She was terrified. Dead woman could have been one of those her husband had an affair with

Mando Publishing House published the book “The Patient’s Secret” by Loreth Anne White. Psychotherapist Lily Bradley has a perfect life, everyone would like to be in her place. Until that night. A woman’s mutilated body is found under the cliffs. A mysterious death means that the secrets of the psychotherapist and her patients are no longer safe. Thanks to the publisher’s courtesy, we are publishing fragments of the book.

It’s cold in the mortuary. Exposed pipes run along the ceiling, and the refrigerators where the bodies are stored hum, keeping the temperature low enough to stop bacteria from growing and the bodies from decomposing. Rue participated in many sections. He knows the specific smell that lingers in the air of every morgue – a mix of tissue preservative, cleaning agent, and death itself. But despite her experience, Rue doesn’t feel comfortable. He chews cinnamon gum and watches pathologist Fareed Gamal and his assistant. Toshi stands next to her. They are both wearing protective clothing. Fareed delivers his comments into the overhead microphone.

A dead woman lies naked on a stainless steel table. Her head rests on a platform that exposes her neck. The table is tilted slightly to allow body fluids to drain away. There’s a food scale hanging at the foot of the bed, waiting for the organs. On Fareed’s side there is a smaller table with a dissecting block and some rather brutal-looking specialized tools – pruning shears, a vibrating bone saw, large knives. These are not precision instruments intended for life-saving operations. They are used to cut bodies, open chests, and saw through bones.

Fareed and his assistant had already weighed and measured the dead woman. They conducted an external inspection and carefully removed fibers, pebbles, hair and fragments of vegetation. They then removed the jewelry and carefully undressed the woman, recording everything as it happened. Every item taken from the body so far – whether a small fiber or a piece of clothing – has been marked and entered into evidence.

Rue stares at the tattoo on the deceased’s arched neck. The dead woman has another image tattooed on her hip, which resembles the image of the goddess Apate from Arwen Harper’s studio. The mascara is clearly visible on her pale, translucent skin.

The Patient’s Secret Mando Publishing House

“Like life, like death”

Rue forces herself to look at the deceased objectively now. He has to think logically and coolly, otherwise he won’t survive the autopsy. He knows from experience that if he lets his emotions get the better of him, he won’t be able to focus on small clues. He takes out another piece of chewing gum and puts it in his mouth. Toshi looks at her. This is only his second autopsy. But he feels at ease. Unlike her. – She smells as if she drank a lot before she died – says Toshi. “That would fit with the information that she was very tipsy during the Cody party,” Rue says, chewing gum.

“Like life, like death,” Fareed says, reaching for a ruler. – Our mental and physical traumas, our past, everyday habits, desires, fetishes, addictions, all this is written in the body. “He peers at them from behind a plastic visor that will soon be spattered with blood and caked with bone fragments as he pulls out his saw. – Our bodies encode everything, even if we don’t do it ourselves. Nothing can be hidden here, on my table. Death equalizes everyone when it comes to alcohol. Whether cheap vodka or Dom Pérignon, it’s all ethanol. In any form, it is toxic, and the human body, as it metabolizes it, emits the same sweetish odor regardless of whether one was rich or poor.

He bends down to measure and examine the tattoo on his neck. He describes it for the recording. “He looks like a chimera,” he says into the microphone. – So what exactly? – Toshi asks. Fareed glances up. – A character from Greek mythology. A female fire-breathing monster. The front part of the body is a lion, the middle part is a goat, the rear part is a dragon. The tail is usually depicted with a snake’s head at the end, as here. Nowadays, the word “chimera” is sometimes used to describe something unrealistic or whimsical. “Her son said the tattoo on her hip represents a Greek goddess,” Toshi informs. “Apate,” Rue adds. “Goddess of trickery.”

Fareed turns the deceased’s left wrist, revealing its inner part. – Deep wounds on the inside of both wrists – he says. – Horizontal cuts.

– Self-harm? – Rue asks. “They’re consistent with an old suicide attempt,” Fareed confirms, focusing on the torn fingernails. He starts taking scrapings. “She went to a psychotherapist in Ontario,” Toshi says. The scrapings are placed in evidence bags marked RIGHT and LEFT. Fareed grabs the pincers. She begins to pull out a torn string of tiny orange and green beads that are stuck between her fingers.

Rue swallows. Her eyes focus on the strand of beads. Fareed drops them one by one into a small metal bowl. They land in it with a clang. It sounds unnaturally loud in Rue’s head. – Orange and green beads. They look plastic. Round. Two millimeters in diameter. – The doctor carefully removes another, larger bead from between his fingers. – Brown metal. Hexagonal shape. Ten by five millimeters. Flat surface. – He frowns slightly, covered by his visor, and leans even closer. – Imprinted emblem. – He falls silent. – It looks like a stylized rhinoceros head.

The buzzing in Rue’s brain grows louder. He feels a tingling sensation on his skin. Toshi leans over to take a look. – Yes, it’s a rhinoceros head. At least i think so. A few more beads were found on the cliff. My guess is that she ripped them off her attacker during the fight. Before she fell.

Rue feels a claustrophobic grip around her neck. He thinks about Eba. Can not breathe. She’s feeling sick. Fareed drops a metal bead into a stainless steel vessel. He lands in it with a clatter. The doctor reaches for Wood’s lamp – the size of a large flashlight – and his assistant turns off the ceiling light.

Fareed passes Wood’s lamp over the body, looking for semen, which fluoresces when exposed to ultraviolet rays. Blood and saliva do not fluoresce. Some lint does. And although there is no obvious evidence of sexual assault, as was the case with the Runner Killer victims, the doctor is diligent. A strange patch of purple light appears on the inside of the woman’s left thigh. Toshi glances at Rue. – This is where we will collect the DNA – he says.

But before Fareed begins taking vaginal swabs, Rue feels nauseous. – Sorry. I need to get some fresh air. – He hurries towards the exit. – Everything’s all right? – Toshi follows her. Rue raises her hand. – I felt bad. I need some fresh air.

She walks quickly out the sliding metal door, feeling more and more ashamed in addition to her growing nausea. He runs across the shiny floor, under strips of harsh fluorescent light, to the fire exit at the end of the hall. He runs out the door and rushes up the concrete steps. He rushes outside through the door and greedily inhales the moist, cool air.

A memory appears in her mind

She runs her hands through her hair and realizes that she’s shivering. He swears again and notices a man in a doctor’s lab coat nearby, smoking a cigarette. Rue hasn’t smoked in months. The man looks at her as if he could see right through her. – Did the day start badly? – he asks. – I think so. Would you offer me one?

The man hands her the package and she takes out a cigarette. She puts it to her mouth with a trembling hand and he flicks the lighter. Rue leans over to smoke and takes a drag. Coughing slightly, he says thank you. The man leaves and she stands and smokes under the cover of a concrete slab. She can’t believe she asked a strange man for a cigarette. A memory appears in her mind.

It’s hot. Dry. So hot that the heat shimmers white over the African landscape. He stands outside the souvenir shop at their hotel in Botswana, smoking a cigarette in the sparse shade of a thorn tree, while Eb buys trinkets he wants to bring back to Canada. Her son leaves the store with two plastic bags. Each of them contains an African beaded bracelet with a single brown bead with the image of a rhinoceros – the logo of the Save the Rhino foundation.

Eb smiles sheepishly. “One for me, one for Dad.” He shows Rue the trinkets. And she knows he bought them because their Botswana guide wore several similar ones on his wrist, along with a leather strap with larger beads strung on them. Young, handsome, and muscular. Eb has boundless admiration for the tracker who found lions and showed them how to follow the tracks of African wild dogs.

Rue takes another drag and surrenders to the overwhelming force of the memory.

– Do you think dad will wear it?

– I do not care. – The flash of his radiant smile, his bright white teeth. – I can wear both. The goal is noble. The foundation receives money from each bracelet sold and spends it on fighting poaching.

The dead woman could have been one of those her husband was having an affair with

Rue inhales smoke into her lungs and coughs. Her eyes are watering. She reminds herself that her most important task as a policewoman is to protect society. For now, no one is in danger because he remains silent about the Eba beads. And about the fact that the dead woman could have been one of those with whom her husband had an affair. He also explains to himself that almost everyone who goes to South Africa on safari brings back similar trinkets. Saving rhinos is a matter of great importance. Anyone around the world can buy such beads online.

But as she stubs out her cigarette, Rue knows this isn’t just cold thinking anymore – she’s entering the slippery slope of denial. She tells herself that if this case really becomes a problem for her, she will report it to her superior, who will assess whether she should be removed from the investigation. Moreover, it is much more likely that the woman’s misfortune occurred because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and fell victim to an opportunistic predator, perhaps even the Runner Killer. It’s also possible that her death is related to Tom Bradley or Simon Cody. Or both. Usually the most obvious answer is the correct one.

Rue worked hard to get a position in the homicide unit. She’s aware of the rumors and slander that she only got the job so the department could meet its diversity policy, and she’s trying to prove she deserves it. He doesn’t want to involve his pathetic marital problems or personal life. She guards her privacy, her weaknesses and her son like a lioness and won’t let Seth screw up her career with his conquests. Or her son’s life. When she returns to the hospital and descends the stairs to the mortuary in the basement, she thinks back to the day she decided to follow her husband.