Chapter 37: Time of Death
Nikki pulled on a pair of latex gloves and moved closer towards the steel table. She'd lost count of the number of time she'd performed the same actions. Change out of her clothes into the white scrubs. Tie her blonde hair up out of the way. Scrub up by the sinks. Pull on a pair of gloves and enter the cutting room.
Then she'd stare at the stone cold face of a stranger. Someone she'd never met before but would get to known very intimately when she cut them open. Her job meant she met a lo of new people. She just hate the fact most of them were dead.
"Ready?" she turned and saw Clarissa in the gallery watching her intently
"Ready," she repeated with a nod and glanced down at the body
…
A group of Doctors and Nurses sat around a table in a stark meeting room. An elderly doctor was chairing the meeting and a rustle of papers filled the room as he turned over the next page
"I would like this multi-disciplinary team meeting to discuss the case of Molly Williams. I believe Nathan Jones is the named nurse for this patient"
"I am indeed," Nathan said fiddling nervously at his scrub top
"Please full us in on the details," a doctor prompted
"Molly Williams is a twenty-two year old woman brought into hospital after suffering a severe beating. On presenting to Accident and Emergency she was immediately rushed into theatre for emergency surgery," Nathan said glancing down at his notes
"She underwent several surgical procedures to stop internal bleeding both in her chest cavity and brain. Since this surgery she has not regained consciousness and has remained comatose, unresponsive to all external stimuli,"
"How long has she been like this now?" a Doctor asked
"Almost five weeks," Nathan response
"And her condition?"
"Stable but no improvement," Nathan said
"I see from the scans that the damage sustained is very extensive," the Doctor said peering at the scans "The surgeons have informed me that her quality of life could be severely diminished even if she does wake up. Have we discussed options with the family about potentially switching off the life-support?"
"There is no family. Both parents are deceased," Nathan said "But do you not think that is a little premature?" he asked "She's pulled through surgery when the odds when stacked against her. There's still hope she could recover,"
"Indeed," the doctor nodded "I do not wish to take away hope from anyone yet I also do not wish to give false hope in an exceedingly bleak situation. For now, I suggest we wait. As Nurse Jones said this woman has already made it through surgery and she is currently stable. However, I suggest that given the predictions of the medical team that we should consider switching off the life-support to be an option,"
"And if she begins to improve?" Nathan asked
"Then of course we will do everything to help her. Regardless of whether she improves or not we must make this woman-s"
"Molly," Nathan corrected
"Molly's," the doctor corrected "best interests lie at the centre of our decisions. As per the Hippocratic oath we will continue to treat this patient and like you said hope that she remains the odds defying woman you have presented to us,"
…
Nikki leaned over the table glancing at the body in front of her "So this is the man who caused so much pain…" she murmured .
Just like she assumed, the body of Jack and Molly's captor had turned up at the Lyell Centre ready for Nikki to do her work on. She knew it was inevitable given she'd performed all the post-mortems in the case so far but somehow she was uncomfortable with this one. Nikki knew what his man had done. What he'd put people through. How many lives he had taken and how many lives he had ruined. But she didn't know why.
Most of the time she didn't know why.
Sometimes people just died and there was no explanation. Molly's mother was testament to that. But they had caught the culprit. He had been locked away in custody. And there had been a chance to know why, but he had taken it from them. His last insult to a world he was determined to hurt. His last insult to a young woman whose family he had wrecked and whose life now hung in the balance.
Nikki glanced over at the body. Usually she would begin by noting basic details like age but this man seemed to defy all attempts to visually age him. He looked neither old nor young. He didn't seem to fit any strata and this unnerved the scientist in Nikki.
She glanced over his body trying to ascertain a cause of death but nothing was obvious. She hadn't expected it to be. She wondered if belladonna was the cause of death and called to one of the technicians to take a blood sample.
"How was Jack when you last spoke to him?" Nikki called to Clarissa
"Throwing himself into his research paper. He wants to get it published before the end of the year,"
"At least he's distracting himself," Nikki said "And he's still attending his counselling appointments which is nothing short of a miracle,"
"He's desperate to get back to work,"
"And I'm getting desperate to have him back here in all honesty," Nikki sighed "Just, don't tell him I said that," she said quickly
"Have you heard any more news about when our new boss is arriving?" Clarissa asked
"A few weeks I think," Nikki nodded "I think they're doing paperwork and going through his induction before he officially takes over from me,"
"How do you feel about that?" Clarissa asked
Nikki frowned before responding "Empty. I just feel empty,"
"I keep expecting him to walk through the doors," Clarissa said softly
"Leo?" Nikki asked and Clarissa nodded
"We have to move on Nikki," Clarissa said "You managed to take a step by taking on being temporary head of the Lyell Centre. The arrival of our new boss is just another step. We can get through this,"
"But this time it feels so final," Nikki responded "Before I was just the temporary head. Yes, Leo was gone but it was like he was still there in a sense. I've headed up the Lyell Centre before when he's been off. Taking his place at meetings or attended those black tie events when he couldn't go but it was never a permanent position. Having this new guy coming in, just feels like a full stop in Leo's memory,"
"People are never really gone and their lives never stop if they live on in our memories. You'll never forget him and the Lyell Centre, his legacy, is still here,"
"I know," Nikki nodded "And I know that this change is inevitable and I'm looking forward to having an extra pair of hands around here. But, I just want to hang on to Leo for as long as possible," she said
"Well, hopefully this case will be wrapped up and Jack will be back with us before Doctor Chamberlain arrives," Clarissa said
"Where is Jack today?" Nikki asked
"Physiotherapy," Clarissa told her "Apparently, they're taking him off the crutches today. His knee is healing well,"
"Some good news," Nikki smiled "That's what we need more of around here,"
"I suggested to him that we should meet up for a meal or something soon," Clarissa said "A sort of remembrance for Leo,"
"That would be nice," Nikki said "But let's not make it a remembrance. Let's make it a celebration of his life and his legacy,"
"So what about this one then?" Clarissa said gesturing towards the body "Any idea as to cause of death?"
"Nothing obvious. Maybe belladonna poisoning; after all he had access to it. When he was found in his cell there was nothing around him to suggest he'd actively tried to kill himself. No belts or shoelaces…,"
"But you think this was self-inflicted?" Clarissa said as she glanced up at the video screen from the view platform
Nikki nodded "His final gesture to us. He'd not been talking to the police or given any information away about why he did it. If he did kill himself then it would be a way of making sure he'd take his secret to the grave,"
"Do we have any idea who he is?" Clarissa asked
Nikki shook her head "No ID of any sort. I'll run his DNA against the database but I'm not optimistic. Jack told me that Molly told him that this man was a loner. Cut off from society,"
"That's why he was so hard to track down. Socially he didn't exist," Clarissa theorised
"But he must have had to get money to buy food and provisions. He must have had to get a bank card or something. To do that he would have had to give a name," Nikki sighed in frustration as trying to work this man out
"Maybe he wasn't alone in all of this. Maybe he had other accomplices. He manipulated Molly into doing his dirty work for him. Who's to say he didn't do the same to others,"
Nikki shivered "Don't say that," she shook her head "As awful as this sounds I'm glad he'd dead. He's caused enough pain and misery six lifetimes over,"
"Five," Clarissa corrected "There were only five victims. Jack escaped and Molly's still alive,"
"Five," Nikki agreed "But now he's dead that could be the end to it. We might not know why, but at least he can't do any more damage…"
"You don't sound certain?" Clarissa asked
"I'm certain that he's dead," Nikki said shaking off that uncomfortable feeling that staring at this man gave her "And I'm almost certain, though I can't prove it yet, that this was self-inflicted,"
"I suppose it will be a very short post-mortem report" Clarissa said and Nikki nodded
"That and I can tell you that given that state of the body, 7:30am is the best estimate for a time,"
"When they found him?"
"When he died," Nikki corrected "Whoever this man is, 7:30am was the time of death,"
…
In a bed in the intensive care unit, a pair of blue, bulbous eyes slowly began to flicker open.
Author's Note: Sorry for lack of updates. I suck majorly. In order to redeem myself I have already written the next chapter which I will post tomorrow and it is a big 4000 word one to make up for my useless lack of updates.