I Was a Jane Doe on My Father's Autopsy Table

At the case briefing, everyone looked grim after listening to my father’s preliminary autopsy report.

My face was a wreck, making visual ID impossible.

The pier wasn’t the primary crime scene, which made the investigation a whole lot harder.

My mother, Rebecca, ordered her team to check every security camera in the area.

“Have the lab do a full workup, see if they missed anything. And rush the DNA sample to the state lab.”

She left my dad with that command and stormed out with her team.

They showed more concern for this Jane Doe than they ever did for me.

I remember Dad once stroking Madison’s hair, telling her that being a medical examiner was about giving a voice to the dead.

Madison nodded sweetly, but the second he turned away, she took out a wet wipe and scrubbed at her hair with a look of disgust.

I saw it and slapped her. My mom grounded me for a month for that.

Now, my dad’s gloved hand moved over my inner arm.

There was a row of old, faded cigarette burns there.

When I first came home, he had seen them, his face twisting with disgust. “Lainey, who the hell have you been running with?”

Would he recognize me because of these scars?

I watched him nervously.

But a second later, he spoke into his recorder, his voice flat. “Old injuries. Not relevant to the current case.”

His assistant suddenly gasped. “Dr. Celine, there’s something in the victim’s stomach!”

My dad’s eyes narrowed. He used forceps to pull out a piece of paper, mostly dissolved by stomach acid. “Send it to forensics,” he sighed.

Just then, his phone rang. It was Madison.

Dad immediately took off his gloves and stepped away, his voice instantly warming up.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Dad’s busy.”

“What? Your school counselor wants to see us?” Dad paused, then his brow furrowed. “Is it about Lainey again? What trouble has she caused now?”

Madison’s syrupy voice came through the phone. “Dad, don’t blame Lainey. She’s probably just… having a hard time adjusting. I really wish she could come to my final. If she were cheering for me, I know I’d absolutely crush the other team.”

“Someone like her would only be a distraction. You focus on your game. Forget about her.”

Madison and I never got along. From the day I came back, she saw me as a threat.

But in front of our parents, she was always the kind, understanding sister.

I knew what was coming next.

Sure enough, his voice turned harsh. “You are my precious daughter. Lainey is worth shit. She gets into fights, skips school, and hangs out with those lowlifes. She doesn’t deserve to be my daughter.”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t even blink if she turned up dead.”

Madison giggled. “Mom told me to be careful today. Dad, maybe you should remind Lainey, too.”

“You just take care of yourself,” he said. “As long as Lainey doesn't end up on my table, I don't give a damn where she is.”

Maybe the daughter they got back wasn’t “respectable” enough for their elite world.

They hadn’t even bothered changing my last name back to Celine.

In their hearts, Madison was their only daughter.

They were worried about her safety, but no one remembered that I was their flesh and blood.

I wonder what their faces will look like when they find out how I died.

After all, Madison was the one who killed me. And they were her accomplices.