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

The victim's parents snatched the autopsy report from my hands. They flipped through it over and over, comparing it to what Jessica had said.

After confirming that everything I had written matched exactly what Jessica just told them, they lost control. Like lunatics, they rushed at me and grabbed my hair. They dragged me straight to the entrance of the police station.

The commotion quickly drew a crowd. Some bystanders even took out their phones to livestream and record the unfolding events.

As they beat me up violently, they shouted, "Everyone, come look! It's this wretch! She coerced us into agreeing to an autopsy and made our daughter suffer the pain of being dismembered again after her gruesome death. If Dr. Lester hadn't come back in time…"

They painted me as an unforgivable criminal while elevating Jessica to something like a divine figure. Fortunately, the security guards arrived quickly and pulled me away from the enraged parents.

Enduring the pain, I tried desperately to explain, "That's not true! An autopsy is the only way to let the dead speak. I'm a forensic pathologist, and my job is to perform autopsies. It is my duty and my belief that I am to uphold justice for the deceased!"

But no matter how I explained, no one listened.

Just then, Jessica spoke. She seemed to be defending me, but in reality, she was adding fuel to the fire.

She said, "Everyone, please don't misunderstand Dr. Gardner. After all, she's the most skilled forensic expert in the state. Although we use different methods to speak for the deceased, our beliefs are the same.

"It's just that I can communicate with the dead. So in my case, speaking for them will never involve dissection, as an autopsy would just hurt them a second time."

Her words made my anger surge so violently that I almost couldn't catch my breath.

Thinking of both my past life and this one, I stared at her begrudgingly and growled, "Even if you really have that ability and come to the same conclusion as me, our wordings could never be identical. Every single word you said came from my mind! How exactly did you do it?"

Hearing that, Maddox turned around and slapped me hard across the face.

He shouted angrily, "Shut up, Imogen! You're just not as capable as she is!"

I held my burning cheek and glared at him.

When I was being criticized and attacked, he hadn't said a word. But the moment I raised my voice at Jessica, he struck me.

Right after that, Jessica turned around and accused me instead. "Dr. Gardner, I respect you very much, but that doesn't mean you can slander me. Since that's the case, I won't cover for you anymore. It's clearly you who has run out of ideas and plagiarized my work!"

She presented a clip from a surveillance camera and a notebook.

The video showed me sneaking to her desk after everyone had left work and flipping through her notebook. And in that notebook were records from her internship about every "conversation" she had with the deceased, detailing what they had experienced before being killed.

Jessica's so-called evidence proved me guilty on the spot.

Everyone was disgusted with me. Bruce was utterly disappointed in me and even demanded that I apologize to Jessica.

But I had never done any of that.

I shouted, "I didn't do it! That isn't real!"

Unfortunately, no one believed my explanation.

At that moment, I finally realized that it was all a setup. Still, I couldn't figure out how Jessica had plagiarized my work and even fabricated such convincing evidence.

Just as I was racking my brain to find a plausible explanation for all this, my phone chimed as a new email came in.

When I saw its contents, I finally understood how Jessica had managed to steal my results without anyone noticing anything out of the ordinary.