best thing. You saved yourself. You fuckin’ coward.”
“I came in after,” Colby stuttered as a sick feeling of guilt ignited like wild fire in her stomach.
Jessie snorted back a laugh, “Careful Colby or you’ll start to believe the lies you wrote in your report. You were there for a very long time before Marty died. You just fuckin’ don’t want to admit you stood by and let your superior officer bleed to death on his own floor. Does that sound familiar, Colby?”
“No, I didn’t get there until after,” Colby insisted shaking her head. ‘I wasn’t there when it happened. Jessie, I swear. I wasn’t there.”
Jessie laughed. “Colby, save it. I know this is another dodge, right? Just covering your tracks and taking care of number one, right? You freakin’ liar.”
&
nbsp; “No. I’m not lying. I’ve never ever lied to you, Jessie. Never.”
“You don’t remember?” Jessie whispered. “You’re going to stand there and tell me you really don't remember. Curiouser and curiouser as they say. In which case, we need to go, Colby. Get away. Go someplace safe. He’ll come back again and again. He’s got nothing else."
"If you know who he is, just tell me," Colby begged.
Jessie shook her head, "Not here. We need to be safe. Take me home, Colby."
*****
