No Way To Escape | Novel

CHAPTER 20: AT THE MORTUARY

Uncle Pete, aunt Mary and Larry's sister Tresa were going to reach Reynburg after two days. Larry's demise was yesterday's thing. I had never thought that such a hefty person like Larry would ever take such a drastic step like suicide. I had known him for years but he had never been such a weak person at heart. Suicide was an unrelatable thought. Throughout his life he had been a jovial, happy-go-lucky type of person.

When I returned from my bath, I saw three missed calls of Mark on my phone. I called him back.

'Yeah... where are you?', he asked.

'I was having my bath. Tell me what is it? Everything's fine?'

'There's something strange here. I want you to come here'

'Okay, will almost take an hour'

'Try to reach as fast as you can'

.....

I reached the Saint Mary Hospital exactly in an hour. I called Mark to know where he was.

'Hmm, am here. Where are you?', I asked.

'Get to the Mortuary. I am coming.'

I got to the Morgue. Fred was already present there, standing outside, waiting for us.

'What happened? Why was he so desperate?', I asked Fred.

'I don't know. He was saying that something weird is observed'

It was when Mark came walking across the corridor with another doctor.

'He's Doctor Victor. He has done the autopsy of Larry... I insist you two to come in', said Mark.

We walked into the room of the dead. The smell of the preservatives was nauseating. We pulled out our handkerchiefs to cover our nose.

The doctors led us to the centre of the room.

'Give me a sec', said Dr. Victor and went away into the darkness of the room. He came out with a gurney and placed it under the lamp in front of us. Number 32 was written on it. Mark removed the cover and it was the corpse of Larry, naked. What we saw baffled us.

'Seeing this?', asked Mark rhetorically.

There were violent cuts all over his chest. Severe blood clots all over his frontal torso.

'Holy Shit!! What the hell is that?', Fred cried.

'29 severe cuts, 5 minor. It appears as if he had been doing this to himself for a while', said Dr. Victor.

'How can you be so sure?', I asked.

'Look closely at the angles at which the cuts have been made. As a forensic expert, I can assure that I am not wrong in my assumption'

'And that's not that only', Mark said.

'Now what is left to be seen?', asked Fred.

'What is?..... Ask what are'

Dr. Victor lifted up Larry's feet. There were severe cuts there too. Deep wounds.

'Why had he been doing those?', I asked with bewilderment.

'Probably because of some kind of an influence', said Dr. Victor.

'Yeah. And it's also noticed in the case of patients suffering from mental health problems that they become violent and start harming themselves before committing suicide ultimately – which is observed in the case of Larry...', said Mark. '... But-'.

'But what?', I asked.

'You need to see this', said Mark and walked to the side where I and Larry were standing.

He tilted Larry's body to his back.

'Oh My God!... Holy Shit!', said Fred as he and I backed off with fright.

The words – NOT THE END YET – were knife-crafted on the whole of his back.

'How is it possible? How could he?', asked Fred.

'One thing added to it is that it was fresh when we retrieved his body. Liam, you were there when it all happened. Do you know anything about it?', asked Dr. Victor.

'I'm afraid I don't know anything about it. I didn't even notice any stains on his back. Or probably it was because of the darkness there'

'But the question here is – Who did that? It's impossible to carve it from back. Was there anyone else, Liam? Did you see anyone else there?', asked Fred.

'Nah. But I did not probe the house. The doors were open anyway'

'Police also did not find anyone else in the mansion. I guess they will doubt you, Liam', said Dr. Victor.

'But I didn't do it. I swear'

'Oh, leave it. We should get going from here. Let's get to my cabin. Parnell will be there within half an hour', said Mark.

'Hmm. Let's go', said Fred.

......

'So Liam... you're sure you don't know anything about that cuts and knife-crafted art on Mr. Larry's back?', asked Inspector Parnell to me. He had come alone.

'I really don't know anything about it'

'Okay okay. The fact that Larry was in depression and suffering from I- what?'

'IED', helped Mark.

'Yeah IED... Thanks Mark. The fact that he was in depression and suffering from IED can act in your defense. But the sculpture on his back... You're questionable until any evidences are found'

'Sure... But I can assure you I am not guilty at any point. Mark my words'

'I take that'. He continued, 'Dr. Victor, tell me, is there anything else?'

'The convolutions'

'What?'

'The convolutions in his brain had strangely highly contracted. I don't know if it has something to do with the impact or it was something else. Moreover, the wound on his back is deep enough to conclude that they were because of some kind of a dagger'

'I wanna ask something', I said.

'Go on', said Mark.

'That white in his eyes. What do you have to say on it?'

'Oh holy--', said Mark in detestation. 'I had told you right, that it must be something else'

'Why don't you all believe me? What do you have to say on it, doctor?', I asked in disgust, looking at Dr. Victor.

'Well... nothing wrong was found in his eyes', he replied, shrugging.

'Or probably he developed some last-minute cataract which disappeared with his death', saying so Inspector Parnell cackled. When he noticed all of us gazing at him in revulsion, he shut his mouth and then said, 'Um... sorry'.

'And that nerve protruding out. I saw that twice too'

'When?', asked Fred.

'First time – there in the attic. The second time was when he was hanging. The eye thing and this were simultaneous'

'Again. The darkness in the attic befooled you the first time... and if I speak about the hanging part, that must be because of that strain. You may calm down, Liam'

'I guess we should stop all the discussions here only', said Mark. 'Inspector Parnell, what do you have to say on it?'

'Hmm... well... I suppose it is a pure case of suicide. So, I suppose we must leave it here though some internal level enquiries shall be going on'

'That's all... The meeting's over here', said Mark. He walked up to the door and opened it as we all proceeded to leave. I was the last one to leave the room. Before leaving the room, I faced Mark and said, 'See I don't know what your science says, but the only thing which I know presently is that it was not IED'