Chapter 3

~ The Undertaker ~

Still reeling from my discovery and intrigued by the appearance of the body, I went to the funeral parlor run by my father.

The business had been in my family for several generations, passed down from father to son since its inception at least two centuries ago. As a child, my father often took me to what he said was his second home, I didn't see the bodies, of course, but I was present in the premises, often in his office. Growing up, he asked me to help him, I then did several internships between 16 and 18 years old. Tradition dictated that the firstborn inherited this case, and I had grown up surrounded by tears and flowers. Not really the place of a little girl! I had never got used to this job, too hard, too trying for me. Finally, my brother, 3 years my junior, saw no inconvenience in taking over, provided that his companion took over the extension of the business. What is this extension? Well, my mother was a florist, she had set up her business next to my father's and they had ended up merging their businesses. Relieved of the burden that this relief represented, I was able to follow my voice and come to the aid of people in need.

Arrived at the undertakers, I opened the door which tinkled thanks to the hanging bell. My father was immersed in an account book not far from the cash register, he raised his head when I entered.

-Sandy! What good wind brings you?! He greeted me coming over to hug me.

- Hello dad, it's not the good wind that brings me here, alas, I sighed.

- What is going on ?

- A client is dead, I discovered the body but... his death does not correspond to the state of the body.

He looked at me questioningly, lost. I sighed again, I needed answers!

- I'm not a pathologist, but you and I have seen a lot of bodies and I can differentiate certain things now. My client appeared to be dead for more than 24 hours, probably several days, when I saw him yesterday and even stranger, I spoke to him on the phone just this morning around 11am.

- Many things can alter the decomposition of a body... Heat and humidity for example! But even so it seems strange to me. Explain everything to me!

I spent some time telling him about the smallest details ranging from the smell to the body itself that I had found. I was certainly encroaching on an investigation, but I was way too intrigued, almost as much as shocked.

Finally, my father did not know how to answer me. He had no explanation, but just like me he had come to the conclusion that the corpse seemed dead for a longer time.

I took advantage of being there to extend my visit and dine with them to try to remove this fatal image from my thoughts... But nothing to do, lying in my bed 3 hours later, the vision of the lifeless body of Mr. Scott haunted me all night.