I was chopped into pieces. My murderer packed my dismembered parts into different plastic bags, just like how a butcher would pack meat. My murderer even sent my body to the police station. The audacity of that person… “This is clearly a provocation!” When the police officers saw the parts in the black plastic bags, their faces drained of color. “The murderer has a certain degree of countersurveillance knowledge. This is just one part of the body,” said Frank Stone, my junior at work. His face had turned pale. Even though he had already performed an autopsy on countless bodies before, his face changed when he saw my dismembered parts. “Sorry for the trouble, Jonathan.” Liam Tyson, captain of the police force, looked at Jonathan Walsh, who stood at the side. Ever since I resigned, Jonathan was the only qualified forensic scientist left in the forensic department. He often had to work overtime. But Jonathan just changed into protective gear without complaint and went into
Only a part of my corpse was delivered to the police station. Dismemberment cases were already hard enough and trying to look for answers from such fragmented parts of my body made it even harder. I floated to Jonathan’s side and saw him work overtime to get more answers from the remains of my body. Night fell, and Liam brought lunch. “Thanks for all your hard work, everyone. Let’s eat.” Jonathan quietly picked up his lunch and went into the lounge. “Jonathan, there’s no need for that.” “It’s been years. It’s time for you to move on and live the rest of your life with Elena.” “That’s right, Jonathan. Elena resigned so many years ago…” Frank said softly. Jonathan’s face turned cold, but he said nothing. “By the way, why hasn’t Elena come by to drop lunch for you recently?” Liam looked at his unappetizing lunch and started missing me. Ever since I resigned and became a housewife, I always delivered food to Jonathan when he had to work overtime, without fail. I wou
On the fifth day of my disappearance, Frank began to feel that something was off. “Jonathan, Elena has not come to the police station for days, and things haven’t been particularly safe here. Elena is alone too…” Jonathan pursed his lips. “Just ignore her. Let her act out all she wants this time.” Since I was bored, I just stared at Jonathan while he busied himself. I sighed helplessly. In reality, enough time had passed for Jonathan to report me missing, but I knew he would not look for me. He had completely wasted the golden window. As time passed, useful information on the body would start to deteriorate. So, Jonathan had spent the past few days at the police station. He was short on time and had to fight for every second with my dismembered parts to get as much information from them as possible. He had no time to care about my feelings. This was not the first time I had argued with Jonathan, and it was also not the first time I had left without a word. But whene
I was in high school with Jonathan, and I had a crush on him for years. We also ended up choosing the same major. Later, Yvonne left the country, and he gave up on her. After all, being a forensic scientist was a sure turn-off for anyone searching for a partner. “Elena, my light has slipped from my grasp.” On the day Yvonne left the country, he drank himself into a stupor. I looked at him and felt an unexpected sense of relief. Jonathan was my light. I lost my father when I was still very young. Since I was a loner, many people did not really like me. There were plenty of rumors about my family background. Some people claimed that my father was in prison, and others alleged that he was a murderer. Whenever I asked my mother about where my father was, she would end up screaming at me hysterically. “You have no father!” she once screamed shrilly at me, as if she wanted to tear me apart. “You’re lying…” I mumbled. I could see the picture she kept so dearly, but I c
“Aren’t you going to eat, Jonathan?” Jonathan spared Frank a look and said coolly, “The corpse is more important.” Frank did not know how to convince Jonathan to eat. Jonathan was insisting on finding the murderer as if locked in a battle with himself. Frank knew about what had happened in the past. Due to misjudgment, Elena was unable to catch the criminals, which caused a tragedy. Later, Elena performed an autopsy on Nina, despite all the pressure on her shoulders. She had been unable to even hold a scalpel after that. Frank sighed. It had already been six days, and they still had no clue about the dismembered woman. He was beginning to miss Elena’s homemade meatballs. With a loud clatter, Jonathan’s scalpel fell on the floor. He cradled his stomach, and he looked up in pain. Jonathan’s gastritis was acting up again. Feeling resigned, Frank walked to the place where Elena had placed his gastritis medication. Ever since the accident, Elena had never stepped foo
“Has Elena gone back home yet? I’ve been trying to call her, but she hasn’t answered.” “What’s wrong? She must have gone somewhere to collect her thoughts. She’s not replying to my messages either,” Jonathan said nonchalantly. When he saw how anxious Frank was, he frowned in annoyance. “Jonathan, just call Elena already!” Frank could no longer keep himself calm. He shouted at Jonathan. “What’s with all the noise?” Liam, who was resting, heard the commotion and walked in. “Captain, I suspect that the corpse in the autopsy room is Elena’s.” “Stop joking around, Frank!” Liam’s face turned uncharacteristically serious. “Johnathan, we haven’t seen Elena for quite some time. She always came by to drop food whenever you were working overtime, right? It’s been days since she last did that.” “That’s impossible. She sent me a text a few days ago.” Jonathan turned on his phone and came to the stark realization that the last time I had contacted him was a week ago. Coincidentally, it w
“We’ll know whether it’s Elena once the DNA results are out,” said Frank as he looked at the dejected Jonathan. His tone was a little cold. He never thought that Jonathan, whom he respected, would hate Elena so much. But Elena had done nothing wrong. Forensic scientists had to race against the clock to uncover the truth, after all. “My shift has ended. I’m going home now. Tell me if you get any updates.” Jonathan changed out of his protective gear in a frenzy. He wanted to get away from this place. ‘Yes,’ he thought. ‘Elena must be working with the others to lie to me. Just like how she made people hold me back while she performed an autopsy on my mother! ‘Elena is a liar and a piece of trash.’ But the repeated calls he made on the way home betrayed the panic in Jonathan’s heart. He kept on trying to get confirmation to check if I was still alive, but I would not be able to answer his calls anymore. He rushed into our house. “Elena, stop joking around!” But all t
I silently followed Jonathan. He had never seen my parents before, so he was placing all his hopes on the photo. The police soon figured out who my mother was. They also figured out the identity of the man without the face, who was my father. The good news was that I was not the daughter of a murderer, but the bad news was that none of the people in the photo were alive anymore. “Elena is Captain Mark’s daughter? Captain Mark did not even register his marriage to protect his wife and daughter… “No one in their squad lived. “Some of the criminals Elena caught were part of the criminal group that murdered Captain Mark’s squad.” Liam wiped away a tear and sighed. “Elena’s just as stubborn as her father.” I was not a murderer’s daughter, and I finally understood why my mother wanted to hide my father’s identity. I also understood why I insisted on becoming a forensic scientist. Fate had already quietly laid out her plans for me a long time ago. With complicated emotions