Detective Anthony Santano listened as the first officer on scene ran
the details down to him. There was a Caucasian male, about
twenty-one years old, red hair, no distinguishing marks except for a
strawberry birthmark on the side of his neck resembling a bird. The
victim had been stabbed repeatedly in his chest and arms and bled
out.
Tony walked over to the dumpster and crouched down, studying the
victim. His eyes skimmed over the bloody shirt with multiple rips
from the knife inflictions. He used a pen from inside his jacket
pocket to press the fingers of one hand back, noticing defensive
wounds on the victim’s palms. The kid had fought like hell to
survive.
Tony shook his head at the senseless killing. This guy had so much
life left to live. He stood, looking around the area for clues.
There was a backpack close by, a ratty looking thing. Tony grabbed a
pair of gloves from one of the officers on the scene and snapped
them on.
He grabbed the backpack and opened it. There wasn’t much in there.
Tony dug deeper and found a worn, well-used brown wallet. He set the
bag on the ground and opened the billfold. There were some receipts,
three one-dollar bills and a state ID card. Tony pulled the ID card
out, studying it.
Kyle Talon. The address didn’t put him far from here, but it was the
birthday that made Tony curse. It was the guy's his twenty-first
birthday. It sucked to be murdered on your birthday. Kyle was too
young to have his life snuffed out.
“Fuck.”
“Problem detective?” one of the officers asked.
Tony shook his head, feeling a tightening in his chest as he studied
the picture of a very gorgeous young man. “Today was his twenty
first birthday."
The officer tsked as he walked over to Tony. “That’s what happens
when you live in this neighborhood. Life ain’t easy and some don’t
make it. But it does suck to die on your birthday.”
Wasn’t that the truth? Tony had seen horrors in his time. But what
was the worst horror of all was seeing the young die. Tony was about
to hand the wallet and ID over when something clicked in his head.
He studied the face of the man on the card, noticing that he had
died on his twenty-first birthday. He couldn’t help but think of the
case he could never close. Collin Phoenix had died on his
twenty-first birthday and then three days later, walked right out of
the morgue.
Tony noticed the red hair, just like Collin’s and the small, slim
build, just like Collin’s. He wondered for a brief moment if he
weren’t just reading too much into this. The guy lying there dead
even had the same strawberry patch that was in the shape of a
bird…just like Collin’s.
This made Tony glance around, studying the onlookers, and even the
officers. He wasn’t too sure what to expect, but he didn’t see any
malicious looking thugs hanging around. He finally handed over the
evidence and then studied the body once more before heading to his
car.
There was one thing he did know for sure. Tony was going to be
morgue sitting for the next three days. He had to know if what he
was thinking was truth or a fucking fantasy.
* * * *
Three days later, Tony waited until he saw the two morgue worker
leave after the phone call Tony had placed saying that the medical
examiner's wife was at the hospital. It was a low move, but Tony
needed to get into the morgue without witnesses.
He stole along the hallway, watching over his shoulder as he pushed
the doors open. He never did like this place. It always gave him the
creeps. Tony had seen his fare share of dead bodies in his line of
work, but somehow it was different here in the morgue. They seemed
creepier here.
He glanced around one last time before crossing the room to the cold
storage unit. Pulling the door open, he walked inside the freezing
cold room. God, this was nerve racking. He knew what was going to
happen, but it was still weird as fuck.
Tony searched the labels on each silver colored door until he found
the one he was looking for. He opened the small door and pulled the
drawer out that had Kyle Talon lain out on it then pulled the sheet
back. His stomach rolled at all the knife wounds scattered about the
young man’s body. He couldn’t understand how anyone could do that to
another human—
“Shit!”
Tony jumped back when Kyle’s eyes suddenly popped open, blinking
rapidly as he stared up at the ceiling. Damn, his heart was beating
out of control. This was some strange ass voodoo shit right here.
“Oh god!” Kyle shouted as began to thrash around. “Oh fucking hell.”
Tony hesitated for a moment and then closed the distance, grabbing
onto Kyle. “Keep quiet before everyone knows you’re not dead!”
“You did this to me! Get off of me!” Kyle rolled off the slab and
onto the floor with a thud. He winced and then pushed to his feet,
swaying as he backed away from Tony. “What did you do to me? How?
How can I be alive?”
|