Entering the morgue, she wasn't surprised to see Ms. Cole. A cheerful, tall, amazonian lady in her sixties. When Camillia thinks of Ms Cole, she thinks of a chirping bird in the early hours of the day. How someone was able to make a living by spending her days around dead bodies and stayed cheerful was misery to Camillia.
"Camilla! You are here at last!"
Camilla winced and broke into an uneasy smile. Were they waiting for her to clear up her body that much?
"Good morning Ms Cole."
"Just give me a minute and I will be right back darling."
She waved her slender hands at Camillia and then turned to the detective.
"Detective Jim. Sergeant Kirk. You sure took your time." Her voice hinted at disapproval even though she had an easy smile on her face.
"This way."
She promptly led them into another door that opened into a large, long hall with several long tables, arranged into two rows with a passage in the middle. At the end of this passage, they enter another door into a room called the cold chamber. This was where bodies were kept until identification and autopsy were completed or the bodies were claimed.
RHM had about six of these rooms lined up and you have to access each one by walking through the previous one. Seeing that her business was in the first chamber, Camillia was relieved. The last time she was here, she had walked the whole length to the sixth chamber.
Each room contained a huge freezer with 12 chambers occupying almost half of the room and opposite the freezer were iron racks that can take three dead bodies each. The racks were stacked to the wall to create enough space for passage and body removal.
Camilla paused at the door and watched as Ms.cole walked towards two long tables. Each had a body but in different presentations.
One table had a body covered with white clothes while the other had a body still in its body bag. Instantly she knew which was which and the thought of them in that position clamped her legs down. It was as if some heavy chain was wrapped around her body and gradually squeezing it. Then she felt yanked out of its grip. That was when she realized she had almost had a breakdown for the second time that morning alone.
"I am so sorry. Are you okay?" Norman who had his hand behind her back had walked into her when she stopped without warning at the door and his sheer strength had pushed her forward. It had happened so fast, it left him confused.
'I am fine." Camilla replied, turning to him and making sure that her face looked like she was indeed fine and not just about to freak out at the sight of her family on cold, steel tables. And to think they had spent two days in cold climates because she couldn't get her shit together. This was what Daniel always whined about.
Ellen shouldn't be lying there with nothing but a tiny piece of Chinese or linen material. She is asthmatic for heaven's sake Camie!
She could almost hear him in her head.
"Camie?" She heard Ms. Cole's curious voice and turned to face her.
Oh. Everyone had made it to the long tables leaving her and Norman at the door.
"Sorry." She muttered before grabbing Norman's hand and dragging him to join the rest of the gang.
As she walked up to them, skipping like an overfed mouse, she took in everyone's look. Jim still had his poker face while Kirk looked like he hated to be here.
Me and you mate. I hate this place too.
Ms. Cole seemed to have caught on that she wasn't there for a friendly chat and her strong face with gentle eyes now had a hint of shock that she was doing a good job of hiding.
I wonder how many friends she has helped identify to be this good. One less person to feel awkward with. Mum. She was quite mute all morning. Wondered what is going through her mind right now. Unlike her to have nothing to say.
"Mrs. Tunes?" She heard Jim's question in his voice and just nodded her head. She had done this before. Several times even. As a family member and as a nurse. These are her husband and daughter. Nothing to be scared of.
"Please." She said, looking Jim in the eye.
Jim slowly lifted the white cloth on the table in front of him and Ellen's small, oval face with jet black hair came into view.
"She is so pale. My baby.." Camillia whispered as she gently touched Ellen's still and calm face. If not for the now blackened cuts and dashes on her cheeks and necks, you would have thought that she had fallen asleep in the cold and frozen up in her sleep. Camilla held Ellen's face in her hands and just stared, willing her to open her eyes.
"How did she die?" She asked without breaking her gaze.
"A tree branch went through her heart."
The picture flashed in Camillia's head and she cringed.
"You mean, she was found impaled on a tree."
"Yes. I am sorry." Jim replied with no feelings.
"Was she upside down or upright or sideways?"
She felt Norman tightening his hold on her hand but she couldn't stop. She suddenly wanted to know exactly what happened. Norman had said she flew out of the car while it was crashing. Did she die on impact or was her death slow? If she was hanging upside down, blood would first rush to her brain causing immense pain. That would mean she died by drowning. Drowning by her own blood. If she had landed sideways or upright and didn't die immediately, she would have died due to excessive bleeding. Which would also mean, the branch didn't get her heart but was very close to it or a part of it.
"I need to know Norman." She said with conviction in her voice, making him back down.
"Detective. Did my daughter bleed to death, drown or die on impact?"
" The branch went straight through her heart. I want to believe she felt no pain."
"But?!"
" She was found more than two hours after the accident. The autopsy was conducted last night but I am yet to read the report. I will let you know once I have more information."
"What do you mean she was found two hours after the accident?"
" We didn't know there were more than two in the car ma'am." Kirk chipped in, sounding like someone who wanted desperately to defend their action.
"What is he talking about?" Camilla turned to Jim, who as far as she was concerned, was the only certified policeman in the room.
"It was Kirk and his partner that found the wreckage. When they got there, they found only a body in the car and another one, some meters away from the car. Patrol searched the whole perimeter but found nothing. It was after we contacted your mother here that we found out that there was a third person. We went back and doubled the perimeter only to find her hanging on a tree growing on the sloppy side of the valley. "
"I see." Camilla combed her fingers through Ellen's hair and planted a kiss on her face before giving way to Dorcas who had moved closer and stood there just watching.
Camilla turned to the black body bag. There was silence in the room as everyone waited for her decision. She heaved dejectedly.
"And him. How bad is it.?"
" The body is unrecognizable but we do have this "
Ms.Cole opened a drawer below the table with the body bag and brought out a ziplock containing a simple white gold ring and handed it to Camillia.
" Yes. That's Daniel's ring for sure. Can I take it?" Camilla asked, doing her best not to let it show that she was trembling inside.
"Not yet. We are yet to do dental Identification. We will be needing his medical information."
"Of course. His dentist works here too."
"Good. So if you will just follow me so we can start the process and get this over with."
" Sure, Ms Cole."
They all turned to leave and that was when they saw Dorcas passed out on Ellen's body.
"Mum!"
Detective Jim and Kirk were the first to get to her. They laid her on the ground and Detective Jim quickly placed his index finger under her nose. He physically relaxed the moment he felt her hot breath against his skin. Prompting others to release their breaths too.
"She is breathing. She just fainted.
He turned her on her side and started rubbing her back.
" Stay with her. Let me get help." Ms. Cole hurried out of the chamber.
Camilla sat on the floor beside Jim and stretched her hands towards him.
"Here. Let me hold her."
"It's okay. I have got this,"
"No it's not. My husband and my daughter are on those steel benches and my mum is on the floor unconscious in a morgue. How is that okay?"
Silence reigned.
"Please hand her over." She signed.
Jim gently stood up and manoeuvred Dorca's head into Camillia's lap and then went to raise her legs. She grabbed her by the waist and dragged her into an upright position as if she was half sitting up and half leaning into Camillia's body.
" Mum. Wake up." Camilla whispered into Dorca's ear but got no response. Then Dorcas whimpered like a crossed child, frowning her face and smacking her lips in protest before turning her head, burrowing into camillia's stomach. Camellia started laughing.
"I swear she is just sleeping."
Everybody physically relaxed. The doors opened and a nurse wheeled in a stretcher.
Norman and Jim walked over to Camillia, ready to load Dorcas on the trolley but she tightened her hold on Dorcas, looking at the trolley and nurse in confusion.
"I said she is just sleeping. She will wake up and walk out by herself. Just give us a minute okay."
" Let's get her into a room and make her more comfortable. We know she is fine." Norman said.
"I…"
Camie, look at me." Ms. Cole said with authority in her voice.
" Ms. Cole, she doesn't need a trolley. I will wake her up and she will walk out by herself. She is just sleeping."
"I know Camie but you and I know it's better to let her sleep. Look at her. She is exhausted and her body has taken it upon itself to shut down. "
Camillia knew that she was being irrational but she couldn't help herself. Every time she placed someone she loved on a trolley, they ended up dead. Ms. Cole doesn't understand.
" Let me just wake her...Mum! Mum, wake up!"
Camillia started shaking her mother's body as hysteria took over. Signalling to each other, Jim and Kirk took over Dorcas' body while Norman grabbed Camillia's arms, preventing her from stopping them. The moment Dorcas was loaded on the trolley, Norman forced Camillia to her feet and made her face him.
Ms. Cole walked up to Jim. "The Coroner is here now."
"Thanks, Ms. Cole"
"I guess we will have to postpone the interview. Please contact me as soon as she is ready." Jim said before handing Norman his card.
"Okay. I will."
Jim and Kirk followed the trolley out of the morgue.
"Camillia! You have to keep it together. Dorcas will be fine. She is just exhausted. She needs the rest. She will be fine once she wakes up."
"How did you know? What if it's more complicated than exhaustion? What if it keeps happening? What if she is the next person to die? What if she doesn't leave here alive too? What am I going to do? WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!"
"STOP IT CAMILLIA!" Norman screamed into her face. She clamped shut her mouth and stared at him with wide red rims and a ceaseless stream of tears.
" Everyone around me is dying, Norman. Everyone."
Not knowing how to respond, Norman crushed her against his chest and let her soak him for as long as she needed to.
Ms. Cole patted Camillia on her back and left them in the cold chamber.
After some time, Camillia calmed down and Norman quietly led her out of the chamber, back to the morgue's reception, where Ms. Cole was waiting with papers Camillia needed to sign.
"Sign here, here and here." Ms. Cole instructed.
Camillia picked up a pen from the pen holder on Ms. Cole's desk and signed off her signature without reading any of the forms. Within a minute, she was done.
" I am sorry for your loss Camillia. I had no idea."
"Thank you, Ms. Cole."
" If you need anything, please let me know."
"Sure."
Camillia started walking out, leaving Norman behind
"Please take care of her." Ms. Cole said to Norman.
"Yes ma'am." He said over his shoulders.
After leaving the morgue, Camillia had Dorcas placed in her room after which she and Norman went to check on Alfred who had gone into a coma on his way to the hospital. He was still in the ICU with all sorts of wire fixed into him. His doctor said he had multiple internal injuries but the most serious of them all was his broken neck and three broken ribs. The coma was due to excessive blood loss and force of impact when he hit his head and broke his neck. They have checked his brain. It was active and no nerve was affected but they don't know when he will wake up.
Since she couldn't stay by his side in the ICU and her mother was still sleeping off her exhaustion, Camillia got herself discharged and went home, hoping the police officers would forget to ask their routine questions.