The Book In The Body

Claire Dominus was a prominent teacher in the community with such compassion and poise. I could only imagine how she wound up naked on my table with a tag neatly wrapped around her cold toe. Foul play would most certainly mean danger for the tiny town of Beckington. There could only be hope that she slept peacefully and by natural causes.

Bridger, my immensely high-strung assistant, wheeled her covered body into the morgue. The sight almost made me tremble. I hadn't seen the body yet but Claire was so loved and needed in a community with frighteningly low education. She took her time to instill love and compassion to anyone she came in contact with. The whole town just couldn't make sense of it.

Each finger fastened around the zipper of the body bag as I took a deep breathe. This wouldn't be easy.

As my fingers shook trailing downward Claire's amiable face met my eyes almost draining every ounce of my energy.

"Oh, Claire." I sighed softly. It hurt to see such a wonderful woman so still, so vacant.

"Don't start Al" Bridger chuckled, "you can't get attached to these corpses. They can't even hear you."

My grey eyes protruded behind my clear face shield. A heavy feeling dispersed throughout my chest.

"You can go. I won't be needing you today." I hissed.

Bridger's wounded appearance danced in my vision but not an ounce of regret raced through my body.

"Aw, come on boss." His shoulders drooped in a defeated manner.

"Come on nothing." A shaky breath evacuated my quivering lips "Leave." My eyes met her face once more sending a cringe through the core of me.

Bridger started to state his case only to somberly shuffle out of the door when my enraged eyes met him again.

I'd done thousands of autopsies on my own. Let's just make this a thousand and one. No corpse or life should be disrespected in my morgue. Certainly not Miss. Claire Dominus.

Tears swelled so easily in my eyes. Autopsies rarely affected me in such a way but there was something so special about her. Claire could quite possibly have changed the world.

It was almost as if I was sleep walking through her entire evaluation. Washing her body with disinfectant felt so wrong. My mind wouldn't let me believe she should be here.

Her skin was intact, her body unbruised. The hope that natural causes swept her from us seemed to swell harder in my heart.

Finally the time came to cut open her chest. For some reason my mind made me feel as if it would hurt her. I had to talk myself down.

My hand hesitantly reached for the bone cutter. There was a moment of pause before I revved the machine. Soon after, the caustic stench of decay filled my nostrils.

It smelled as if her insides had been rotting for weeks. None of it matched up with the time of death. There was talk she had been found by her roommate who had seen her alive the day before. This puzzled me.

The white glove covering my hand eased inside of her chest cavity. Each organ came out effortlessly, pink, and healthy. The smell still overwhelmed me.

As my hand traced the inside of her stomach the edges of what felt like an envelope forced me to draw it back.

"What the fu-" I shined the light down into her body to the see the edge of just that. A medium sized envelope.

My head flinched back slightly as my eyes narrowly darted back and forth throughout the room. Taking another look inside, the envelope still stared back at me.

With every ounce of uncertainty my hand shifted back down into her abdominal cavity. Once my fingertips met the envelope it slid out silently.

There it was. A manila envelope filled with God knows what. Drugs? A weapon? Cases like this almost always meant some type of narcotic or smuggling of some kind.

I couldn't bring myself to think that of Claire.

Cautiously, I opened the envelop to reveal a tiny black book.

Confusion consumed me again at this point. Not a single part of her body seemed broken or disfigured. Her health hadn't been dismantled. She was in tip top shape. Just this little book in her stomach.

It seemed a little thicker than most little black books but in the moment none of it really mattered. The fear that she was part of some terrible wrong doing depleted me once more.

My shaking hands carefully opened the book to see the biggest stack of cash I'd seen in a long time followed by blank white pages. No writings, no incriminating dialogue, the money only incased inside pages of nothingness. Only a small sticky note atop of the stack reading "$20,000".

My brow began to sweat. My body shivered at the thought of spending every ounce at my favorite place in the world.

Throwing the book into the tray I immediately became disgusted with myself.

"Who am I?" I shook my head remorsefully at the thought of taking this money down to Eldric Casino.

A remorse that would soon fade.

As the autopsy came to a close. I neatly tucked Claire back into the fridge. Somehow the money was in my brief case and I was now in a taxi on my way to Eldric.

Soon I was making excuses for myself. A teacher that smuggles money certainly wasn't the type of person you'd expect to haunt you for some shit like this. She would never know. Claire couldn't have been that good of a person.

All of these excuses eased my mind as the euphoric feeling soared through my veins at the entrance of the casino. Not a second of regret, not an ounce of shame. This money was sure to hit big.

My heart pounded in frenzy as I made it to the Black Jack Table. A tiny little thing with red hair smiled warmly at me as she dealt the cards.

"Welcome, to Eldric. May the odds forever be in your favor." She stated with a wink.

Sitting the little black book at the edge of the table the woman's eyes widened and her teeth bared bright. Money attracts all types of characters. Maybe it could attract me one for the night.

I could feel the other side of me peaking out. As much as my ex-wife hated it, it felt pretty good.

"Well, my, my," she fanned her cleavage with her manicured hand "you certainly have a lot to bet with tonight don't you." She chuckled flirtatiously.

I smiled back at her wickedly. This was my time. Thank you Claire Dominus.

"Well, maybe if I bet my money right I can take a beautiful woman like you home tonight." Both of my eyes traced her curvy figure all the way up to her presumptuous face. Just how I like them.

She giggled softly running her fingers through her maroon hair.

Probably had about two kids and smoked a pack a day but that face ripped all judgement away.

"Well, maybe you just might." She winked at me lasciviously. That was the green light to get this night started.

I slid her a hundred dollar bill staring at her enticingly.

"Tip for tip dear?" I winked.

She giggled shoving the hundred dollar bill into her bra.

The night went winding on. To my surprise I had made back everything I put in. Not a dollar more. Not a dollar less. There was no fun in that. I always played to win. Tonight however there was no thrill in the game. A little red head was following me around like a deer in the headlights which would become rather annoying. Everything seemed sort of...off.

Eldric's had been my happy place for so many years. It held me through my divorce. Through every cut off from my parents. Through every bad time. When there was Eldric's there was a way. Just not today.

Both feet pounded against the red carpet as I made my way past flashy slot machines. Rachel, or maybe it was Rose trailed giddily behind me. Never could remember their names.

Claire Dominus's face seemed to be flashing in my head though. I can't say it felt good at all. Maybe some regret was starting to sink in. The fun was over.

I glanced back at Rachel or Rose as the elevator opened to take us to our hotel room. At least I'll score in one way.

After some pretty lame sex Rachel or Rose made her way back down to the Casino. Quickies were cool when it was hot but she just didn't seem as cute as she'd been when I walked in.

Splashing handfuls of water into my face didn't take away the eerie feeling building inside my chest the second she left. Something didn't feel right. I was alone, yet, I didn't feel alone.

"You shouldn't have done that." Claire's voice echoed throughout the room nearly knocking me to my knees.

My eyes grew wide as saucers darting around outside of the bathroom door in a panic.

"H-hello." Small earthquakes formed in my voice.

No answer. When I turned back to face the mirror what I saw winded me.

There she was. Claire Dominus in the flesh. Only she was supposed to be dead. Her eyes were sooty. You couldn't see the whites of them. Not even a centimeter. Just blackened eyes that never let up on me. My stomach began to turn.

"You really shouldn't have done that Al." Her voice echoed like ghosts do in the thousand horror movies I'd seen.

Her hand rose to the side of her face pressing her thumb and middle finger together. Within a millisecond of her snap we were back in the morgue.

Her eyes remained black and her smile ripped the flesh of her cheeks as blood cascaded down her neck.

"I'm sorry Claire!" Both of my hands made their way in front of me in a pleading manner. One hand gripped the black book for dear life.

Claire laughed nefariously picking up my saw.

"Sorry..."she looked at the saw throwing her head back, laughing arrogantly.

"Sorry just doesn't cut it." A guttural growl ripped out of the slit in her face.

Soon I could feel the warmth of my own blood running down my stomach to my knees. Small bubbles formed at the base of my lips as I began to asphyxiate. She stood over me with such self assurance in her eyes. The saw poked out of my chest as I fell to the floor.

Within seconds she had vanished and Bridger was at the door.

"Oh my god Al" He ran to my side the little black book I clenched in my right hand caught his eye.

He grabbed it as if almost to look for a clue as to who had done this to me. When he saw the cash I knew he had made his decision and that my life was no longer a priority to him. He battled with himself for no more than a second over my livelihood. In my morgue.

"I'm...I'm sorry Al I'm so behind on rent." I could tell that piece of him wanted to help me but his greed overcame his morals.

Just as mine had.

As the life drained from me in a warm pool of my own blood in the morgue I spent my entire life building Bridger left through the double doors.

Claire trailed not far behind him.