Chapter 3

Aunt Carol was silent for a moment. "It's always been Chloe's dream. I thought, since she finally got her acceptance letter, I'd invite her over for a big dinner. I bought so much seafood…"

Mom was furious. "I forbid her from going down that path! If she insists, she can disown me as her mother! She can go die for all I care!"

With that, Mom hung up.

She seemed to forget that others were present, her chest heaving with anger as she stood beside the autopsy table, silent for a long time.

I'm sorry, Mom. I won't go down that path. Please don't be angry; it's not good for your health.

I wanted to say that, but all I could do was float in the air and watch everything unfold.

I wanted to cry, but a spirit has no tears.

By then, Mom had mostly reassembled the body, but she couldn't account for my ten fingers.

Her brows were tightly knit as she instructed Officer Ben to record.

"The victim's right ring finger and pinky are missing. Have the officers at the scene search again. If they can't find them…"

My heart clenched. When I was little, I was mischievous and went to play with a police dog. It bit through the flesh of those two fingers, leaving terrible scars.

That police dog, through no fault of its own, was forced into early retirement because of me.

Mom never stopped scolding me for that incident. Had she forgotten?

No!

It was better if Mom didn't remember!

I didn't want Mom to know that she had personally processed both my father's and my own bodies!

Officer Ben saluted. "Understood! If they're not found, it suggests those two fingers have distinct identifying features!"

Mom nodded. "Exactly. To identify the victim, we need to look for individuals with old hand injuries or tattoos!"

She cut off a small piece of flesh. "Get a DNA test. Compare it against the database. Find the immediate family as soon as possible!"

Hearing Mom say that, my heart tightened. If they tested the DNA, wouldn't my identity be exposed quickly?!

Mom! Don't test the DNA!

Mom! Let this case go! Don't investigate any further!

I screamed silently, but Mom couldn't hear a single word.

Mom worked for over ten hours in the morgue. She arrived at dawn, and by the time she left, darkness had fallen again.

"Dr. Smith, thank you for your hard work."

Mom nodded. Just as she was about to head home for some rest, she saw Aunt Carol waiting anxiously at the police station entrance.

"Sarah, Chloe has been missing for a day and a night now! I asked her classmates, and none of them have seen her! I've checked around her school; no sign of her! What should I do?!"

Mom seemed annoyed, her brows deeply furrowed.

"She's playing these little games, isn't she? Trying to force me to agree to her studying that major? No way! Someone on the fringes of society like her should just follow the law, that's good enough! Dreaming of upholding justice?!"

Aunt Carol was almost in tears.

"We can talk about her major later! Right now, her safety is more important! I just came here and heard about a major case! A girl who just turned eighteen was dismembered, wasn't she?! Aren't you worried Chloe might have run into those people?"

Mom, instead, grew angry. "Don't pry into cases that haven't been announced! Chloe is eighteen; she can take care of herself! If something happened to her, she only has herself to blame for her bad luck! Knowing how dangerous it is out there, why would she run off?!"

Aunt Carol was stunned. "I'm not meddling. I… I'm just afraid something happened to Chloe!"

Mom's gaze was dismissive. "If she can't even recognize danger and protect herself, what kind of police officer would she be? She might as well switch careers now!"