MANNER OF DEATH 2

 

Chapter 2

I raised a glass of warm milk to my lips and drank it. I stared at my work on the computer screen. I saw people in other occupations often brought their computers to work in a beautiful, lovely ambiance cafe. I wanted to do that too if it wasn't for my work that involved a lot of pictures of corpses, either still intact, untouched by my scalpel, or spill their innards to the world. If I took my work to do outside, I would probably end up chasing other customers away. So, in the end, I had to take my work home and do it in a quiet, cold house by myself. My job tonight was to write an autopsy report of Janejira, the poor woman who had been killed, and her death had been staged as a suicide afterward.

I opened the image files of Janejira, whose neck was cut opened by an incision, exposing bruised neck muscle. My previous palpation indicated that her larynx was fractured, and when I opened it, I found that it was fractured indeed. It was a solid piece of evidence that this woman was strangled to death. When you hung yourselves, it wouldn't cause significant damage to the issue like this unless you put a long rope on your neck and do a bungee jump off the building. If that was the case, it might cause a lot of damage. However, Janejira or any same person wouldn't think about killing themselves that way.

I had seven days to finish the autopsy report, but it could be postponed if some lab results that might take some time were needed. Therefore, I wasn’t in hurry to do it. After I had finished writing a general description of the corpse, I put a pen down, sipping warm milk one more time to soothe my mind. I looked at the clock-it was now 9:00 p.m. It didn't seem too late to call someone at this hour.

[Hello, Bunn…] A sweet voice answered my call. I had learned that Fai wasn't on duty tonight.

"Hey, Fai. Are you sleeping yet?"

[It's only 9:00 p.m., Bunn. I would sleep at 11:00 or so. By the way… is there anything you need since you've called at this time?]

I cleared my throat to chase away traces of milk from my throat. "I'm going to tell you about the autopsy results. It's a shame that you hadn't performed an autopsy with me.”

Fai laughed, [I know. I wanted to know what it was like too. Well, was she really been strangled before she died?]

"Certainly, her neck muscles were terribly contused, and her larynx was completely shattered. I rarely come across a staged murder, it's quite fascinating."

[Even though it is a staged suicide, it can't fool you right, Bunn? The murderer must be crying like a baby right now after going through all the trouble with his machinations.] Fai started to talk to me playfully. I laughed in a good mood.

"Of course, you know I won't make any mistakes.”

Once I had finished that sentence, a memory suddenly resurfaced in my mind. It hurt me every time I thought about it. It was something that I was trying to bury as deep as I could in the back of my mind. Alas, it turned back, haunting me sporadically. Have I never made any mistakes..? To be honest, that was a lie … I had made a mistake once. One small mistake. But it led to tremendous damage, nonetheless.

[I believe you. You're an expert…) I was lost in my own thoughts that I forgot I was talking to Fai at the moment. [Hello.. Bunn?]

I quickly pulled myself back. "Uh… hello."

I continued to talk with Fai about nothing in particular for about ten minutes before bidding her good night and hanging up. Even though I had just broken up with Prae for less than a month, I felt like I was ready to move on, like an endless cycle of mine. I'd never been in a relationship with any woman for more than one year. Women often told me that they had never been able to reach who I truly was. They didn't understand what was in my mind, saying that I was like an actor all the time, making them uncomfortable. Then they left me.

Turns out, Dr. Bunnakit was branded as a casanova even though it wasn't my fault at all. Not to mention that having Pert, the notorious womanizer, as a friend had only made it worse due to a preconceived notion that I was that same kind of guy.

I turned to the computer screen to proceed with my work. I tightened my long-sleeved shirt I wore over my pajamas due to the cold air outside. Winter in the North was my favorite thing in this region since it was a real winter type of climate, unlike my hometown, Bangkok. That place had only perpetual summer and a rainy season, which, I supposed, was a good thing here because rates of decomposition in a corpse in cold temperature would be slower than those in the heat.

Then, I jumped abruptly when the doorbell at the front suddenly rang.

Who was that?

I stood and walked out of my bedroom to the living room near the fence at the front of my house. It was completely dark, only two bulbs of fence lights illuminating the area. I tried to squint through the darkness. Inside, I thought that a group of children must have pulled a doorbell trick on me.

I noticed a sheet of white A4 paper being rolled and inserted between the fence. I opened the door, the chilly wind outside blew into my face. I marched slowly to the gate, picking up the piece of paper, expecting it to be some sort of advertising flyer.

The text scribbled with a pen on the paper had rendered the cold in the air to reach the subzero point.

Report this death as a suicide. Do not tell the police about this.
Otherwise, you'll be in a lot of trouble. I'm watching you

I swiftly opened the gate and ran out, standing on the street outside the house. My eyes shifted from left to right frantically. This housing estate was peaceful and quiet; everyone went to bed early. I didn't find any clue of a person who had inserted this piece of paper between my fence. My heart raced with panic. My hands turned so cold. I inhaled deeply, trying to pull myself together. What the hell is this? Someone was threatening me to write the manner of death as a suicide. I was being threatened to write a report that Janejira had committed suicide.

I turned on my heels and went back into the house after locking the gate and making sure that it was secured. I made a beeline for the house, picking up the cell phone from my desk. Why the hell would I keep this from the police? The person who sent me this letter must be the one who murdered Janejira for sure. After I called Captain Aem, I would drive out to ask the guards in front of the estate if there was any outsider entered at this hour. Afterward, I would bring this piece of paper to the police station.

I dialed Captain Aem's number, the ringback tone rang only once before someone pulled my phone out of my hand. I was startled that my heart almost stopped beating.

Someone is in my house!

I didn't waste my time turning back to look, though. I sprinted towards the window, but a pair of strong hands in black leather gloves wrapped around my torso from behind, preventing me from running away. I struggled for my dear life, striking my elbow backward with all my strength.

"Help!” I yelled, loudly enough for the neighbors to hear. "There's som…” I hadn't been able to finish my sentence, the intruder kicked the back of my knee, sending me on my knees. The next thing I knew, I was in a position that I could no longer fight. I was lying, face down on the floor. My left arm was twisted behind my back, with my head pinned on the ground, I panted for air, grimacing in pain.

"So damn stubborn, Doc." A muffled voice could be heard from behind, "I didn't mean to do this tonight, you know? But you were going to call the police, so I don't have any choice."

I was in a very disadvantageous position.

I tried to gather my strength to extricate myself out of this hold, only to have this person tighten his grip on my arms. I gasped, trying to collect my scattered mind. I tried to turn around to see the intruder's face. This guy was muscular. He wore a black sweater with his hoodie o a big black sunglass resting on his face. An unfamiliar voice could be heard through a white mask that covered his mouth and nose. I couldn't identify who this person was.

"Who are you!?" I tried to speak, panting. I felt my heart thumping rapidly with panic. "How did you get in?"

"It’s not matter who I am or how did I get in. You should've asked why did I come in…”

I clenched my fists tightly, coming up with one plan. I need to find a way to get myself out of this situation: being pinned on the floor with my face down. "Let me go, and let's talk this out. You've already got my phone.”

The man behind let out a laugh, the one void of any moral conscience. The sound of it froze my blood. The hope of my survival tonight began to dim. "You're a smart guy, no wonder you're a pathologist.”

"You're the one who killed Janejira, I supposed? And you're going to kill me too, right?” Without realizing it, my voice started shaking. I could sense death creeping closer that I could feel the breath of the Grim Reaper himself.

The man went still as if he was thinking about something. I took the opportunity to move my free hand to prop myself up, but the man twisted my arm backward further that I cried out. He dropped himself and sat on my back, his weight suffocating me. I easily succumbed to the pain.

"I can't kill you. Not right now. You have to write an autopsy report for me first. You will have to find a way to say that what you have detected can be found in someone who kills himself and explains that your initial assumption was a misinterpretation." The intruder lowered his head and said into my ear. I trembled uncontrollably. “After the job's done, I'll let you go as a reward. But if you resist and call the cops or write a report that it was a murder, I can't guarantee what will happen to you or people around you, Doc.”

"Fine.. … I'll do… what you want. Now let me go," I verbally accepted, for the sake of getting out of this grave situation. He had no intention to kill me anyway, all I have to do was to free myself and go to the police as soon as possible.

"Okay, it's done then. Now you know how easy it is to track you, Doc. Not to mention how easy it is to access the police's database. As soon as you step into the police station, I will know. Don’t do that. If I know, I will hurt you and your loved ones. Let's do this quietly and end this case." A hand in a cool, black leather glove moved from my head to caress my cheeks gently. "And don't even think you can trust the cops.”

What he said almost made my heart stop beating. How many people heard me saying that Janejira's manner of death was unlikely to be a suicide, save for the investigation team who attended the autopsy with me, Captain Aem, and the people at the crime scene today?

At that moment, the face of a man who was Janejira's boyfriend appeared in my mind.

My brain hadn't managed to process anything further; I felt my hair being tugged backward. My consciousness was gone just like a light switch had been turned off.

---

I woke up with a headache that I almost wanted to throw up. I let out a groan due to the pain, raising my hand to my forehead. I opened my eyes slowly, still lying prone on the cold floor in my home office. I gradually pulled myself up in a sitting position and looked around. I was alone in the room right now. The intruder was nowhere to be found.

I tried to stand up, but a sensation of intense vertigo almost had me lose my balance, feeling blood streaking down from a wound on my forehead. I gripped the edge of the desks to prevent myself from falling. I tried to look for my cell phone, but it was gone. The intruder might have taken it with him.

The police.

I had been assaulted. I need to call the police.

My eyes darted around, trying to find the home phone that usually situated on the right corner of the desk. My heart dropped at the sight of the empty area, where the house phone should be, only phone cable remained. The phone itself, however, was also gone.

"God damnit!" I cried out with indignation, trying to carry myself out of the room. The second intrusion of dizziness made me collapse on the sofa in the living room. I was determined to borrow a neighbor's phone to call the police first, for I need to find a way to call them and get the hell out of here.

‘If I know, I will hurt you and your loved ones.’ That man's voice flashed into my head. ‘And don't even think you can trust the cops.’

I shut my eyes tightly, trying to expel the statement out of my head. I gathered my strength to fight off the dizzy spells and stood up on my feet, hearing sirens, a familiar tune, screaming from somewhere far away. I opened the front door, trying to haul my weary body through the parking lot and to the front, wide-open gate, despite the fact that I had it locked securely in place with a key earlier.

The sirens had gotten louder and louder. I saw bright blue-red light in the dark as it veered straight to my house. I squint my eyes, realizing it was the ambulance sent out to pick up patients who had called the Emergency Responses Call Center. The ambulance continued forward in at full speed before pulling in in front of my house. The door slid open. Nurses and emergency medical technicians, who were holding a spinal board, quickly hopped out of the ambulance.

"Dr.Bunn!" Suthep, a male nurse of the ER, called out to me. A look of shock flickered across his face when he saw me in a state that I could barely stand. "Doctor, you don't have to walk! Sit down, we'll move you onto the ambulance.

The only thing that occurred to me then was that the one who knocked me out temporarily unconscious and the one who had called the ambulance might be the same person.