Then, the video began. In it, there was Chris’ voice, as the camera stared down at the woman on the table. Her eyes were closed, and she looked…peaceful.
There were no marks on her face, and she wasn’t mutilated like he’d feared.
Chris was speaking and making notes, and being incredibly gentle with her body.
Chris shared.
“Again, without autopsy, I can’t give any official COD, but by feeling the back of her head, I am one hundred percent positive she fell, hit her head, and was gone in that instant,” he said, as they were watching him moving her skull gently in the video.
Caspian wiped the tears in his eyes, and there was such relief that she just looked like she was sleeping.
He’d never forget how she looked, and how peaceful she was. As someone who was a pacifist, and Buddhist, he knew Rayna was in a better place and would come back again.
In the video, Caspian watched Chris lower the cloth to show her uniform. It was ripped at the one pocket, like someone had grabbed it and pulled, but she was unmarked otherwise.
Her arms were pristine, minus a few scratches likely from Devon Slater trying to grab her.
Gently, Caspian ran his fingers over the screen.
“She looks like she’s asleep,” he said.
Chris could see Raphael staring at the tablet over Caspian’s shoulder, and he had tears in his eyes.
Thank you,he mouthed.
Chris just nodded.
“She is, Cas. I’m sorry she died, but she’s not suffering. You can see that he didn’t hurt her. He didn’t violate her. What he did was probably get his ass kicked by her. She had DNA under her nails that we swabbed. He failed, and she beat him at his game. She beat him, and likely saved you, and Elizabeth. Like I said, she’s a hero. Elizabeth would have turned herself over to him to save her for you.”
Caspian sobbed.
Not only because he’d lost Rayna, but because he likely lost Elizabeth too. She absolutely would have done that. There was no doubt in his mind that she would have sacrificed herself for his heart.
Chris kept wiping the tears.
“I’m sorry she died fighting, but please know that Rayna was a warrior to the end.”
Already, his heart hurt less. Losing her would change him forever, but how she died also changed him. He no longer felt like burning the world to the ground.
His girl died a hero.
As a soldier, that was the most honorable thing in the world.
“Thank you,” he said softly. “Thank you for letting me see her one last time.”
Chris was honest.
“I wish I could give you more,” he said, meaning that. Mostly, wishing he could have saved Rayna from the fate she’d suffered.
She’d been tortured for hours, and had suffered in ways that should never have happened. Devon Slater was a sick animal, and deserved to be put down.
The sexual assault alone had to be the most painful thing for her to live through. Chris knew from looking at her that she’d had her eyes removed while alive, and he’d taken her tongue out so she’d drown from her own blood.
That had been COD.
Caspian found the words, and in them, there was peace.
“Seeing this is enough. She’s not in there. One day, I’ll see her again,” he said. “I have faith.”
