-Chapter 3-
He took the
phone from its receiver in the den.
"Hello?"
he answered in a serious tone, masking the concern of his son's whereabouts.
"Hello?
Are you Mr. Lawrence Arevir?" said the man on the other line
"Yes,
this is he. What do you want?"
"Emmet
Lataf. Chief medical examiner for Alucemet morgue." the man's voice
sounded like a student right out of medical school
"Morgue?
What..... happened?" despair filled his voice
"It's about
your son, uh.... Mike. I'm afraid I have some bad news, sir."
"Bad
news?"
"Yes,
today your son was involved in an accident."
"Accident?"
"According
to the accident report, he was struck by an unmarked SUV this afternoon;
killed. And there's also something else wrong..."
"What?"
"I think
you should go downtown for this."
"Downtown?
To the morgue? Now?"
"Yes. As
soon as you can."
"Why?"
"I'm
afraid that your son's corpse is missing."
"What?!"
"Maybe
misplaced." Lataf said nervously.
"Maybe?"
"Or
perhaps stolen."
Lawrence got a few more details and hung up,
finding Sandy behind him. Hugging
herself.
"The
morgue? Mike?" she said
He nodded,
"He was killed this afternoon, struck down by an unidentified SUV. And
now, the damn idiots at the morgue apparently lost his body!"
"What?!"
¤ ¤ ¤
Emmet Lataf
put his hand to his forehead after hanging up with Mike Arevir's father, still
not understanding how the young man had been struck down how he did, or of
how he managed to vanish from the body refrigeration room below his office.
He started to
fill out a report.
He was so deep
into writing the report that he did not even notice the limping figure
progressing slowly towards his back.....