We’re finally on the last chapter of Episode 2! Thanks for sticking it out! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 6

The sun had long since set, replaced by a stellar canvas of midnight blue speckled with twinkling lights, by the time the trio of Breck, Joey, and Geenie arrived in what passed for a morgue. It was little more than a closet in the doctor’s office. Within were two chilled shelves for storage and hardly a forensic instrument to be found.

Most deaths were likely to be natural, Geenie reasoned, heart failure or strokes. Perhaps the rare fatal slip and fall. They could hardly expect to face a murder on their maiden voyage.

At present, only one morgue shelf was occupied. A young woman, stripped of her modesty, lay beneath a thin white veil. Her golden hair was a tangled ruin, matted with blood and filth. Her visible skin was ashen and marred by dozens of bloodless cuts and scrapes, no doubt inflicted during the fracas that morning.

Nearly hidden by the post-mortem damage were a pair of neat puncture marks on either side of her back. Two strikes with no signs of hesitation. Whoever did this knew what they were doing and were familiar with human anatomy. Perhaps a medical professional or someone who’d been trained to kill.

Geenie sighed as she gazed upon the body, such a despicable waste. The girl had been failed by those who were meant to protect her. Had even one of them lived up to their responsibilities, this tragedy may have been avoided.

Beside her, Joey cleared his throat softly and raised an eyebrow at her, and Geenie realized she’d been murmuring aloud to herself. While she had no intention of adding to Corbin’s distress, she couldn’t deny the man deserved to feel at least some amount of guilt for abandoning his innocent daughter. Even so, she kept any further observations to herself.

Geenie gazed at the middle-aged man who had collapsed into a chair, his disaffected eyes still glued to the deceased. A father in nothing but name. An aunt who had turned her back on her sister’s orphan. Both were responsible for sending Annette down her path, but neither struck the final blow. Geenie was all but certain of it.

Her precocious assistant seemed to have placed the blame for Annette’s death squarely upon the girl’s aunt, but Geenie disagreed. The dismay she’d seen on the woman’s face when she learned her niece was dead appeared quite real. Besides, killing the girl netted Victoria little. The woman was a dreadful excuse for a guardian, but she lacked a motive. In fact, Annette’s death was a hindrance to Victoria. She had been living off the financial support supplied by her absent father for years, if Annette were to die, she would lose both her embezzled income and her connection to the wealthy elite.

 There was something more going on here. Something Geenie had yet to piece together. And she suspected it had something to do with the man who, even now, stood over the poor girl, his voice monotone as he explained the injuries he’d located on Annette’s body.

Just as Geenie believed in the sorrow she’d witnessed from Victoria, she was intrigued by the rage the woman had directed at the doctor. And if her words were anything to go by, the man had been responsible for the death of one Fontaine already.

“Any more questions?” Dr. Ashcroft asked curtly, frowning at the four people who had intruded into his sanctum.

“Why did Ms. Fontaine accuse you of murdering her sister?” Geenie asked without preamble, her watery blue eyes catching the dark brown of the doctor’s.

Corbin’s head snapped up, awareness seeping back into his eyes as he stared at Geenie in shock, “What?”

“That’s what Victoria said when she saw the doctor earlier,” Geenie’s ever-reliable deputy said.

“I have absolutely no idea what possessed her to say such a thing,” Dr. Ashcroft said, his frown deepening.

“But you do know her.” It was more a statement than a question.

The older man cleared his throat, fingers habitually straightening his tie, “I am… vaguely acquainted with Ms. Fontaine. Yes.”

“And the late Ms. Fontaine?” Geenie asked.

“Ahem. If you are referring to Allegra Fontaine, yes.”

“And the other late Ms. Fontaine?” Geenie pressed.

The doctor struggled not to glance at the corpse, his skin paling just a shade, “There is another Ms. Fontaine aside from Allegra and Victoria?”

“My daughter,” Strauss interrupted the byplay. He remained seated in the chair behind the doctor’s desk, but now he was eyeing Dr. Ashcroft with suspicion. “Annette Fontaine. Deceased as of this morning.”

“Oh? Oh!” the doctor said. His eyes bulged as he digested this new information. “Your… daughter?” He glanced at the body laid out on the cold storage drawer.

“It’s all quite a coincidence, isn’t it?” Geenie said, “The girl follows her estranged aunt onto the Blue Jay, hoping to discover her father’s identity, not knowing the very ship on which she stood was his! And worse yet, to be murdered before ever discovering the truth.”

“I-Yes. Quite coincidental. My condolences for your loss, sir,” Dr. Ashcroft nodded to Corbin, as he absently patted at the sweat beading on his forehead. “Though I must apologize, I still have quite a lot of work to do before I can turn in for the evening, so if you would all be so kind as to vacate my office, it would be appreciated.”

“Allie died from cancer,” Corbin said, staring at the doctor. “The hospital shut down any further inquiries, despite several generous donations. They even refused to share her doctor’s name.”

“It would be a violation of HIPPA standards to share private patient information with-“

“You were an oncologist before I hired you,” Corbin continued, ignoring the sputtering doctor. “You claimed you were on sabbatical, after growing tired from treating so many patients that were beyond help.” Corbin suddenly turned to Breck and snapped, “Get Victoria down here now. I want to know why she accused him of murdering Allie.”

“Yes sir!” Breck said as he rushed from the room.

An uncomfortable silence overtook the office as three of the four remaining people eyed the last with growing suspicion.

The tension grew to increasingly uncomfortable levels as the silence dragged on. Joey had wandered over to the doctor’s wall of self-congratulation, his brow furrowed as he examined something beneath a glass display. The grieving father seemed torn between gazing at his child’s body with heartbreak and glaring at the doctor in burgeoning rage. All the while, Dr. Ashcroft did his merry best to appear at ease, even as sweat beaded upon his forehead, despite the chill in the room from the open drawer.

Betwixt it all, however, lay the body of the girl who had begun the whole course of events. Blissfully unaware of what her demise had wrought. A pang of sorrow struck Geenie as she ignored the discomforted men around her. It was a shame that some didn’t appreciate the blessings they were granted, like the beautiful daughter who would never open her eyes again. Who would never know her ungrateful father. Geenie caught her hand drifting toward her abdomen and froze, letting her arm fall back to her side, frowning at her absentminded weakness. It was hardly the time to dwell upon the distant past.

“Fine! We’re here! Now will you tell me what all this is about?!” an outraged Victoria shrieked, as she was half-dragged into the room by a glowering Breck.

The woman’s hands were bound behind her in handcuffs, and she shuffled on slippered feet. However, it appeared someone had taken the initiative to locate a change of attire for the woman, as a set of truly hideous sweats had replaced her robe. Her escort appeared on the verge of a meltdown, as he shoved the shrill woman down onto a chair with perhaps a hair more force than was absolutely necessary.

“Enough!” Corbin shouted. “You,” he said, pointing at Victoria, “said Dr. Ashcroft killed Allegra. Why?”

“Because he’s a hack,” she said, glaring at the man in question. “Just ask the hospital why he was fired.”

“I was not fired. There was a minor matter of a personal nature which-“

“You were caught red-handed falsifying records!” Victoria interrupted. “You’re the reason Allegra died. And she wasn’t the only one, was she?”

The doctor paled, “How-how do you know about that.” He fearfully glanced toward Annette’s body. “No one else should-“

“Who do you think told the hospital?” the woman’s tone was positively venomous. “I knew what you did. Prescribing unnecessary medication. Billing insurance for procedures you never performed. Robbing them blind while you killed them! Killed my sister!”

“But…” the doctor panicked, glancing between Victoria and the late Annette. “Did she tell you? Is that how you know?”

“Her?” Victoria said, a hint of confusion appearing on her face, “That girl didn’t have a suspicious bone in her body. She wouldn’t stop talking about how grateful she was to you, for taking such good care of her mother.”

“You’re lying! She knew. She had to. She kept demanding money-“

“I demanded money,” Victoria yelled with pride. Everyone looked at the restrained woman in shock. Victoria shrugged, “I may not be proud of what I did to my niece,” she carefully avoided glancing at Annette’s motionless body, “But I don’t feel a single ounce of shame for what I did to that murderous piece of shit. He deserved to lose his money. His position and respect. All of it! So yes. I blackmailed him, for all he was worth. And when I had his last penny, I told the hospital all about his little scheme.”

Dr.Ashcroft looked sick at Victoria’s confession. His eyes darted to the corpse of the young woman beside him, then back at the restrained woman.

“It was you!” Geenie’s intrepid assistant said suddenly. “You killed her because you thought she was the one blackmailing you!”

Dr. Ashcroft blanched, “N-no!”

“Lacerations to the kidneys,” Geenie said. “The strikes were precise and were made with an extremely sharp, thin blade. Suggesting her killer was familiar with anatomy. If you ignore the postmortem injuries, there are no signs of a struggle. She likely trusted whoever killed her. She only knew two people on this ship. The aunt who she had just fought with. Who had struck her. And the doctor to whom she was grateful. Whom she trusted.”

“Don’t forget the security cameras,” Joey added, “Who better to know a blind spot than a member of the crew.”

“You have no proof,” Dr. Ashcroft said. “I’m a healer, not a killer.”

“Liar!” Victoria hissed.

Joey’s face lit up as a realization hit him. He spun toward the glass case he’d been examining earlier. “There’s no scalpel. Shouldn’t surgical tools have a scalpel?”

Geenie examined the antique medical tools on display beneath the glass and nodded. “An excellent collection. It must have been quite expensive. Although, it does appear to be lacking a surgical lancet.” Noting the confusion on Joey’s face, she clarified, “A double-edged scalpel.”

“I lost it some time ago,” Dr. Ashcroft said quickly. “Regrettable, but mistakes happen.”

“Perhaps,” Geenie mused aloud.

“Hold on,” Joey said, all eyes turning toward him as he darted toward the medicine cabinet. He tugged at the door only to discover it was locked. “The key?” he asked the doctor.

“No,” Dr. Ashcroft said sharply, “That cabinet is kept locked up for a reason. We can’t have people getting into the medication. It’s dangerous.”

“Give him the key,” Corbin said.

“My apologies, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. As I said, I cannot allow non-medical staff access to the medications stored-“

“I’ll do it,” Breck said. As a whole, everyone in the room froze and turned to the rather large man who had somehow managed to blend into the background. The security officer pulled a ring of keys from his belt and flipped through them as he eyed the lock on the cabinet.

“That won’t work, the only one with a key is me.”

“Ha!” Breck said as he pulled up a key marked with a white and red border. “I made certain I had a copy of every key. You never know what might happen. What if someone stole yours?” The large man grinned and flung open the cabinet, then glanced at Joey, “Well?”

Joey nodded to Breck, and started shoving bottles of pills aside, searching for something in the recesses of the cabinet. He knocked at the wooden panel at the back several times until it rang hollow. “Right there. Some of the maids said he keeps a stash of expensive liquor back there in a compartment. Since he’s the only one with a key,” Joey paused and smirked at his boss, “Thought he was the only one with a key, he kept it hidden there.” With a gentle press on the panel, it clicked and swung open, revealing several half-empty bottles, crystal glasses, and a small surgical blade.

“Breck, arrest Dr. Ashcroft immediately,” Corbin growled.

“Yes sir,” Breck said. He grabbed the doctor by the scruff of his white coat and dragged him toward the door.

Corbin just watched, looking lost, as his daughter’s murderer was ushered from the room.

“Come along, Joey,” Geenie said, gently patting her newest disciple, “Let’s give them a bit of privacy.”

Joey nodded and silently escorted Geenie from the office, her hand clutching his forearm, cane tucked beneath her arm and heavy knitting bag swinging at her side. As they walked away, Geenie glanced up at her companion. A shadow in his eyes that hadn’t lurked there before now loomed. His world had been irreparably altered by his violent collision with the darker side of humanity, and there was no turning back. Geenie felt a faint trace of regret for the boy’s lost innocence. Annette hadn’t been the good doctor’s only victim.