As the forensic examiner dissected the severed arm, Ashley stood nearby, her gaze fixed on every move, her lips drained of color.
The phone in her hand buzzed incessantly, but she paid it no mind, lost in her thoughts.
She watched intently, waiting for the blood and DNA reports.
She had speculated that if the missing left arm could be found, there might be a chance to match it to the identity of the deceased.
My emotions were a tangled mess as I watched my own arm lying cold on the autopsy table.
It was the same arm injured saving Ashley from criminals at the hospital that day.
However, Ashley, consumed by grief over Harvey's death, hadn't taken my injury seriously.
She never believed I was truly hurt, only thinking I was pretending.
"Captain Fenn, the skull reconstruction is done!"
Several hours later, Ashley arrived at the expert's office.
Professor Nelson Calthrop was meticulously arranging the model he had painstakingly reconstructed over two sleepless nights.
Police officers were documenting the scene, and all eyes were turned towards Ashley.
"Why is everyone staring at me?"
Ashley deliberately avoided looking at the model on the table.
The room fell into a heavy silence.
After what seemed like an eternity, Barry's expression turned pained as he asked, "Ashley, have you... contacted Leo?"
Ashley gripped her phone tighter, approaching the model reluctantly.
The face on the model was unmistakably mine.
"How... how is this possible?"
Ashley's disbelief painted her face pale.
The door burst open, a police officer rushing in with a file, his expression grim.
"Captain Fenn, the coding on the surgical steel in that arm matched..."
