Gluskin & Ichor Family Funeral Home

Part 2 (Hit the road, Jack)

"What's going on here?" Heidi, the coroner entered the room, fully clothed in a lab coat, mask, face shield, and thick rubber gloves. "I'm just about to start the autopsy, scram." she shooed them outside the door, the presence not wanted in the vicinity at the time...

"Ah, I was just introducing Tammy here to the bodies, considering she is going to be helping us out with this..." his voice was firm, but still sounded shaky, breaking now and again. He was trying to hide the grief in his voice, though barely possible.

"Oh, is she now?" Heidi responded, a snarky tone in her voice. "If she's "Helping us," " she used air quotes, "Then I assume she's here to help with the autopsy." she crossed her arm, walking closer to Tammy.

"I-" Tammy was quickly cut off by Maddox

"We think it's murder..." his tone serious and cold like footsteps on a concrete floor, echoing through the morgue. "At least, that's what I assume." he smiled, his demeanor cracking as he grinned fakely at her.

"Well, just so you know, this is MY JOB. I'll tell you what happened after the autopsy, I'll check for everything, and see if your batshit crazy murder theory is correct," she responded coldly back. "Now out."

Tammy and Maddox exited the morgue, making their way back down the dreary and now slightly humid hallway. It was raining now, making the air within the hall not only cold but wet as well, a sticking mist clinging to the sides of the concrete walls.

"Maddox, I'm so sorry." Tammy sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder, in hopes that it might comfort him. "I can't even begin to imagine what that must feel like."

"It hurts," he said plainly, burying his head in his hands, most likely wiping away tears. "That's what it feels like, painful." he sobbed.

"Let's go home Madd, you've had a long day." Tammy suggested, "I don't know how Wren and Hestia are going to feel about this..." she sighed, "So, let's take it slow."

"Man where are they?" Wren groaned, throwing her head back with impatience. "We've been waiting since what, like 3:30 in the freaking pm, like come on!" 

"I dunno Wren, maybe something happened while they were there?" Hestia suggested. "Do you have any ideas?"

Wren did know, she knew what had happened at the mental hospital, but she wasn't about to tell the newbie. It would probably mentally scar her, to be frank, Hestia was never the most emotionally strong, often letting her emotions get the best of her.

"Not a clue." She lied through her teeth, "I'm still wondering how long it'll take before they get ho-" 

The girls heard the echoey sound of the front doors opening from the upper office. Scurrying down the hallway to see if both Tamara and Mr. Gluskin had returned yet.

Only Tamara entered.

"Hey kiddos, what's up?" her voice sounded weak, kind of like she was hiding something.

"Where's my Dad, didn't you meet him at the nuthouse?" Wren's voice echoed stern through the main lobby "Where is he." Her question sounded less like a question and more of a serious demand for information.

"He's, uhm- working with the coroner right now," she responded sheepishly

She was lying, Wren knew it.

"But where's my father?" Hestia asked, jutting into the conversation to make her presence known. "Didn't he come back with you Tammy?" 

"He, well..." Tammy began "You're gonna want to sit down for this girls." she said.

"What..." Hestia's voice became shaky, faltering in her persistent questioning, she sank her fingers into her bright red hair. "What do you mean he's dead..."

"Look, Hessy, I saw him in the body bag myself." Tammy admitted, "And as for your mother Wren, the call we got was originally for her." 

"I can't believe it." her voice sounded empty, it reverberated through the halls, deep and quiet. "How- How did she die, please don't say it was what I think it is." she gasped out.

"We don't know yet Wren, the coroner is currently working on the autopsies as we speak." Tammy paused. "I don't think it was murder, so I'll save you some time in worrying."

"But, did she go naturally, why didn't the home call us?!" Wren wanted answers, and she wanted them NOW. "What happened to her?!" 

"I DON'T KNOW!!!" Tamara stood up from her stool, pounding her fist on the desk, demeanor quickly settling. "I don't know Wren..." she sighed, sitting back down, laying her head in her hands.

Tammy felt her eyes grow tired, she was exhausted, she'd never worked with a murder case so close to home, especially this close.

All the while, Maddox was busy with his own "Work" 

He paced his way through a foggy grove of trees, a deer path leading the way as he traipsed his way through the brush. Breath was heavy as he held back the grief and sadness he was currently facing.  

Ah, there it is, just what he was looking for.

A small grove of aspen trees slowly turning a dusty yellow, his wife's favorite color, one, in particular, stood out.

A tree on the thicker side, lots of leaves, and a large portion carved out of the trunk, the initials MG + MK carved out on the side, respectively, Maddox Gluskin and Minnie Kingsly. He remembers vividly carving their initials into the trunk the same year they started dating. Also in October, the current month.

Maddox sighed "What happened to us?" 

He ran his fingers over the slowly healing bark where the letters were, feeling the grooves underneath his fingertips. He remembers the exact knife he used to carve them into the tree. It was a really crappy knife, dull, only really used to be intimidating if anyone tried anything. Though nobody ever did, nobody wanted to mess with the "Mad Dog" of Exland.

Maddox Gluskin was born to the local police chief then detective of Exland, his current town, and his mother was a mortician, together, his parents somehow, working around the law had solved multiple murders in Exland and the surrounding area. Inspiring Maddox to one day do the same.

Why was Maddox coined "Mad Dog"? Well, he'd always had a liking for hunting in the woods, keeping a small group of semi-tame coyotes to help him find animals. Nobody would want to start a fight in the woods with the boy who had pet coyotes after all. The "Mad" part had to do with his slowness to anger, but the unfathomable rage that came with it. 

"Mad Dog huh?" he chuckled, dropping his hands at his sides. 

"Well then, time to go hunting."