Mike turned left straight out of the lift, he marched down the corridor and up to the reception desk. The secretary looked up at him and smiled her usual glamorous smile.
“Hi, Detective Lynch. I didn’t know you had another autopsy scheduled in for today,” she said, flicking through her appointment book.
“Nah, not today, beautiful. I’m here to see Augie. He called me and said he had some results for me. He about?” Mike’s head turned and looked towards the rooms further down the hall.
Her smile grew bigger and she laughed, “Well that’s sure better than a nasty autopsy any day, isn’t it? I’ll just page him now for you.” She picked up the phone on the counter in front of her and hit a small green button. Mike heard her mumble a few words before she replaced the receiver and looked back at him. “You can go on through. He’s in Suite 3.”
“Thanks,” he said, heading off in the direction of the Suites. Mike scanned the numbers on each door as he walked down the hallway, there were so many doors and they weren’t numbered in sequence, which he thought was odd. He had been in Suite 2 before and yet it was not next to Suite 3, not even close. He continued down the aisle, looking left and right until he came to another corridor that ran across his path, he took a chance and made a left. A few steps further down on his right was a plain grey door, marked Suite 3. Mike knocked and waited to be allowed in.
“Ahh, Mike… Good to see you. Come on through.” Augie stepped aside, holding the door open for him and he walked through, stopping just inside.
Mike extended his hand and Augie accepted it, giving it a firm shake.
“I hope you don’t mind chatting while I finish up with a few samples I’ve been working with?” Augie asked, motioning to the washtub.
“Not at all. The mood I am in today Augie, we could talk on a volcano for all I care.” A huge smile beamed from his face.
The two walked deeper inside the room and washed their hands at the sinks before entering the autopsy suite.
“So why the happy face?” enquired Augie, pulling on a pair of latex gloves. “Not that you shouldn’t be happy. You just haven’t had a lot to smile about of late.”
“Seems like our luck is changing my friend,” he blurted out. “We got Tessa’s killer!”
Augie stood so still he looked almost frozen to the spot. “You what? Are you serious?” he looked at the excitement on Mikes face.
“Serious as they come!”
“When? Where? How? Why?” He stuttered and tripped over his words with anxious anticipation for the details. “Who?”
Mike laughed heartily and walked to a tall stool sitting a few feet away. He picked it up and brought it back to where he had been standing and sat it down. “Her name was Dr. Rose-Marie Sugars. Seems she was not quite as professional as she should have been” He cocked one leg up and half leant against the stool. Augie’s expression turned to shock.
“Rose-Marie Sugars?”
“Yup. What? Do you know her?”
“Sure,” he replied, sealing a plastic bag and placing it on a pile with several others. “The mother of our last mutilation victim. Marla Andrews.” his eyes fell to the floor. “She came in to identify the body and make arrangements to send her to the funeral home.” He paused. “She seemed so nice. Why, why did she do it?”
“It’s a long and twisted story Augie, trust me. The long and short of it is that she killed Tessa and she is going to jail!”
Augie appeared to be lost in a trance momentarily. Mike snapped his fingers in front of him and said, “Earth to Augie. You still with me?”
Blinking his eyelids a few times, his gaze returned to Mike and they continued their conversation. “So if she killed Tessa, did she kill the others? Her own daughter too?”
“Apparently not, and that’s the bad news. We still have a monster out there stalking and mutilating women. We need to get the freak Augie.” He steadied himself against the chair.
“So it looks like this is a copy-cat killer then?”
“That sure is how it’s looking,” replied Mike. “I can’t figure it out though, specific details weren’t released to the press, so it must be someone who knows the nature of the murders in their entirety.”
Augie rubbed his hands over his face, “Could there be a leak in the department, Mikey?”
“There’s always that possibility, plenty of insiders with access to this sort of information who just can’t resist making a quick buck by selling it to the nearest weirdo off the street. The press love the leaky cops!”
“There is another possibility, Mike.” Augie lowered his eyes to the floor.
“What are you thinking?” Mike’s brow rose.
“Maybe our killer is an insider! That would explain a lot. What are your thoughts?”
“Oh, hell I hope not, I work with cops everyday, I don’t wanna wake up one day knowing that one of them is capable of doing this.” Mike thought for a moment. “But it does make a lot of sense though, doesn’t it?”
“It’s just one possibility. It could even be someone with a passion for forensics and police procedures…” Augie tried to reach another conclusion.
“Could be, I think it might be time to start taking an inside look though. That makes more sense to me. Damn it!” Mike slammed the stool against the bench beside him. The thought of the killer being a fellow cop churned his stomach. He worked beside a lot of officers, all good men and he didn’t even want to consider the possibility that any one of them could be capable of these murders. He turned to Augie and asked, “How did Marla’s tox results come out? Anything that can help us?”
Augie sighed and turned in the direction of a small door off the main suite. ”Ed, can you bring me Marla Andre’s tox results please?”
A voice echoed back, “No problem, Dr. August.”
Augie turned back to Mike and said, “U-fortunately there’s nothing ground breaking in there. I was hoping for your sake that we’d find something, but alas… It wasn’t to be.” He held out his hand, awaiting Ed to pass the folder to him.
“There you are, Dr. August,” Ed said quietly when he handed him the results.
“Thank you, Ed,” he said.
Ed hung around in front of him for a few seconds before Augie asked, ”Is there something else, Ed?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had thought about what I had asked you this morning?”
“Oh. Yes, that’s right. Of course, it’s fine with me but just make sure you have stored all the chemicals back on the shelf before you leave, please.”
“No problem and thanks, Dr. August.” he stepped back and raced back into the small room he had come from.
Augie returned to the file. His fingers parted the covers of the folder and pulled out the sheet of paper inside. His eyes scanned it carefully before handing it over to Mike. “It’s almost like reading the results from Kylie-Anne’s autopsy all over again. Nothing new I’m afraid.”
Mike stared at him, his frustration building within him.
“She had Halothane in her swabs, just like Kylie-Anne. No other drugs or inhibitants in her system. Also just like Kylie-Anne, her rape kit was positive for spermicide.”
“Christ! Why can’t we find something new?” Mike cried, more of a statement than a question.
“I know exactly how you feel Mike, I do.” Augie assured him. “Look, why don’t you go home Mike, the day’s nearly done. Take an early mark like Ed and go enjoy yourself. You need a break.”
“You’re right, I could use some time out.” Mike looked at his watch, four-fifteen. “At least we have one small reason to celebrate Tessa’s murderer is in custody and that’s better than what we had yesterday.”
“That’s the way to think,” smiled Augie. “Now you get out of here and let me finish bagging my goodies here.” He nodded towards the multitude of slides, fibres and foliage all placed in separate containers in front of him.
“Looks like riveting stuff,” he laughed. “I’ll see ya round.”