Hooked (teenlock)

Chapter Eleven

I felt John shudder, uncomfortable, next to me, so I pressed my side into his. The boy had seen far too much death in his life, and now he stood here, surrounded by it.

Lilly pulled on a pair of plastic gloves and motioned for us to do the same before pulling one of the drawer handles on the wall, proving that it was not in fact a file cabinet, but a body cabinet. 

Molly's body was still in a body bag, so it was easy for Lilly to pull it out of its spot and place it on the metal table. She unzipped it, took out the corpse, and placed Molly onto the table under a white linen blanket like it was no big deal- and, I suppose, it really wasn't for Lilly.

Lilly placed the now-empty body bag under the table. "Alright, she's ready."

I stepped toward the table easily, but John lingered behind me. Still, I proceeded to pull the linen away from her face, taking a look at the wounds on her face. Her lips were cut up, presumably from when the hooks were forced into the roof of her mouth. I spread apart her lips now, and looked at the roof of her mouth. She must have been suspended by ten or twelve of the mini hooks I'd pulled out when we first found her. That would be far too difficult to do on a living person, so she must have already been dead when they were inserted. I grimaced and continued down the body, uncovering Molly's chest and stomach.

"Sherlock," John said, obviously uncomfortable with the nudity.

I shook my head. "John, it's okay. Apparently, neither of us likes women anyway."

Lilly stifled a giggle and I continued my work. Bruising on the collarbone. Forced to sit somewhere? That would make sense, as she was sitting in the chair in the classroom. But it would be far too difficult to kill her at the school... The gash on her stomach where the massive hook had been embedded was much larger than I'd previously imagined. It certainly could have been a cause of death.

Molly's legs had no bruising or cuts on them anywhere, which I found peculiar. With the bruising on her collarbones, the only way she'd be alright elsewhere is if she had stopped struggling completely. This didn't surprise me, really. Molly was a gullible person, and could easily be tricked into sitting still like a good little victim.

I stepped away from the table. "Interesting. Lilly, what do you think?"

Lilly shrugged. "Not many signs of struggle. The cut in her stomach was deep enough to kill her, and it also damaged her large and small intestines, which would have eventually killed her anyway."

I raised an eyebrow upon noticing the lack of emotion she spoke with. "Ah, so the killer had a backup plan, then? If the blood loss didn't kill her, this would?"

"I suppose so," Lilly said, nodding.

"And you wouldn't have any idea who could think like that, would you?" I chose my words carefully.

"Like I said, the forces have given up on her case. In fact, we're sending her body to be buried in just a few days. Family's request."

"Isn't it a bit soon to be doing that, Lilly?"

She shook her head. "Actually, it would have been done ages ago with anyone else. We've held her here for far too long already."

I slammed my palms on the table, but kept my voice steady. "It's almost like someone is trying to hide the evidence."

Lilly took a step back. "I- um-"

"You what? You confess? Because that's all we need you to do right now. She didn't have to die, but she did because of you. All we need is a confession and an explanation."

Lilly was becoming more and more flustered. "I'm not a murderer"

"Right, haven't heard that one before," I said sarcastically.