Chapter 40

The women were huddled together when the door opened. They started to whimper and cry out louder yet all they heard were the same continuous whispers. They cried more emphatically and as the Whisperer went back up the stairs; he heard one of them yell,

“FUCK YOU!”

He smiled as he closed the door. Even though his sleep had been restless at first, the sleeping pills he took helped him shut out the evil that was trying to take hold of him. He got undressed and got ready for his day job. He was going to be working with his mentor today. Once a month all the Junior Medical Examiners got to meet with the Head Medical Examiner, Dr. Aspinall, and discuss all the open cases that the offices dealt with. Due to his wife’s recent death, William Deveroux had been off for a week and he felt as though he had been cut off from his entire world. The time off had given him the opportunity to dispose of the extra weight that had started to cause him some problems and it had also let him play with Detective Darrell Darker. A game that was giving him the utmost pleasure.

When William got to the office he was greeted and given the pre requisite “Sorry for your loss” from the other staff members. As he and the other Junior Medical Examiners filed into the conference room a silence came over the room as they all waited for Dr. Aspinall. When the meeting began all were quiet and waited for their turn to speak. When the juniors had all had their turn speaking, Dr. Aspinall finished his notes. Looked around the room and dismissed everyone except William.

“Dr. Deveroux, do you need more time to grieve?” Dr. Aspinall asked before the room had completely cleared.

“No, thank you Sir.”

“Excellent” Dr. Aspinall handed William a file from his pile and said

“This is top priority. This is part of the IPK case. I need someone who is detailed, methodical and focused. I know you possess those qualities.”

“Thank you Sir,” was all William replied.

After Dr. Aspinall left the room, William looked at the file and a small smile appeared on his face. Now he had all the information. Being part of ‘the team’ gave him access to things he normally would have had to guess at. William kept the smile on his face while he stared at the papers in front of him. After a few moments he caught his glee and returned to a solitary, solemn figure. He took the stairs down to the Morgue offices and went into his office. After closing the door, he silently walked over to the coat hanger, hung up his suit jacket and put on his lab coat. He then gingerly walked behind his desk, silently pulling the chair, sitting down in it and then just as quietly started to read the files that had been placed on his desk by his dim witted secretary while he was off on bereavement.

As he methodically made his way through each file, he took notes on a legal pad of paper, as was expected; he highlighted and underlined the important facts of each case. This was futile work for William as he knew that if he was looked in on by Dr. Aspinall, the mentor would expect this from him, so all in all it was window dressing. When William got to ‘his’ case file he started to go through it like he normally did. He started to make a mental list of all the things he learned from the case file. When he relived his murders, except for Gayle Adams’, he felt jubilant and exalted. He felt no one or nothing could touch him. When he got to the Gayle Adams portion it didn’t dawn on him at first. He didn’t understand at first why she was included in the file. As he read on, he came to the realization that this was his largest and possibly his most dangerous mistake. He stared at the file, not really being able to focus on the words. His actions of that night came running into his head like a freight train.

“How could…” his voice trailed off

“But…” again he stopped his words.

He was astounded at his own arrogance and his own inability to see the error of his ways. William started to feel panic set in, for the first time in 30 years. He had made the classic mistake.

“Arrogance and Huberous.”

As he remembered these actions he saw the glaring mistakes. The taunts to the police, the note to that Detective, her death, all giant mistakes that gave the police what they had needed to catch him. He had gotten sloppy; he had in criminologists eyes start to ‘devolve.’

William looked at the clock. He had been at the office for six hours he needed to regroup, think clearly and be objective. He needed to finish this job here and then go home to do his work. Methodically-like how he had started. William was deep in thought when there was a knock on his door. The door opened before he could say ‘enter.’

“Dr. Devaroux? I’m Detective Darrell Darker. Dr. Aspinall said you were going to be our new M.E. on this case. May I come in?”

“Yes please do, Detective.” William stood up and motioned to the chairs in front of his desk, as he walked around to greet the Detective.

“What can I help you with Detective?” William tried to keep his thoughts under control. He needed to be calm.

“Well, I was wondering if you had any insights into what is going on with this guy?

“Guy?” William paused briefly and went on, “The person who is killing these women?” he posed the question back at Darrell.

“Yes.” Darrell answered.

“Well Detective, I deal with the dead. Not who does that to them. Unfortunately I can only say that from my perspective this person is very…” William paused for a moment to give the illusion of thinking, “Angry.” He finished. “I’m sorry if that is not what you wanted, but like I said the dead don’t really speak to me like they do my colleague Dr. Aspinall.” After a few moments William looked up at the Detective and noticed that he was staring at his wife’s picture on his desk.

“Your wife?” Darrell asked as he picked up the picture.

“Yes, she was. She passed away last week from cancer.” William tried not to slap the man for disturbing his angel.

‘Oh, I’m sorry.” Darrell quickly put the picture back on the desk.

William gently picked up the photo and caressed his wife’s face

“She was everything to me!” William blurted out without thinking.

“I’m sorry Detective.”

William shook his head and placed the photo back where it had originally been sitting.

“Sometimes I forget that others are around.” William looked the man in the eye.

Darrell nodded in understanding.

After a pause, Darrell noticed the legal pad and asked “May I?”

“Of course, they are just notes to help me catch up.” William spoke quietly as he handed the pad to Darrell.

“These are extensive.” Darrell commented.

“Well in order for me to catch up, so to speak, I need to understand all that has occurred as I haven’t been involved in this case at all.”

“Hmmm” was all that Darrell said.

“What does this mean here Doc?” Darrell pointed

“’LL’ is large laceration. We each have our own shorthand, something we picked up in medical school, to save us time. It’s before the class on how to write so that no one can read it.” William said dead pan.

Darrell laughed at the quip.

“Very good Doc, very good. But I think you may have failed that class.”

To prove his point William grabbed a small note pad from his desk corner and scribbled a few things and then signed his name at the bottom and handed it to Darrell.

“I was wrong. I think you got an A+.” Darrell handed both pads back as he laughed.

The laughing brought Dr. Aspinall to the open door and as quickly as the laughing began it ended.

“Getting ahead Dr. Deveroux?” Dr. Aspinall asked icily.

“Yes sir.” was all William replied.

The door closed abruptly behind the mentor and Darrell looked at William.

“No worries Detective, he doesn’t like noise.” William said to ease the tension that had marched its way into the tiny office.

“It seems to me, that man doesn’t like much.” Darrell spoke and before he could help himself he started to laugh again.

William smiled and shook his head.

“Is there anything else Detective?” William spoke and smiled at the Detective.

“No, I guess not.” Darrell got up from the chair and turned

“So will you be the guy they call for the bodies now?”

“Yes, Detective, that would be me.” William glumly said. “If there are more.”

“There will be, I have no doubt at all Doc.” Darrell turned and left the office of Dr. William Deveroux.

William closed the door behind Darrell, returned to his desk and thought about the Detective’s last statement.