Consumed by E. H. Reinhard Read Free Book Online Page A

metal sign on the wall had the same logo that hung over the front doors. The right side of the room consisted of a coffee station and a long front desk. We approached the desk and the young woman seated behind it.
    She looked up from her computer screen and brushed the long blond hair from her shoulder. “What can I help you with?” she asked. She adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose. The woman wore a pair of gray and black medical scrubs.
    “We’re looking for Chip Nehls,” I said.
    “Sure. One moment, and I’ll page Doctor Nehls for you.” She grabbed the telephone from her desk, said a few words into the receiver, and hung up. She looked back up. “He’ll be with you in a few minutes. If you’d like, you can be seated in our waiting area over there.” She casually pointed to the right of the front doors.
    We walked over and had a seat.
    “Nice waiting area for a morgue,” I said.
    “I think it used to be a day spa that went under. I heard that somewhere though I guess I can’t be certain,” Agent Clifford said.
    I scooped up a travel magazine from the table beside my chair and thumbed through it. I was halfway finished with an article about what sites to see in Mexico when a tall, thin man approached and stopped before us.
    “I’m Dr. Nehls,” he said. “I assume you would be the FBI agents that the chief deputy phoned about?”
    “Correct.” I tossed the magazine back on the table next to the chair and stood.
    “And it’s Agent Clifford, if memory serves? Clarksville?” the doctor asked.
    “Yup,” Clifford said. “It’s been a bit since I’ve had to come in, which is probably a good thing.”
    “Agreed,” Dr. Nehls said.
    Nehls, who was roughly my size, minus twenty pounds or so, took a step toward me and reached out for a handshake.
    I shook his hand. “Agent Hank Rawlings.” I motioned to Beth, who was standing from her chair. “This is Agent Beth Harper.”
    “Agents Rawlings and Harper. Got it. Chief Deputy Whissell said you’d like to see the remains that were brought in.”
    “If possible,” I said.
    “Sure, why don’t you follow me on back.”
    We followed the doctor around the far side of the front desk and through a door that led to a long white hallway—at its end, we passed through another set of double doors and into what looked more like a traditional morgue. I caught a whiff of death and a chill of colder air. The doctor turned right, through a metal door, and we followed.
    A sterile-looking green-walled room stood before us. The floor was glossy white with multiple drains. Stainless-steel tables filled three workstations. Metal shelving units holding various equipment surrounded each of the three tables. Next to each workstation, I spotted a table scale for what I imagined was weighing organs. The back wall was filled with the stainless steel doors of the body refrigerators. I counted six across by two high.
    Doctor Nehls grabbed a set of gloves from a nearby shelf and donned them. He walked to the furthest-right set of doors at the back of the room and opened the higher of the two. He stopped with the door ajar. “You know what to expect here, correct?”
    “Yeah,” I said.
    “A body, no arms, no legs, throat cut, stabbed a bunch of times?” he asked.
    “We know,” Beth said.
    “Okay. I’m just making sure.” He pulled the door open the rest of the way and slid out the remains located within. The body was in a black zippered bag. The doctor pulled the zipper down, exposing the female.
    I put the sleeve of my black suit jacket over my nose and moved my head a few inches back from the smell. Though my stomach was empty from having missed lunch, I could feel what was left of my breakfast turning down there. I let out a puff of air through my nose and glanced down at the woman. Her skin was darkening though she wasn’t very bloated. I chalked that up to the multiple stab wounds penetrating her body. The woman wore a black fishnet top and a dirty