THE AUTOPSY OF NUMBER SIXTEEN

Meanwhile, Santina scowled at Mikael's amusement.

"You keep to your own ways and leave mine to me"

She said quoting a famous philosophical view that Mikael was highly likely to have read before in his years at seminary

Mikael nodded his head in mock solemnity upon hearing this.

"Hmm.. someone did her homework here. Well, yes. I agree with that as well. But I am quite certain that Plutarch was not talking about tooth decay when he said that."

He paused, but then added afterward with a genuine concern in his eyes.

"You should know better Santina. You realized, of course, that could be bad to your heart, right?"

The two had known each other for years so it was no secret to Mikael that Santina used to have a weak heart since childhood.

Poor dental health had the tendency to increase the risk of a bacterial infection in the bloodstream, which as a result could affect the heart valves.

"I will tell you what was bad for my heart. Pain and terror. That is what is bad for my heart"

Santina said to brush the topic off to discussion and as if showing that she was so done with the conversation that they were having, Santina straightened up her back and groan. She hunched her shoulders first to relieve the tension in her muscles there and then relaxed them again

After that, she resumed what she was doing way before Mikael interrupted her with his whining about the bad coffee.

Santina seemed to transform from her perky personality into a totally different person whenever she started becoming serious about her work.

She surveyed her work again which was currently on its final stage and said,

"Looks like Number Sixteen to me"

Mikael walked over to the metal table and stood beside Santina.

Due to his height, Mikael had no choice but to bend a little too far over it. Because the autopsy table was adjusted to suit Santina's height of five feet in the first place.

It was made that way so that the other party would no longer have a hard time and feel more comfortable while she was doing her work.

The table was slanted and was made with pure aluminum with its edges raised.

The autopsy table was also completed with several faucets and drains which were very efficient in washing away the collected blood during the internal investigation.

On that same table, remain of a child's body could be seen lying at its center.

A rubber body block was placed beneath its back which allowed the chest part of the body to protrude forward while both its arms and neck fell back.

This position made it easier to cut the chest open and put it out for better examination afterward.

"Same missing parts?"

Mikael inquired and Santina replied to him with a nod.

"Yup. Viscera was pretty much gone and the heart is missing as always."

Spending most of his time with Santina while doing her work as a forensic pathologist allowed Mikael to learn a thing or two about the field so he could observe as much as that.

"What a very neat blade work. I give him that."

Santina commended but Mikael seemed to have something against her usage of words.

"Him???? And what exactly made you think that it was a 'him' and not a 'her'??? Do you really think that only men were capable of doing such a crime? Women could also do that too. You are being a gender bias, Santina."

"Fine. Whoever he or she the killer was or whatever gender preference it could be. The killer was really good at using the blade. That is what I mean and all I am trying to say. Are you happy now? Geez!"

"That is more like it. Be fair. You sexist."

Despite being friends since high school, the two still found themselves arguing over trivial things like that every now and then.

They were like a human manifestation of Tom and Jerry.

Yet despite their polar opposite attitude; different character and temperament, they still usually found themselves on either end of baffling mutual affinity.

The time they used to spent together over the past few months only made it stronger that there were times that they startled themselves and one another by finishing off each other's sentences and thinking similar thoughts almost at the same time.

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