The Case Of The Roosevelt Morgue

Part 6

VI

The next morning I slept in very late, up to nearly ten in the morning; my mind was far too occupied with Jimmy's murder, and the events of the previous night to work, so I called in sick. I thought it would be best to stay home, especially with my mind so overly fixed upon the mystery that had been discovered last night, for I believed that I'd only be a hindrance to my colleagues.

So with that I went into the kitchen and began to make coffee  before I set out to make a complete breakfast. Soon my coffee was finished brewing and I poured myself a cup, then began to make some scrambled eggs and toast. As I was cooking my cell phone rang, which was in my front pocket of my jeans. I answered it.

"This is Doctor Spellding." I said trying to sound clear and cheery, yet my mind was anything but clear or cheery.

"Harry, it's Samantha." She said breathlessly. The sound of traffic around here came through on the line. She sounded frightened.

"Oh. Hello Samantha, what's going on? And where are you?" I said as I continued cooking my breakfast. Honestly, my mind was racing at that point, wondering why she was calling me.

"Mark is missing." She replied. Immediately I froze and my face grew grave. "Doctor Truman came into the office this morning, he said that he thought you could use some help after yesterday. He pulled in and saw Mark's truck still there. When he came in there was a lot of blood on the operating room floor, after that he checked and Mark never clocked out last night. Truman called the cops, then me."

I was frozen, my mind however was not. It raced, and my heart seemed to stop. I realized how much more important the events of last night became in light of today's happenings. I made a quick decision.

"Samantha, where are you?" I asked as I moved the egg pan off the stove, and put the eggs on a plate. It was time to fill her in on everything from last night, but not over the phone; in person would be best.

"I'm on my way to your house." She said as she pulled up in front of my house. I could hear the roar of her Jeep through the house.

"I hear you. " I replied then hung up. After which I quickly made my way to the front door and opened it to see Samantha climbing out of her Jeep. She walked up the walk way briskly and into my house, then the door closed silently.

 I led her into the kitchen, where she sat at the breakfast bar. I gave her a cup of coffee, which she took with thanks. Then I proceeded to present her with eggs and buttered toast. I got the same for myself and sat across from her on a old wooden stool. There was a heavy silence, and we ate in silence, neither of us knowing how to break it.

Later, after we had completely consumed our food, I deposited the dishes in the sink and suddenly I broke the silence without thought or without even meaning to.

"I saw something last night." I said quietly as I sipped my coffee and stared at the counter, my mind ever going to the previous night. My quiet statement must have caught her attention, for when I looked up she was looking at me. A look of curiosity and apprehensiveness hung on her face and beamed from her eyes.

"Do I want to know?" She said quietly as she held her cup tightly. I had to stop myself from shaking my head.

 "You have to know. It's very important, I think, to figuring out this mystery." I said as I walked back and forth in the kitchen, pacing. "And whether you want to know is irrelevant, but it is so, unique, or illogical, that I think you won't believe me."

She looked at me puzzled, obviously, not understanding the extreme nature of what I saw. "Tell me. If you think it's that important, then it must be." She finally replied.

I sighed deeply. "Last night, as you well know, I stayed late at the office, going over Jimmy's file. I felt as if I was missing something. Well I found the tearing of his abdominal muscles, and it didn't make sense to me, though I had already observed that there was nothing odd or unusual about it, if that is a animal gave the wound. I was simply feeling desperate. Regardless, I went into the operating room, intending to look at Jimmy's body. But I was so tired that I opened the wrong door on the cooler and pulled put the wrong tray. The tray was empty, yet there was a white cloth on the try, that was ripped to shreds. After checking, I learned that a "Francis Dunnbore"  was supposed to be on that tray, since I myself deposited him there on Wednesday night. Yet his body was missing. I showed Mark, but I'm not sure he believed me. After I showed him, he made me leave and go home. I guess he thought I was losing it from not having enough sleep." I said, further explaining my point of how important it was.

Samantha sat in her seat, mouth agape, eyes filled with shock. Yet something in her eyes told me that she believed me. The same way something in Mark's eyes last night told me that he didn't believe me. Eventually she looked down at her cup of coffee. Her forehead wrinkled and creased, as it always does when she's in deep concentration or thought. Finally, she looked up, her face blank and relaxed, yet her eyes still held fear.

 "So what does the things you saw last night tell you? I'm too scared to tell you what I think until I hear what you theory is." Samantha said as she looked dead straight into my eyes.

I looked down at my coffee cup that I held in my hand, silently debating whether I should tell her my true hypothesis or the one a person would expect from a learned doctor. "Well truly, my opinion is this: one, the coincidence that I put Francis in then cooler then that night Jimmy is brutally murdered and then also the immense animal like characteristics of is wounds are too great to ignore; second, every single digital diagram of an undead bite are far too similar to Jimmy's wounds to simply be coincidence. So, I think it's  the undead, or something similar, its the only way half of the hings would make sense." I said really sticking my neck out by making such an insane claim, though I am perfectly sane.

Samantha nodded her head after remaining silent for a time. "Me too. Especially in light of a corpse disappearing, and Mark going missing. It be just like him to go investigate a little, whether he believed you or not." Samantha replied. I nodded my head in agreement. There was silence for more time, but then Samantha spoke first.

"So, what now?" She asked. I smiled, for I knew just what to do.

"Now we find out how to kill the undead the best, and most efficient way, then go get what we need to do that. We're gonna end this tonight, before it spreads and becomes like an epidemic." I said in reply to her question. Samantha seemed to like the idea.

"Lets do it boss." She said in a very bad imitation of a wild west cowboy, or cowgirl. I laughed and we went to my computer to do the research, after all med school grads are great at research.