Unnatural Causes

by Dr Richard Shepherd

‘Doc …?’ I looked up and blinked at him. ‘I really admire you.’ I blinked harder. No police officer had said such a thing to me before. Ever. ‘You’ve done a job all these years that most people don’t even want to think about. And you’re still fascinated – I can tell by watching you. Here’s some idiot who pegged it, probably because he fell over peeing while pissed. That woman was a hopeless alcoholic who was at death’s door anyway. And you still care about them. No matter what, you care enough to be fair.’ Behind us the mortuary clanged as wagons moved the dead around. Nearby, in the softly lit, pastel-painted bereavement room, a relative sobbed loudly. Around us the group of police officers waited, watching the knife in my hand. I looked at the body before me. Overweight, balding, fingers puckered and whitened, some skin slippage, a bit of decomposition, a lot of bad luck. My fellow man. I tried to respond to the detective’s words with a light-hearted, throwaway line. Something about how I still loved solving puzzles after forty years. But I couldn’t. Because I knew he was right. I did care. And I still do.