CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jay found himself back in Augie’s autopsy suite for the
second time in a week. The sterility of the room always
gave him the chills, but this time it was the brutal murder
of a woman he knew. That gave him the chills. Augie and
his two assistants, Pete and Ed, were preparing the
instruments and scanning paperwork on the far side of
the room. The stench of death hung thickly in the air. For
the briefest moment, Jay felt as though he might be
violently ill. He didn’t recall feeling this way when he
attended Kylie-Anne’s autopsy, perhaps it was the
familiarity that sickened him, not the surroundings.
He stared solemnly at the metal gurney in the centre of
the room. Marla’s body lay there beneath a crisp white
sheet. Her left hand protruded from under the white
covering. The fingernails on both her hands were tattered
and torn. One was completely ripped away. A deep,
jagged gash appeared in the centre of her palm. Perhaps
the killer did it when her breasts were being tied to them.
Or perhaps it was from being dragged or pushed out the
broken window in her bedroom. However it happened,
Jay knew that Marla had suffered far worse than that
gash, at the hands of her murderer. Her index finger was
bent backwards. It hung down like a small twig hanging
from a branch. The dislocation of it affected Jay more
than he could understand.
“Ready to start?” Augie stood in front of him.
“Huh? Oh, yeah.”
The suite suddenly buzzed like a beehive of frantic activity,
Ed and Pete both like soldier bees running from one
location to another, gathering bowls and surgical
instruments in readiness for the queen bee, Augie. Their
sterile gloves, aprons and boot covers crackled with each
movement they made. Pete walked towards Marla’s limp
body and pulled the sheet back, exposing her and her
ravaged body to all present. Jay’s eyes traced the line of
her torso and came to rest on her chest. Mangled skin
and raw tissue was all that remained of her breasts. Apart
from the curve of her full lips and the chiselling of her
defined cheekbones, everything that made Marla feminine
had been stripped from her. His eyes fixed on her
abdomen. The murderers grotesque incisions left her
gaping wide open from the navel down. The sight
repulsed him, yet he could not look away. He needed to
see this again, needed the reminder of how desperately
this twisted killer had to be caught.
Augie walked over and stood beside Marla, and together
with Pete and Ed, the examination commenced.
“Pete,” said Augie. “Ready with the camera?”
“Sure thing,” he replied, picking up the large black piece of
equipment from the work bench.
“Taking notes, Ed?”
“I’m on it.”
“Frontal examination presents numerous abrasions to
the head, face, neck and left shoulder. As per previous
victims Tessa Hunt and kylie-Anne Saunders, Both breasts
have been removed in their entirety. Incisions appear to
be smooth and clean, instrument used was extremely
sharp and accurate, my guess is a scalpel or perhaps a
boning knife.”
The flash of Pete’s camera startled life back into Jay, his
senses peaked and he regained composure from the
trance like state that had over taken him earlier. He
squinted his eyes and found his focus, the flash having
temporarily blinded him. Augie continued with his
external documentation.
“Both arms bear deep abrasions and sub-sequent
bruising. Fingernails on right hand torn, minor cuts
present. Left palm presents a deep gash approximately
five centimetres long by one and a half centimetres wide.
Fingernails torn, one completely removed. Index finger
appears fractured and dislocated.”
“How you going there, Ed? You getting this all down?”
“On target, Dr. August.”
Augie glanced over at Jay. “How about you, Jay?”
“I’m hangin’ in there. Doing ok,” he lied. His stomach was
churning and he felt like he was going to lose his
breakfast. Each autopsy he attended proved worse than
the last. After seeing death and violence everyday, it
surprised that he still couldn’t cope with an autopsy.
Augie held Marla’s left hand up for Pete to take a photo,
the flash lit up the room again and the documentation
continued.
“As we come to the abdomen, it is apparent that there
has been some major amateurish surgery performed.”
“Amateurish surgery?” Ed queried Augie, a strange
expression on his acne-ravaged face.
“Yes, that’s the best way I can describe it, I’m afraid.”
“Once again, by visual inspection only, her abdomen has
been cut in a manner as per a crude caesarean section.