“These,” she said, slightly jutting the bag forward for emphasis. “The clothes you gave us. They are blank. Nothing on them. Team thinks you gave us a joke.”
“Those clothes came directly off our victim. They should at the very least contain some skin flakes, hair, or something of note.”
“Doc, seriously? Stop playing around. I’ve got other places to be.”
Setting down his magnifier and turning towards the intern, the ME responded, “I am not joking. Those clothes came from this body.” He pointed to the body on the table when he said the word. “I don’t make jokes about my work. You missed something. Plain and simple.”
The grin she had displayed started to waiver. “Serious?”
The ME just stared at her in response.
“Oh … um … OK. S-sorry. I’ll … um … go tell the team.”
Without responding, the ME turned his attention back to the body, making no notice of the intern’s departure.
It was some time into the renewed examination of the incision site before the ME slowed and then stopped. He looked up towards his assistant, who returned the look.
“Blank?” he asked.
The assistant ME held eye contact for as long as he felt comfortable. “Erm … that’s not … not possible … right?” He replied, his face screwed up in confusion.
“No … it really isn’t … I don’t think.”
Chapter Three
“How’d you find that out?”
Officer Ben Obvari took a swig of coffee from his ever-present thermos. His partner, Officer Joe Salk, often joked that it never seemed to be further than ten feet from his hand. He often wondered aloud if Ben took it to his bedside at night because the kitchen might be too far away.
Wiping a few drops of coffee from his mustache, Obvari replied, “From Nick. You know, the ME’s assistant. He said he was there filming the whole thing when the girl from forensics came back in. Doc didn’t know what to make of it.”
Joe shook his head slowly. “Damn, that sucks. Nothing? Nothing on the clothes at all? How is that possible?”
“No idea. ME was stumped and suggested they were added when the body was frozen but still doesn’t know if that is what happened. But to be fair, he was also really focused on the stuff he found on the neck.”
A flash of puzzlement crossed Joe’s face. “Wait, what? You didn’t tell me about anything on the neck.”
“Oh, sorry, yeah. That was what Nick was telling me about at first, then said the forensic thing was a mystery.”
“Way to bury the lede!”
“Sorry,” his voice echoed into the thermos he tilted back to swallow the last of his coffee. “Yeah, so the ME found a scar on the back of the vic’s neck. They investigated it and discovered that she was paralyzed from the neck down because someone severed her spinal cord. They discovered more evidence that someone then kept her alive through artificial means. Like using some sort of compression on her feet to keep blood moving in her body. Kind of like they do for coma victims.”
“Seriously?” Joe asked. “Who would do that to someone?”
Ben set his now empty thermos in the crook of the seat next to him. Looking out the windshield with a far-away expression he answered, “Joe, man, I gotta tell you … I have no idea why someone would do that, much less why that same person might freeze a human being and put them on display. The whole thing gives me the creeps.”
Nodding slowly, Joe said nothing but kept his focus on the road as they continued their patrol through downtown Orlando.
Many minutes passed as the partners sat in a silence broken only by the occasional squawk of their radio. Neither seemed willing to break the silence, but instead sat in the heaviness of the topic.
When they reached the corner of E. Church Street and S. Rosalind Ave, they slowed and signaled for a left turn. A shrill scream broke the silence as the rounded the corner. A woman and her small dog stood on the sidewalk next to Downtown Baptist Church, stock still, screaming and pointing. Her dog, a Yorkie and Pomeranian mix, barked frantically, running in circles, not knowing what the trouble could be but mimicking her owner. The woman’s outstretched arm pointed to the back of a tall delivery truck parked in one of the metered spaces with its rear doors open wide.
Joe slammed down his brake pedal, causing Ben to lurch forward against his seat belt, the thermos tumbling into the passenger foot well. Flipping the switch to bring their rooftop lights on and putting the car in park, Joe stepped out of the vehicle, all in one motion. A flustered Ben exited the vehicle and joined him on the sidewalk where they both attempted to calm the hysterical woman and avoid the nipping jaws of the equally hysterical dog.
Resorting to a more direct approach in order to avoid any possible danger in the area, they physically escorted her away from the sidewalk to their vehicle where they sat her down in the back seat, leaving the door open for the dog to continue its manic assault on whatever it guessed to be the danger.
Turning their full attention back to the truck, the two officers cautiously made their approach, hands on sidearms, holster-snaps open. Joe looked to Ben and made a small motion with his hand. Ben nodded and the two split up to round the vehicle on opposite sides.
The delivery van was a dingy, white, late-model Dodge Sprinter. There were old outlines of previous company lettering on the sides, but they were long worn. Other than the Florida license plate on the left rear door, there was nothing to indicate the van’s origin.
Once assured no one was in the vehicle, they both returned to the van’s open rear doors. Joe reached up to his shoulder handset and called into dispatch. “Central, this is officers Three-Mike-Five and Six. We are going to need the coroner to the corner of East Church and South Rosalind for the recovery of another body in ice. Over.”
The voice came through both of their handsets. “Officers Three-Mike-Five and Six, copy last. Coroner and backup en route. ETA four minutes. Over”
“Roger, Central.”
Ben stepped close to the block of ice in the back of the Sprinter van. Careful not to touch anything, he leaned in to get a better look of the occupant encased within.
“Joe, this one is dressed different than the last one.”
“Yeah, I see that.”
“What the hell, man?”
Taking a step back and turning towards their patrol car, Joe responded, “No idea.” He turned to the hysterical woman, and asked, “Ma’am, what happened here just before we arrived?”
“Scarlet! Scarlet, hush. Let me speak!” the woman said to the still manic dog running and whining beside her.
“Ma’am, please. This is urgent, just speak over the dog.”
With a slight perturbation to her face that broke through the hysteria, she answered, “Well, honestly, I do not know. Scarlet and I were out here for our daily walk. You see, we walk every day because the doctors tell me it is good to keep moving and little Scarlet here—”
“Ma’am!” Joe snapped, surprising and quieting the older woman. “I’m sorry for snapping, but this is important and I need you to focus. What happened just before we arrived?”
Her look of shock and impertinence was not lost on Joe. He stood there waiting for her to continue, attempting to ignore the now growling dog at his ankles.
“Well,” she began in an exasperated tone, “as I was saying, we were walking along here when there was a quick honk from the horn of that white van.” She pointed for emphasis. “Naturally, it startled poor Scarlet, so I stopped to console her. That’s when the doors of the van swung wide open and that … that …”
Joe could see that this was difficult for her, so he helped by offering, “Block of ice, ma’am?”
“Y-y-yes, the block of ice. It was suddenly there in my view. Naturally, I screamed. Good thing you were right here.”
Joe cocked his head. “Wait, I’m sorry. Do you mean this happened just as we drove by? Not before?”
“No, I mean right as you were driving by. My scream happened
just as the doors opened and I saw … it.”
Turning his head to Ben, Joe watched as his partner walked back and forth, examining the ice and the victim within.
Sirens filled the air around them as the first of the responders started to appear. Soon, the entire side of the S. Rosalind was cordoned off for the crew of forensic personnel, detectives, officers, and eyewitnesses. The latter was the fewest number. Only a small number had seen the events, and even they only had a perspective from the time after the older woman screamed.
“Salk and Obvari, get over here.”
The two officers walked over to the two detectives they’d met in front of the first ice block. They were standing to the side of the white van as the coroner, forensic techs, and a couple of rookie officers worked to move the ice block from the vehicle into the bed of a truck backed up to the open doors. The work was slow going as the ice was immensely heavy and they were attempting to maintain the scene as best as possible.
“You guys are certainly the lucky ones, huh? Two of these damn things and you’re first, both times. How do you account for that?”
Salk spoke up quickly. “Dumb luck, Detective. This isn’t exactly something I want to see more of.”
“Yeah,” Ben added. “It’s the world’s crappiest coincidence.”
The two detectives chuckled. One of them said, “Yeah, I get it. Still … kinda weird. Do yourselves a favor and don’t discover a third, OK?”
Both officers chuckled, and Ben replied, “Sure, sure. Just do us a favor and catch the one doing this, so we don’t have any more dumb luck, OK?”
A painful shriek drew their attention away from the conversation. One of the forensic techs had managed to get her hand in between the sliding ice block and the walls of the truck as they were trying to transfer it. The mass of ice could easily break more than one bone in the tech’s hand, which it appeared to have done. She held the injured hand gingerly to her chest, with tears running down her face, as another tech escorted her off the truck and over to a nearby ambulance.
“What do you make of the wardrobe change?” Obvari asked the detectives.
Both detectives looked to the ice in the truck. The woman encased within was of approximately the same age and physical type of the previous victim. That’s where the similarities ended, other than this one’s eyes were also closed.
The victim was dressed in a form-fitting sundress. The spaghetti straps at her shoulders were a light green, the color running down the body of the dress and fading to a dark blue at the hem of the skirt. On her feet were a pair of blue and white Reef brand flip-flops. Her hands were positioned in front of her, pressed together at the palms and along the fingers, the way a child would hold their hands when asked to pray. Her head was bowed slightly towards her hands as if she were deep in prayer, with her hair pulled back in a low pony-tail braid.
“Not just wardrobe, Obvari,” one of the detectives answered. “Look at this one’s hands. She looks like she is praying. Seems to me someone thought long and hard about dropping this one off at a church.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Salk asked.
“It means, I think you were right last time. Someone wanted all this to mean something and be something.”
“Dammit,” Officer Obvari muttered.
“What?” Joe asked.
“This is not the kind of thing I like to be right about.”
Chapter Four
When the lights flash against the brick of the building, or when they reflect off the glass of the storefront, I get nostalgic.
That’s the correct word, isn’t it?
Nostalgic?
Yeah, that’s it.
A fondness for something recalled, or something like that. I kinda remember Mr. Keller’s 4th grade English class and those dreaded vocabulary quizzes he used to give us.
Mr. Keller.
There’s someone I don’t have nostalgia for.
Wonder if he is still around.
Might just have to kill him.
Later. Not now.
Now I’m remembering with nostalgia for the lights.
Is that how the word is used?
Never mind. Not important.
I remember the first time I saw these lights. The interchange between bright red and bright blue.
Red.
Blue.
Red.
Blue.
So beautiful.
I didn’t know what they were for, just that they danced.
Danced throughout our living room.
They were everywhere. On the brick fireplace. Glaring off the front window.
Everywhere.
I danced with them. Danced in the lights.
Momma never saw, but I did.
The lights were so pretty and filled everything.
When the lights finally turned off and left, I almost wished daddy got mad at momma again so she would use her favorite knife and stab him once more. Then the lights could come back.
I’m so thankful for the lights.
Oh, look … more cars and another van!
More lights!
This is amazing. I feel like a kid again.
Maybe I’ll dance.
Maybe.
Probably not, since now is the time to get closer.
Gotta see if they figured it out, yet.
The two boys in black and blue.
Did they figure out this was for them?
Was I too obvious?
Are they waiting for me?
It was kind of reckless to wait till the last second like that to spring the doors open.
Maybe I did make it too obvious.
Maybe they don’t want to find me.
Maybe they are already tired of me.
Maybe they …
Maybe they …
Dammit! Stop with the ‘maybe’ you idiot!
Second-guessing yourself is not how you got here.
You got here because you believed in yourself.
Now get across this street and see what they are doing.
Ugh, people, you need to move. Too many of you mouth-breathers out here. Trying to take some of my glory away for yourselves.
Let me through.
Nope, too far.
“No, officer, I’m staying put. Yep, thanks.”
Damn, that was close.
Almost went right through the tape.
There. Behind this guy. Who smells like … what is that?
Taco meat?
Dude. Why do you smell like taco meat?
That’s not going to get you any dates, my friend.
You aren’t carrying tacos that I can see.
Whatever.
There they are!
My two guys!
Salk and Obvari, you are a sight for sore eyes.
I mean, I knew you’d be here. I waited for you to be here.
But, still … a sight.
I’ll never forget what happened when you first entered my world.
There was so much blood.
So much.
You helped me see the error.
You helped me see that there was a better way.
A cleaner way.
Yeah, because of you, there is no more blood.
Ice is way cleaner, right?
They aren’t looking around for me.
They are just talking to those two other guys.
Seriously?
I mean, come on. It’s pretty obvious.
Who else could do this?
Right?!
The costume alone, guys. I’m spelling it out for you.
Nothing?
Really?
“Fine.”
Why’s the taco meat guy looking back at me?
“What? No, I didn’t say anything to you!”
The nerve!
Wonder where this guy lives? Might have to kill him just so there would be one less nosy, taco-meat-smelling guy around.
No one would miss him.
Wait … whe
re’d they go?
I was too busy with this jackass to keep my eye on my guys.
Seriously, now taco meat has to go.
Oh, no, there they are.
Hahaha!
Someone hurt themselves with my ice!
Too funny!
That’s why I use a machine, you useless people.
I’d never lift this stuff by myself. I don’t. Stupid.
Ice is really fun, but way too bulky. If it were up to me, I’d probably not use it.
It’s only there for you guys.
Seriously, just for you guys. You’ve got to notice that!
Who else would do this as a way to never be forgotten?
Right?
Come on, guys.
I’m tired of standing around like this.
Let’s get this dance started.
Dance.
The lights.
Crap, I almost forgot to enjoy the lights some more.
Ok, I’m a smart person. I can enjoy the lights and hope Salk and Obvari take the freaking hint in front of them and come to me.
Guys, don’t make me do the next one, too.
I really don’t want to have to expend that much energy again to get you to find me.
I really don’t.
The next girl will be dead anyway.
Just don’t want to go through another hassle of setting up the stage like I’ve already had to … again.
Twice.
Probably could just dump this girl in a swimming pool or something.
No one really cares what happens to her.
Oh, come on!
You guys are getting in your car?!
Wait, don’t get ahead of yourself. Maybe they are calling in backup to come see you.
Yeah, that’s probably it.
It’s cool that others would be there for our dance, on our stage. But truth be told, it won’t be the same.
None of these other fine officers get it.
They don’t have, or won’t ever have, what we have.
We have life itself.
After the blood, of course.
Life itself.
Any others won’t be just us.
Just us.
I just want you two.
You two.
The two who helped me get my role.
I owe you so much.
I owe you everything, really.
Ice Where There Was None Page 2