Edited by: Kuro and Lille
When Grey arrived at the crime scene, the first thing he did was look at the area where the body was found. There was a slight indent in the ground, indicating that the body had not been there for long. Probably only a few hours. He then looked around the dump site.
He looked at every tree and every rock nearby, hoping to find something. There had to be something that connected the body with the others.
Even though he knew that Myles hadn't found it before, he was different. Maybe he would be able to notice something Myles didn't.
'System, help me scan the area for anything that is odd or out of place.'
[Understood. Scanning the area... Grey, there are two locations of concern.]
'Eh? Why are there two?'
[In the tree across from where the body was placed, there is a small hidden camera that was placed according to your height. It is conveniently able to take pictures of your face with no hindrance. It even has a feature to follow you and focus on you when you are bending down or walking away. The second thing is that there is a small rock underneath that tree, it's a blueish-grey rock that is smooth. Turn it over and you will find the brand carved into it.
[Also, Grey. Do not touch the camera. It will explode if it senses any heat near it.]
'Heat? Like body heat? How close do I need to be for that to activate?'
[That's correct. About a centimeter away from it.]
'Ah, so right before I try to grab it... Can you tap into it?'
[I will try.]
Since Grey knew he was being documented, he pretended he didn't notice the camera and went to look for the rock. He found the rock with System 225's help and turned it over. He was wearing gloves to prevent smudging any leftover prints.
True to System 225's words, there was a small snowflake brand like the ones he saw on those bodies.
"Found it."
His voice wasn't very loud but it was clear enough for everyone to hear it.
"Myles, what did you find?" Caleb ran to look at what Myles was holding. The only thing he saw was a rock. "A rock?"
"Hand me a magnifying glass."
"On it!"
Caleb ran to grab one and then gave it to Grey. Grey hovered it over the stone to show Caleb the brand.
"Holy shit, Myles! You got some good eyesight if you were able to notice this tiny thing."
"It was an odd stone that you shouldn't be able to see in this area."
Grey was right. These kinds of stones were either manmade or by a river.
[Grey, step back now!]
Grey quickly reacted and stepped back, taking Caleb with him. The two fell to the ground as he covered the stunned and shocked Caleb while a small explosion happened behind him.
Everyone looked over at the tree to see a large hole in the truck. Pieces of metal were scattered within the hole and around the roots of the tree.
"Someone hurry and pick up as many metal pieces as possible!"
A group of people rushed forward with gloves on. They took out tweezers and quickly picked up as many metal pieces as they could.
Grey gave a sigh of relief, but if he stayed in front of that tree, it would've exploded on his face and he didn't know if his face would be okay afterward.
"Thanks for saving me." Caleb was a little shaken up. As a newbie, there were a lot of things he hadn't experienced. Explosions were one of them.
"You're welcome, but I am partly at fault. I should've been more careful..."
He looked over at the hole where the camera once was. It was 6 inches wide and went through the trunk of the tree. There were scorch marks around the rim of the circle. The smell of burnt wood filled the air.
[I apologize. I wasn't careful, but I was able to track a signal. I will give you the details when you are done here.]
'Thanks, System. I will take a look at it later.'
"Sir! We picked up all the pieces." A man had said. He was on the forensics team.
"Good job. Take it back to the lab. We probably won't be able to get what kind of camera it was, but it won't hurt to check the material it's made of. Also, we should swab the newly made hole for residue."
"Yes sir!"
"Myles, we got a call from Dr. Hendrick," Caleb said as he looked worried.
"Eh? What happened?"
"They found something in the victim's stomach..."
****
Grey and Caleb arrived at the morgue. When they got inside the room, Dr. Reynolds was eating a sandwich while looking over Dr. Hendrick's shoulder, looking at the victim's stomach.
The victim this time was a male who was in his late 40s. He was a bit older than the other victims that they had looked at. He was bald but had nice and thick eyebrows. He was on the wider side, with a beer gut. He was 5'6, but one of his legs was shorter than the other, maybe from a hip displacement that had never been addressed. All in all, he looked like a typical alcoholic dad.
Caleb looked at Dr. Reynolds, shocked and disgusted. "How are you eating in here while looking at a cut open body?"
Dr. Reynolds looked over at Caleb, and paused for a brief moment, before finally shrugging. "When you gotta eat, you eat."
"Caleb, after a while, you get desensitized. This is normal for these weirdos." Grey shrugged as he patted Caleb's shoulder.
"You are also included in that category of weirdos, Myles, as you had also eaten a sandwich while I was giving you an explanation next to a body." Dr. Hendrick looked up, slightly offended that he was called a weirdo by another weirdo.
"I was running late and hadn't eaten all day. You have no right to judge me."
"Stop messing around you two and get back to work."
To Caleb, the younger Dr. Reynolds looked like the father of two overgrown kids.
"So you know how to disrespect your seniors now, huh?" Dr. Hendrick pulled on Dr. Reynolds' cheeks. He stretched them out with an aggrieved look on his face.
"Dr. Hendrick, leave Dr. Reynolds’ face alone." Grey quickly took those hands off of his husband's cheeks. He hadn't even gotten the chance to touch them nonetheless let someone else touch them!
"I'm being teamed up on! I thought you were on my sideee∼" Dr. Hendrick fake-cried as he clung on to Grey.
"Ignoring this old doctor, we called you here to tell you we found something very concerning in the 4th victim's stomach."
"His stomach? What did he have? Someone's finger or something in his stomach?"
Dr. Reynolds was surprised at Greys' intuition. "Yes, actually. We have someone's finger, but running through fingerprints, the finger belonged to a victim across the country. It was a teenager who didn't even reach the age of 18. They don't know who the killer is and are still looking. We contacted the police department over in J city, where she was found, and they said that she was missing 4 of her fingers. We found one."
J city was by the border on the other side of the country. It was by the coastline and it was a popular tourist destination.
"Shit. We can safely assume that she's connected to our serial killer... Where are the damn government agents?"
He knew they were coming in a couple of days as they had another case, but it was still annoying that they were low on people.
"There's also something else we need to report." Dr. Hendrick finally spoke up after being ignored for a while.
"We wanted to make sure we didn't miss anything, so we checked the other victims. The first victim had someone else's right femur, and the 2nd victim had their kidneys replaced with someone else's. We thought they had a kidney transplant, but they sewed it on in a way where they made it completely useless if the person was alive."
"If they were alive?" Caleb was confused.
"Well, they were dead when the bones and kidneys were put in." Dr. Reynolds shrugged.
Grey rubbed his temples. He had a horrible headache. "Just like the tattoo. Were you able to get any DNA off of it?"
"That's what we are waiting for."
"Who in the world would do something like this?" Caleb was so stunned. It was the first time he had worked on a case this big. He almost didn't know what to do and wanted to run away. He couldn’t though. He couldn’t let Myles down!
"We don't know, but we are here to find out, aren't we?" Grey patted Caleb's shoulder. He knew it was scary so he wanted to try his best to comfort his friend. "It's our job to bring justice for these victims and punish those who decide to do these things."
"That's true. I'm just going to have to get used to it."
"You don't have to get used to it. You just have to learn how to manage around it. Plus, I'm here for you."
Grey didn't want Caleb to be desensitized. His best friend was a loveable ball of sunshine who should be protected at all times. He didn't want Caleb to lose himself and his emotions.
Caleb, who had always been quick to shed tears, cried and clung on to Grey. If they didn't know he was a detective, they would've thought he was just a normal person with an office job who got thrown into a mess.
"Alright, you two lovebirds. Stop flirting in my morgue. If you are done here, scram!."
"Excuse you? He's more like my child than my lover."
"I guess a child is more fitting. You are almost a decade older than him, no?"
"Are you calling me old, old man? Who is the one that's 30 years-"
"Another word and I will sew your mouth up with my needle that I didn't feel like cleaning!"
Dr. Reynolds couldn't help but hold his head and contemplate his life choices. In front of him, it looked like bickering parents with a crying kid. The small child was clinging to the mother crying, saying that his father had bullied him. And the parents were fighting back and forth, ready to draw blood. He felt like the uncle, ready to break apart the parents before they could scratch each other to death.
"Stop fighting and get back to work."
"He started it!" Grey and Dr. Hendrick pointed at each other.
Children. They were children.
Dr. Reynolds was utterly amazed that these two were adults who were older than him! Even Grey was six years older than him. Sometimes he questioned himself when picking the job that he had.
Jordan Reynolds, 27, new medical examiner, perfect job. Ah, he loved how the patients didn't complain, but his coworker was... Hmm... Questionable. He looked up to Dr. Hendrick and respected him, but his respect was slowly decreasing as he witnessed the interactions with him and Grey.
He didn't originally want to be a doctor. His parents were strict and wanted him to be a medical doctor, with no exceptions. They were IT giants but they had an older son who wanted to inherit the company, so they made sure their other son, who happens to be him, became a doctor. But they never specified what kind of a doctor he could be, so he chose to become a medical examiner. He actually enjoyed this career so there were no regrets. His parents... Almost had a heart attack though.
"Myles, we should get going. The Chief wants our report for today." Caleb tugged on Grey's sleeve. He had long stopped crying while Dr. Hendrick and Myles were bickering back and forth. Even Dr. Reynolds gave up and was sitting at the computer writing his report.
"Alright, old man. We will settle this on a different date." Grey wiped the nonexistent dust off his hands like he had just interacted with something dirty.
"Old man? Call me old man one more time and there won't be a next time!" Dr. Hendrick knew he was old, he just didn't like to be reminded that he was. Can't they attack something else? Why did it have to be his age? This was ageism!
Grey walked out with no care in the world. "See ya, Dr. Reynolds." He gave Dr. Reynolds a wink, ignoring Dr. Hendrick.
"Where's my goodbyes you rascal?!"
Caleb followed behind him as he gave his goodbyes.
They left behind a hotheaded Dr. Hendrick who was grinding his teeth. He scoffed before walking to his office muttering about something.
Dr. Reynolds just gave a sigh at his computer. They really acted like children. But... Myles was really adorable acting like that. Well, he knew he would like Myles regardless if he was a little childish or mature. There were many sides his to love, and in each world, he loved to see all the different sides of him. Well, his filter was a little too thick…
He already had most of his memories from their lives together but Myles hadn’t said anything to him. He thought it was best to say something later because he knew Myles was going to get even busier.
Get yourself together. He patted his cheeks lightly before going back to work.
Lille: Dr. Reynolds…? >_>
Grandpa Marky: Don't worry Lille, Dr. Reynolds will love Grey no matter what XD the filter too thiccc. Skin too thiccc.
Also, my sleep schedule changed again but oh well, such be my life. I've been procrastinating on everything. Even eating. It's driving me nuts. My mind is yelling at me to do things and I just sit there, overwhelmed. *sighs* well, it's good I finally decided to update before sleeping lol. Ah, yeah, update on my eye, I'm healing okay I think. There's something that is concerning me so I have to call my doctor tomorrow. Hopefully, it's ok... Anyway, that's it from me! I will see you all next week. Sunday as usual :D
