CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Rachel walked behind the coroner, a man she’d never seen before, although he still felt familiar. He was very tall and incredibly thin, almost like a skeleton that had simply had human skin draped over it and called a human. He was leading her down a long hallway that looked to be made of steel and was adorned with countless doors. Each door looked the same, made of either steel or some sort of silicon.
“She’s been waiting for you,” the coroner said over his shoulder.
“I know,” Rachel said. “I’m so sorry I’m late.”
The floor began to glow slightly as they continued to walk. It looked almost like something out of a spaceship from a science fiction movie, all white and blue lights along metal surfaces. Finally, they came to the door they were searching for. When the coroner held the door open for her, he smiled at her, revealing a mouthful of back teeth. “Step inside,” he said in a voice that sounded like a hurricane passing through a cavern.
Inside, he stepped in front of her. They were greeted with a room that seemed to have no end, metal containment drawers installed in a wall that stretched on forever. Fortunately, they did not have to walk a length the equal of the corridor they had used to get here. No, the drawer in question was right in front of them.
As the coroner led her to it, the temperature of the room dropped substantially. Rachel could see her breath in front of her, a little cloud that hovered for far too long and then dissipated.
“Feel free to do the honors,” the coroner said in that same horrid voice.
Rachel stepped forward and grabbed the handle to the locker. It clicked open easily and when she pulled it out, it rolled along on tracks that sounded far too much like the snapping of knuckles.
The body on the slab was covered in a sheet that was speckled with little droplets of blood here and there. She reached out and grabbed the sheet, slowly pulling it back to reveal the face.
Rachel gasped and took a step back. She was looking down at herself. Her skin was pale, her eyes were closed, and there was dried blood matted in her hair.
“How?” Rachel asked. “Why…?”
But the coroner had no answer for her. On the slab, the dead Rachel opened her eyes and grinned.
Rachel screamed.
The scream tore her out of the nightmare with such ferocity that she almost fell right out of bed. And as she did her best to get control of her senses, she realized that it may have been more than the nightmare that had stirred her awake. It sounded like her phone was ringing, too.
As she slapped around on the bedside table for it, her heart slammed madly in her chest. The digital numbers on her clock read 4:31. The call had to be from Jack. Jack and Director Anderson were the only ones who ever called her at such an hour. The absurdness of the moment, interlaced with the surreal dream, made her wonder if she’d really put in that two weeks’ notice after all. Had that been a dream? Why else would Jack be calling her at such an hour?
She grabbed the phone and brought it to her ear. “Yeah?”
Sure enough, it was Jack on the other end. “Hey, Rachel. I should, uh…I should let you know that I instantly regret calling you. Forget I called, okay?”
“What? Jack, wait…”
There was silence on the other end, and she was certain she’d somehow missed the click of him hanging up. But after a few moments, his voice was there again, soft and in her ear.
“There’s been another murder. Not sure if it’s our guy, but it was a knock on the head. From the little we know about him, he was recently diagnosed with a deadly and rare liver disease. I thought you’d want to know and then by the time I realized you weren’t my partner anymore, your phone had started ringing. I blame it on being woken up just after four by the phone.”
“It’s okay, Jack. I appreciate it. Will you come get me?”
“No.”
“Then send me the address and I’ll come on my own.”
“No, Rachel, I can’t keep let—”
“Then what the hell did you call me for, Jack?”
“Habit.”
The line went quiet again and she eventually heard one of Jack’s patented long, exhaustive sighs. “Damn. Fine. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
She opened her mouth to thank him, but this time the call had come to an end. Rachel, surprised to find that she wasn’t tired at all, slowly slid out of bed and thought of how to best communicate what was going on to Grandma Tate. She left her bedroom and walked down the hall to the guest room. Rachel raised her hand on Grandma Tate’s door, realizing before she even knocked that she was starting to cry.
***