I Left the Dead Behind… but His Childhood Sweetheart Didn't

The next day, I walked over to Jessica's desk as soon as I arrived at the coroner's office.

Smiling warmly, I handed her a cup of coffee. "Sorry, Jessica. I was a bit emotional yesterday. I apologize for that. I hope you won't take what I said to heart."

Jessica cheerfully accepted the coffee. "I won't! You're my idol, Dr. Gardner. I admire you so much. How could I be mad at you?"

I chatted with her for quite a while, showering her with praise. While she was clearly delighted by my flattery, I was tearing her apart in my mind.

I thought furiously, "I don't believe it! You must be using some shady trick! You're really good at pretending, aren't you, Jessica? You're just a hypocritical thief! With skills like yours, you're nothing but a fraud!"

As I criticized her internally, I kept my eyes fixed on her facial expressions.

The reason I did this was because I had seen a post about mind-reading the night before. My sudden friendliness today was just a test to see whether Jessica had the ability to read minds.

But no matter how much I insulted her in my thoughts, there wasn't any change in her expression at all. She still looked absolutely pleased. There wasn't any sort of flaw in her expression.

"Jessica, did you hear anything?" I asked.

"No," she replied.

My test yielded nothing, so I could only return to my office in dismay.

Her phrasing was exactly the same as mine. The only logical explanation for her being able to do that was that she could read minds.

Yesterday, she looked aggrieved and cornered with just a couple of questions from me. Today, she showed no reaction at all despite all my sarcastic thoughts earlier.

Maybe I really was overthinking it.

I decided not to dwell on it anymore. As long as I focused on doing my job as a forensic pathologist, that should be enough.

But I had been too naive in thinking that.

The story of Jessica's ability to communicate with the dead had already spread. While she was being praised, many families who had previously been forced to agree to autopsies in order to find the truth began coming to me to cause trouble.

They accused me of deliberately ruining the bodies of the already pitiful victims when someone like Jessica existed in our office.

"It's all because of the heartless Dr. Gardner! She tricked us into agreeing to an autopsy. My son's body is all cut up after his death!"

"I can't believe they call her an authoritative expert. I think she's just a sick butcher who cuts people apart!"

"I heard that Dr. Lester, who can find the truth without autopsies, has been here for a long time. It's Imogen Gardner who's been preventing her from speaking for the dead and insisting on doing autopsies herself. She just wants to ruin the bodies of those poor victims!"

Everyone had something to say about this. The rumors online grew increasingly outrageous.

Fortunately, Bruce stepped in and managed to calm things down. However, Jessica had caught the attention of the state TV station, and they invited her for an interview.

No sooner had she left than a body was discovered and brought to us.

This time, the victim was a female student. Her body had been dismembered so severely that it was almost impossible to piece her together.

This caused widespread public panic. The victim's parents had been crying outside the police station all day. This put the police under immense pressure, which led the police chief to set a three-day deadline to solve the case. The criminal investigation team was overwhelmed.

Bruce urged me to speed up the autopsy report. "Imogen, the public has a negative impression of you lately. It just so happens Jessica isn't here this time, so I hope you can prove yourself. Otherwise, your career is going to suffer in the future, and I may not be able to shield you every time."

I agreed.

But when I prepared to begin the autopsy, the victim's family made a scene at the door. They wouldn't allow it no matter what. They even shouted that they wanted Jessica to communicate with the dead from afar instead.

Bruce and I spent a full hour persuading them before they finally agreed.

After working nonstop for three hours, I completed the autopsy and obtained the results.

But just then, Jessica returned. She walked straight past me and went to the victim's parents.

She bowed deeply and said, "I'm sorry. I came too late. Your daughter died between 1:00 and 2:00 am last night. Before her death, she was assaulted by multiple people. Because she had resisted fiercely during the assault, they brutally dismembered her when she was alive.

"If I had come back earlier, maybe she wouldn't have had to go through another round of having her body cut up…"

As I listened to Jessica, goosebumps rose all over my arms, and my body trembled slightly.

Once again, she had stated the exact results of my autopsy. It was identical to what I had been about to say, word for word.