CHAPTER 17- A STROLL THROUGH THE MORGUE
That night, after Ragon stormed through the house in a rage, he told the coven that Bell was conscious but had lost her memory.
"What do you mean she doesn't know who you are?" Sandra had asked as soon as Ragon had mentioned Bell's amnesia.
"It's retrograde," Ragon replied, "it will come back."
Even as he had said this, a small part of him hoped it wasn't true. When he had heard Dr Brown's diagnosis, he had been upset, even terrified but then, as he thought about it longer, the prospect of her being able to forget all the horrible things that had happened to her in the last few months, seemed like a gift. Perhaps if he hadn't of been so hot headed and territorial, he wouldn't have told her that they were together. He scoffed then, remembering the catalyst as to why he had made this proclamation; Officer Ryans.
"And there's a policeman whose asking a lot of questions about what happened to her," Ragon said. "I heard him say that Bell wasn't the only other 24 year old female who had been attacked."
At these words the entire coven went quiet. Even Clyde, who had been half way to the door, intent on visiting Bell at the hospital, had stopped to listen.
"What do you mean '24 year old females'?" Clyde asked, speaking to Ragon for the first time since the night he had rescued Bell.
"The deaths, the ones that the Elder's mentioned, 10 of them were girls who were 24 years old," Ragon said.
"What are you saying?" Sandra asked. "We know who attacked Bell, it was Sameth, but he couldn't have killed all those other girls; he was barely out of our sight, accept for the night that he-"
"I know," Ragon admitted, cutting Sandra off, unwilling to hear to the rest of her sentence. "But it seems too stranger coincidence that 10 other girls, the same age as Bell have been killed."
"But I thought it was Kiara who wanted Bell dead," Cambridge said. "So why would she be randomly killing 24 years olds'; she knows exactly what Bell looks like and where to find her."
"I agree," Thomas said. "It can't just be Kiara who is after Bell."
"But if it is true that whoever is killing these other 24 year olds, is actually after Bell and that's a huge but, they must not know what she looks like, just her age," Larissa piped up.
This affirmation was followed by silence. The entire reason for the coven's existence was to protect Bell and now they find out that there has been someone going around killing girls the same age as her.
"But why would someone be after Bell?" Thomas asked, a puzzled expression on his face.
"Perhaps because of what she can do? Maybe someone at the Halloween party saw her?" Sandra voiced.
"But if they saw here, then they would know what she looks like," Thomas said, moving over to Sandra and taking her hand in his.
"When did these deaths first start happening," Clyde said.
"I don't know," Ragon admitted, shaking his head in frustration.
In truth he had not been following the news or anything else mortal related since Bell had come to live with him. Suddenly he felt underprepared, as if whoever was after her could walk into the hospital room where she was and kill her at any moment. He knew what he needed to do; he had to find out more about the girls who had been killed.
***
A little less than half an hour later, he and Clyde were sneaking into the city morgue. He had asked Sandra and LBellssa to watch Bell until the morning, hoping at least that with their protection she would be ok during the night. Cambridge and Thomas had remained with Patrick to assist him with keeping Ryder at bay. The car ride over to the city morgue had been met mostly with silence. Ragon had thought of confronting Clyde about what he felt towards Bell, but had thought better of it. The last thing he needed was to know that Clyde really did have feelings for her; that would complicate things. The pair was dressed as inconspicuously as possible, wearing black jeans, no-descript shifts and baseball caps. When Ragon knocked on the front door, he was pleased to find that no one answered. He had been unsure what sort of hours coroners kept. The job, in itself was a dark one, and he thought perhaps that they might have works outside normal business hours. For a few moments Clyde rummaged through his pockets, finally retrieving a credit card and a bobby pin.
"Seriously?" Ragon asked, looking at the tools in Clyde's hands.
"Do you have a better idea?" Clyde asked, now flicking the card between the door and scrambling the lock.
Ragon didn't answer.
Ten minutes later and the door opened. They had only just crossed the threshold when a loud whaling signified that they had tripped an alarm. For a moment they looked around the large entrance wildly, searching for the source of the disturbance. The room was a dull green colour, with white walls and olive laminate flooring. A small water cooler, two old brown couches and a small green counter was all that occupied the waiting room, along with a half dead palm in a large pot, which looked as if it desperately needed watering. Finally, after searching the entire waiting area, Ragon spotted a small red flashing light. He blurred over to it, releasing that it was embedded in a metallic box that was firmly attached to the wall behind the counter.
Clyde looked disappointed at this.
"What?" Ragon asked, holding the remnants of the coroner's security system in his hands, still omitting a dull robotic noise.
"If I had of known that there was an alarm, I wouldn't have gone to all the effort of picking the lock," he said, a small grin breaking his otherwise indifferent face.
"We don't have long," Ragon said, indicating a door on their left.
The pair quickly raced through it, entering a long, dark hallway. There were no lights on, except for a low glowing green one that read 'exit'. Still, the pair was easily able to navigate around the various names on each adjoining door, until they found the one they had been searching for: 'Morgue authorised personal only'. Pushing open the door, there was a notable drop in temperature. The room itself was sterile looking. Two large metallic workbenches stood centre stage, with a large instrument tray on either side. Along one of the walls were many rows of handles and Clyde moved over to them purposefully.
"Eny, meny, miny, mo," he said, moving to one of the handles, turning it and pulling out a heavy draw on which a cadaver lay.
This continued for a while, as Ragon rummaged through a filing cabinet near a small office desk.
"Well she looks to be mid-twenties," Clyde said after he had opened the fifth draw which revealed a young girl's body.
There was a large white tarp that entirely covered her body. Clyde had unzipped only the uppermost part of the cover to expose the girl's face. Her eyes were closed and her lips were bluish purple, while her face was a dazzling white. Ragon did not look up, but pulled out four or five files that he had found. Holding them in his hand, he moved over to where Clyde stood. When finally he was next to Clyde he looked down; he couldn't help but feel an odd pang of guilt and sadness. He felt responsible somehow.
"What was that?" Clyde asked, hearing a noise and looking around the room dramatically.
Ragon responded immediately; quickly he closed the draw containing the body and still cradling the files, he dashed over to the door. From outside he could see a flashlight searching the long corridor.
