A series of shrill cries disturbed her from her sleep. Shi slowly opened her eyes and glanced around. Her living room was dark aside from a few brief slants of light entering through the gaps in her blinds. She yawned and sat up on her sofa, a folder falling off her legs to the ground. She picked up her phone and answered "Dr Tawakemono."
"Shi-san!" Dojima sounded rushed as he spoke to her. "We've got another one." Shi sat up slightly straighter. "It's the Konishi girl."
"I'll be right there." Shi hung up before straightening her blouse and pants and running to her front door. Her kit was still in her car so she quickly drove to the scene. As she pulled up, a crowd had already gathered. A news reporter stood just in front of the crime scene tape as she got out of her car. He spotted her and moved over towards her, his camera-man following.
"And Dr Tawakemono has just arrived on the scene." He said as he approached her. "Dr Tawakemono, any comments for the concerned public on what has happened?" He asked. She walked forward towards the tape as more of them began to move towards her.
"I will say this. I can make no official comment as of this moment. An official statement will be released when the police deem it suitable." She said before ducking under the tape and heading towards the scene. More questions were shouted at her back as she moved towards Dojima, who stood looking at the body. He glanced at the media crowd before looking at her.
"What did you tell them?" He asked her.
"Same thing that gets drilled into everyone involved in investigations. An official statement will be released when deemed suitable and that I have no official comment to make as of this moment." She said before looking up at the body. The victim was suspended upside down. She sighed. "She's gonna be fun to get down." She said. She signalled to the two morgue attendants to move forward as she moved towards the ladder that had been set up. Dojima and Adachi both followed.
"What do you see?" Adachi asked her. Shi slipped on her crime scene suit before climbing up; face mask pulled up and gloves and boot covers on. She began her examination.
"Victim is a high school student. Most likely a third year. No signs of external injuries or trauma." She said. She glanced over the victim for any signs. "No signs of damage to her clothing. No staining." She sighed and stood up before pulling down her mask. "There's no evidence here. You two can come up and get her. But be careful. I don't want her injured." She said as she climbed down and the two morgue attendants climbed up. She glanced up as they began to remove her from her suspension. "Poor thing."
"Saki!" A voice cried from the tape. The three of them turned to see a man and woman at the tape. The man was fighting with a police officer. "Let me go you bastard! That's my daughter!" He yelled. The woman was trying to get past but was also held back.
"Oh no." Shi murmured. She turned back to the attendants who had paused. "Get her down and in a body bag. We can't let them see her like that." She ordered. They nodded and began to move slightly quicker to put her in the bag as her parents broke free of the restraints and moved towards them.
"What happened?! Where's our daughter?!" the victim's father demanded, storming up to Dojima. Shi glanced around them but the reporters had been chased away. Dojima glanced at her and nodded. She sighed.
"Mr and Mrs Konishi, I'm Dr Tawakemono. I'm the resident pathologist for Inaba. I'm afraid to inform you that your daughter, Saki Konishi, is no longer with us." She said. The man stared at her.
"What is that supposed to mean?!" He demanded. His wife, on the other hand, was shaking her head, eyes wide with horror.
"We discovered a body this morning. We believe it to be the body of your daughter." Shi continued. The two of them stared at her. At that moment, the morgue attendants moved towards Shi, the body bag now on a gurney. Shi unzipped the bag and opened it. "Is this Saki Konishi?" She asked. She needed a confirmation of the identity for her report. The couple stared at the body in shock before the woman broke down. The man slowly nodded. "I'm sorry for your..."
"You're sorry?" The man snarled before grabbing the front of her shirt. "My daughter is dead and all you've got is "sorry"?! I want answers!" He yelled. Shi just waited patiently. Dojima didn't move but Adachi did.
"Sir, I'm going to ask you to release Dr Tawakemono. This isn't her fault." He said. The man didn't move.
"I understand your pain." Shi said. "You've lost someone close, you're hurting and you want it to stop. But I'm the only one who can stop this pain. So if you want answers, you'll have to wait because I don't have them yet." She said. The man glared before dropping her. His wife clawed at the bottom of her pants.
"Bring her back. Bring her back." She sobbed. Shi sighed.
"Get them out of here." Dojima said to a nearby uniformed officer. The officer nodded and he led the couple away. "Shi, when will you be doing the autopsy?"
"As soon as I get back to the station. But I'm not expecting much." She said. She turned and began to walk back to her car, when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to face Dojima.
"We'll be back shortly, but you'll have probably started the autopsy by then." He sighed, inhaling on his cigarette before exhaling slowly.
"Just come in when you're ready. Oh and, give these to Adachi-san." She said, handing him a packet of mints. "It's to stop him feeling ill from the smell." She smiled and walked off. He glanced at the packet she had handed her before chuckling.
Shi sighed as she stared down at the body on her table. She shook her head whilst the photographer took the photographs. "Problem?" He asked. She glanced at him.
"The one part of this job I never liked, was examining those whose life was only just beginning." She said before beginning. She had already recorded every external detail, including height, clothing, hair colour, eye colour and such. She placed her Dictaphone on a nearby table and began to work, slowly removing each layer, recording anything and everything. As she came to the removal of the final layer of clothing, she placed a cover nearby.
"Why do you do that?" A male voice asked. She looked up to see Dojima and Adachi entering, Adachi chewing on the mints she had provided.
"The cover?" She asked. He nodded. "It's to give her some form of modesty." She said, slipping off the victim's final layer of clothing before quickly sliding the cover over her. "My examinations are as personal and invading as physically possible. I provide a cover to give my patients some form of modesty. They appreciate it." She said. She slowly sat the body up, to unhinge the bra she wore when there was a groan from the body.
She watched carefully as both Dojima and Adachi flinched. Dojima shook his head. "I'm still not used to that." He said.
"You never encounter that many deaths Dojima-san so you shouldn't be used to it." She said. She laid the body back down and began her examination. She did the exact same as she did with the first victim, and still could not find anything to point to a cause of death. She sighed as she completed her examination and found nothing.
"Problem?" Adachi's voice sounded strained. She glanced over at him.
"There will be if you decide to pass out right there." She said, smiling at him blushing. "The big issue is like with our first victim, there's no obvious cause of death. It's like the heart of this healthy teenager just decided to stop for no reason. Like everything just switched off." She sighed and began putting the organs back into the corpse. She then began to sew up her incisions. As she did, shouting came from down the corridor. "That'll be her parents." She said. "Keep them occupied for now whilst I finish up here. As soon as I'm done, I'll come and get them." She said. She watched as she left before glancing back down at the corpse beneath her. "Who did this to you?"