Dead Ringers; Chapter 2

We're at the morgue when Elliot grabs my arm to stop me. I spin to face him. From the look on his face, I already know what he's going to say. I simply cross my arms and raise my chin. Elliot mimics me.

"Are you sure about this?" He asks.

"Yes. I need to see for myself, and besides, you heard the chief, this is our case."

His eyes flick to the door, uncertain. "I know, but-"

I lift a hand to stop him. "No buts. I'm going to do this, and I know you know there's not a thing you could say that would change my mind."

Elliot sighs then brushes past me. Opening the door, he holds it and motions me through. "If you're sure."

Without another word, I breeze past Elliot into the morgue. I hear the door click shut as he follows.

The morgue seems to be empty. Not a single person is in the entrance area. I see coffee cups on the desks, steam rising from the surface, jackets and sweaters hung haphazardly over the backs of chairs, and computers with glowing screens, but not a single person.

"Hello?" Elliot calls out. "Anyone in here?"

A person pokes their head around the corner leading to the autopsy room. The person is a young man with red hair and a soft face. Jeb. Seeing us he waves. "Just me."

I motion to the empty room. "Where is everyone?"

Jeb shrugs. "Don't know. Our all-wise directors heard about what happened, as I'm going to assume you did, called and ordered that everyone else who hadn't seen the body be kept away from it until detectives showed up. Body was in the autopsy room, so no one could keep working, so they went elsewhere."

"They can't do that. . . .Can they?" Elliot asks.

I shake my head. "It doesn't matter. Elliot and I are the lead detectives on this case." I motion towards the autopsy room. "Care to do the honors?"

"Sure. Just one thing. I know you've probably already been told that it looks like you, and as a friend, I feel obligated to tell you the resemblance is eerie," Jeb states as he leads us into the autopsy room.

The automatic doors open, and I'm hit by the cold air and the smell. I've never been able to put a label to the smell. It's an odd cross of that clean hospital smell, and that of a classroom during a dissection. From the corner of my eye, I see Elliot scrunch up his nose. He always does so when we come in here. It used to be because he didn't like the smell. He still doesn't like it, but he's gotten used to it. It's just a habit now.

"As the only positive match for the body we can find right now is you, the body is being tagged as a Jane Doe," Jeb says pausing in the entryway. "Not that it makes it any less weird or creepy." He resumes walking.

Jeb walks up to the third table down and stops. Elliot and I stand opposite of Jeb. the body lays onto of the table between us, a white cloth covering the body. Jeb reaches out and grabs the cloth, but he doesn't pull it down. He's looking at me as if he expects me to stop him. "Are you sure about this?" He asks. "There's no turning back after this."

I sigh and roll my eyes. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

Instead of answering Jeb pulls the cloth down. I hear Elliot suck in a breath, shocked. Normally, I'd look and him and smirk at his reaction, but I'm too shocked to look away. Looking at the body on the table was practically exactly like looking in a mirror.

This person has the same light auburn hair, disheveled as mine is most days. The freckle-less face had the same defined facial structure I had. I can't look away. I keep telling myself to, but I can't.

I'm speechless. People had told me that this person- I can't say body anymore, it doesn't seem right now that I've seen it- looked like me but I hadn't really believed them. It had seemed too wild an idea to be real.

I can hear Elliot questioning Jeb. Trying to find something that makes this person not me. There seem to be no differences. We have the same height, weight, and blood type. So far the difference is that she doesn't have any fingerprints. He was still waiting on the DNA report to come back.

Now Jeb is silent, but Elliot carries on, trying to find an explanation. It goes on for a minute before I speak.

"Her eyes," I say.

Elliot goes silent, and I know both boys are looking at me. I manage to pry my eyes away from the person's face long enough to glance at Jeb.

"Show me her eyes."

Silently, Jeb obeys. He pulls on a blue plastic glove and places his hand over the eyelids. Pausing, he looks at me. "Her eyes were open when she was found. I took the liberty of shutting them. Are you sure you want to see them? I could just tell you what color they are."

"Show me."

Sighing, Jeb raises her eyelids. Beneath are her eyes. Cold, empty, and glassy. A dead person's eyes. The worst part is that they're blue. Just like mine.