“What a mess! What a bloody mess!” yelled Doctor Lewis as he paced back and forth, wringing his hands.

A trickle of sweat slowly ran down his right temple, but he didn’t wipe it away. His breathing became laboured. Adam noticed this and insisted that Doctor Lewis sit down. After warning him that he was on his way to a heart attack, the coroner relented and sat on one of the wooden benches that were in the hallway, just outside the morgue. It was placed there for people to wait if they needed to identify a body.

“Not to worry, sir, I’m sure the Inspector will be here soon.”

“How could this happen? This place is locked up tight when we aren’t here. Did we forget?”

“I assure you, sir, it was locked up tight. I think they got in through a window.”

“We need those damn windows to be barred. I’ve been asking to have it done for a long time. Maybe now they will swallow the cost and do it!”

“Sir. Shall I get you some water?”

“No!” The doctor stopped himself from continuing and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I’m just upset.”

“Rightly so.”

Muffled voices down the hall grew clearer. As they did, an assistant rushed through the doors, with the Inspector and two constables in tow.

“Sir, the Inspector is here.”

“I can see that… thank you.”

“Doctor, Mr. Dwyer. I hear we have a situation here.”

“We do,” responded Adam Dwyer. “I came in this morning, and the room was torn up.”

“Can I take a look?”

“Of course.”

Adam showed them into the room. Immediately after passing through the door, the Inspector’s boots came down on broken glass.

“Please be careful. There is broken glass and sharp objects everywhere.”

“Do you know if anything is missing?”

“I haven’t touched anything. Neither has the doctor.”

The Inspector turned to his constables and ordered them to start making notes of everything that they saw, including where broken objects lay. 

“The window definitely looks like the point of entry,” the Inspector turned, looking for the doctor. The doctor was standing right behind him.

“Sir, there is a new technique I’d like to use. Someone in our department has been trained in what they are calling forensic sciences, and one thing they do is use a fine powder to find fingerprints. Fingerprinting is becoming a regularly used tool for investigating.”

“Yes. Yes. Use whatever you need to. Please also be quick, if you can. We need to clean up this mess.”

“We will do our best.” With those words, the Inspector motioned for one of the constables to get the forensics expert.

When the Inspector was satisfied that the constable had completed documenting everything, he then asked Doctor Lewis and Adam to look around the morgue and tell them what was missing. As they walked around the room, Adam noticed that the door to the file room was slightly ajar.

“Sirs, it looks like someone has also been in the file room. That door is also always locked.”

The Inspector walked ahead of them and carefully pushed the door open. When it was fully open, it revealed a sight of chaos. Files and boxes were tossed, covering the floor. There didn’t appear to be an area that wasn’t strewn with the deliberate mess. 

Under his breath, the Inspector whispered, “Clearly they are looking for something.”

—

Once they were finished with investigating the morgue and dusting for fingerprints, the Inspector returned to the station house. He spent the rest of the afternoon scribbling notes on what they had found. After meeting with the constables who had accompanied him to the morgue, he sent them out to talk to anyone living in the neighbourhood, to see if anyone saw anything.

After he finished his notes, the Inspector had more questions and needed to return to the morgue. He knew it would be another late night and wanted to stop by home first to briefly visit his wife. When he arrived, he didn’t find her. This was unusual for her, as she would normally be preparing their dinner. As he was on his way to go upstairs to see if she was lying down or in the sewing room, he looked out the window and saw her kneeling in the garden. 

As the Inspector approached his wife, he saw she was crying. When she noticed someone walking towards her, she quickly wiped away her tears with her apron. 

“My darling, why are you crying?”

“What. Oh, I’m not, I’m ok.”

“Are you sure? Those look like tear stains.”

She began to well up again, then, knowing she couldn’t hold back her tears, she shrugged as he husband kneeled and wrapped his arms around her. 

“What happened, my love?”

“It’s, it’s that horrible reporter.”

“The one who interviewed you today?”

“Yes. Darrin O’Reily. It started ok. Then he began asking me some invasive questions. Very personal ones.”

“Such as?”

“Please don’t be the inspector with me.”

“You are very upset by this. I want to know what he did.”

“It was about my personal life, the house, the garden. Implying I’m living below my means.”

“Don’t you worry, my love. I will take care of everything. If he wants to interview you more, say no to him.” 

“I won’t be talking to him again.”

“Good. Now, please don’t let this bother you any longer.”

“I’ll try. Are you home for dinner? I haven’t started it yet.”

“I’m afraid not. It’s going to be another late night, I’m afraid. The morgue had a break-in. I have to go back and look into it further.”

“Oh,” said Beatrice, not hiding her disappointment.

“I’m sorry. I know I’m working a lot. This poisoning case is causing me to be away from you.”

“I understand. Hopefully, you can solve it soon.”

“I hope we can. I have to go, please don’t stay in the garden too long.”

“I won’t.”

“Maybe, one day soon, you can educate me on what types of plants are in our lovely garden. Maybe I need to take up gardening one day soon.”

The Inspector kissed his wife on her forehead and left. As he walked away, she took in a deep breath and stood. She reached down and lifted a basket, making note of the plants she had gathered. Satisfied that she had everything, she walked to the house.

—

The nights had become warm, sensual, and this had late-night workers eager to take their breaks outside. As the weather grew warmer, the insides of factories and warehouses began to get unbearably hot. A taste of what the long, hot summer days and nights would soon bring. 

A watchman took an opportunity to slow down his walk during his patrol of the exterior of the warehouse. It normally only took him ten or fifteen minutes to walk the perimeter, but that evening he was enjoying it, breathing in the lovely air and looking at the stars. Being outside was also his only opportunity to have a cigarette. 

As he took in another long drag of his cigarette, he was startled by the sounds of a woman’s voice. He swung around to see someone approaching him. 

When he sees that it’s a woman, he chuckles, and she cajoles him, asking, “What kind of a night watchman are you, if a little woman can frighten you?”

He laughs. “I was deep in thought. I should have been more careful. What is a lovely creature like you doing wandering in these parts?”

“I was taking a shortcut, but I seem to be lost.”

“Oh, lost you say?” He looks her up and down and licks his lips. “Maybe I can help you get home.”

“Maybe we should introduce ourselves first?”

“We should.”

The woman reaches out her hand to shake his. He reaches his hand out and grasps her hand tightly, feeling a sharp pinch. He stumbles back. “What the hell was that?” He looks down at his hand as it goes numb, “What have you done?

 The woman remains silent, staring at him, emotionless.

He stumbles back some more, grabs his throat, gasping for air. As he turns blue from lack of oxygen, he begins foaming at the mouth and falls to the ground in convulsions.

The woman continues to watch until his body finally goes as still as stone. When she is satisfied he is dead, she turns and walks back the way she originally came.

The man lay as he fell for approximately thirty minutes, when a constable, doing his rounds, happened upon him. After a cursory look and realizing the man was dead, rather than drunk, he began blowing his whistle.