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Passing the four desks that filled the bullpen, each one was clean and tidy. Nothing like the paperwork-riddled space she was used to at her office. Even the coffee pot in the corner looked pristine. The handles of the four white mugs all angled exactly the same. The smell of its stale coffee faded as they passed through a heavy metal door along the back wall.
Each step pulled another question from the dark of Vera’s mind. Had she been wrong all along? Had Alex actually run away? Were they about to witness their cousin’s lifeless body? She’d been so sure he was taking a break from school. She’d been too wrapped up in her own problems to consider the reality. Foolish shame trailed its dirty fingers across her skin. It was too late now.
The sound of countless mothers’ and fathers’ mourning screams as they identified their loved ones roared through her mind as she recalled witnessing their body identifications. She never needed to identify someone she knew and the cotton-mouth she was suffering told her that it was different. Alex or not, the possibility of it being her cousin on the table cut through the ever-present fog in her mind.
A sharp aura of disinfectant and latex mixed with the chill air as they entered the morgue. Rectangular silver trays of tools were pushed against the side wall where a large sink sat. The opposing wall was covered in stainless steel. The two doors of the body storage refrigerators reflected themselves back at them like malevolent ghosts.
“This is Dale Canimar. He’s our coroner. Well, coroner, town doctor, vet. He does a bit of everything.” Vera didn’t bother greeting the white-haired man as she caught sight of the body on the table. A sheet was draped from the head to the toes. Looking over the too-still form, the sheet had been moved a few inches, revealing a hand up to the wrist.
The skin was an unnatural shade of grey. Swallowing hard, she tried to remember what Alex’s hands looked like. Were his fingers long and angular? Short and nimble? When was the last time they spent any meaningful time together? Before she joined the FBI? Christmas a few years ago when she took a measly three days off? The truth evaded her as she stared at the hand. It was the fingertips that forced her thoughts back. The spaces where his fingerprints should be were flat. Unnaturally flat, like whoever was under the sheet pressed down on them too hard and they never recovered.
Vera noted a single purple mark around the wrist, about a quarter inch wide. It looked like a permanent bracelet.
“I’ve been told you’re looking for your cousin,” Coronor Canimar flipped a page on his clipboard, “Alexander Sánchez.” Ximena began to shake as she pulled both of them closer.
“He’s been missing for about five months,” Teddi explained but her eyes remained locked on the body. The coroner’s head bobbed up and down. His thin, bird-like face was pinched. As rushed as Sheriff Malis seemed, he was the opposite. Tense, uncomfortable, shifting foot to foot.
“Well, I’m going to lift the sheet and you’ll need to give Sheriff Malis a verbal response if this is or is not your cousin.”
"Alright," Vera answered for them, squeezing Ximena's hand.
He folded the white sheet back to the shoulders.
Ximena gasped. Vera leaned forward. Teddi froze.
“Oh my god,” Ximena cried as her knees buckled. They both grabbed her before she hit the floor. “Oh god!”
Chapter 6
Vera
On the table lay Alex. Or, what once was Alex. His once vibrant russet skin was now a garish grey and blue. The lifelessness of him starkly evident. Not just in the stillness that told of something essential, something vital missing from him, but in the wounds marring his face. Short cuts around his mouth punctuated the sallow of his skin. His eyelids, once framed by thick black lashes, were missing. The lack of skin revealed two gaping holes where his eyes had once been.
“Where are his eyes?” Vera asked, her own so wide they began to burn.
“They were missing when the body was found, most likely taken by scavenger animals. Now, is this Alexander Sanchez?” Sheriff Malis asked, his thumbs looped through his belt.
It was Alex on the table. Funny, gangly, animal-loving, and compassionate Alex. She couldn’t feel her lips as she spoke. “Yes. Yes, it’s him.”
“What happened to him? Where did you find him?” Teddi asked as she looped an arm around Ximena’s waist. She was shaking so hard she could barely keep her knees beneath her. Her face was buried in her hands as her cries began to bounce off the cold walls.
“Scavengers, I’m afraid. He was found outside, Miss…?”
“Teddi Leon. I’m the private investigator working his case.” She was angry, her normal cordiality stripped away. Vera couldn’t seem to form the words to ask the questions herself.
All she could see was Alex on the table. Alex who she held when he was born, his big brown eyes staring up at her in trust to keep him safe when she was just a child herself. She could almost feel the sensation of his tiny fist wrapping around her finger.
“Ah.” Sheriff Malis sighed. “Well, be that as it may, I am not legally authorized to share certain details of the case with you. You should know that, Miss Leon.”
“He’s family, you can share minimal details that don’t hinder your investigation into his death, at least.” Vera knew Teddi didn’t have a leg to stand on. Being a PI didn’t really mean anything when it came down to it if the Sheriff didn’t want to budge.
“My sister is FBI,” Ximena said with such venom everyone’s eyes in the room whipped to her. She was still leaning on both of them but her gaze wasn't filled only with tears. There was fury inside their dark pools. “Where the hell was he found?” Teddi pulled her back as she nearly lunged for Sheriff Malis over Alex’s body.
“Alright. Alright.” Teddi pulled her back, looking to Vera for help.
“Is that so?” He looked Vera over with suspicion.
“I am, but I’m not here in any official capacity. I’m not trying to step on anyone’s toes. We just want to know what happened to our cousin. Please, Sheriff.” She wasn’t Agent Aguilar at that moment. She was just another devastated family member gutted by the reality before her.
