BOOK 1:THE BEGINNING:CHAPTER LIII: AT CLOSE DOORS

As soon as he was satisfied with looking at photos displayed on the screen, The forensic scientist came out of the small room only to find four visitors waiting for him outside though they were still in the morgue ward. He was startled when he came face to face with them unexpectedly and he was taken aback to see all four faces staring at him as if he was the culprit that attacked the innocent victim but soon regain his composure and walked up to the men standing beside the glass with enough courage to withstand their blunt faces.
"Can I help you, officers?",
He asked thinking all four men were cops even when he saw Leonardo and Pennant who were the youngest in the group.
Simon stifled a laughter when they heard the scientist greet them but Sermond glared at him from behind. Then he controlled himself and stood apart from the others while Pennant moved aside for Sermond to pass through to have a chat with the scientist who was already confused about the identity of men whom he was beginning to think were imposters posing as cops rather than the actual detectives he was anticipating to arrive soon to receive the autopsy report of the one of the victim's who died recently.
"Oh, yes, Doctor...",
"Doctor Dave",
"Nice to meet you, Doctor Dave",
Sermond replied shaking the hands of the Doctor who seemed not too amuse with the greetings he was receiving from someone he just met for the first time. But he decided to go with the flow in spite of not seeing any sign of the police badges on their outfits.
"And you as well",
" It's a pleasure to meet you",
"Yes, indeed but I don't see any badges, care to explain that?",
He said letting them know his observations.
Sermond was speechless for a minute but he quickly recovered himself from a brief trance.
"We got speculations not to take one with us",
You must be working undercover, aren't you, officer?",
"Yes, we are. The Chief had to make sure we investigate discreetly",
"Is that so?",
"Yep. So, what do you have to show us, Doc?",
Sermond question and tucked his hands into his pockets in a gusty way that he meant business. Dr. Dave returned his stare with a rather perplexed look but he soon decided to let the cat out of bag instead going up against the man concerning his identity.
"Fine, let's get this over with. What do you wanna know?",
"Every little detail",
"Uhh...then come with me",
Dave replied and led the four men into the room. He shut the doors tight as soon as all the men had already walked inside.
The eyes of the guests roamed the bright interior part of the cubicle and up on the left corner of the roof, they could clearly see a CCTV camera watching their every move they seemed not to be bothered by its presence.
Dr. Dave immediately switched on the screen with a little remote control he had used in scouring the photos on the screen before the men came in, starting from the first victim who almost got killed the previous week and severely wounded during the attack.
"Doc, slow down a bit",
Sermond said as he drew closer to the large flat screen they were looking at.
"I'll retard the speed but where do you want us to start first?",
"It's pretty quite obvious we start on the day the incident took place. I really wanna see how badly the victim got injured before he got admitted",
"Sounds like a good idea. I'll show you then",
Dave replied and quickly rewind the images backwards only for it to stop at where the two men wanted to begin the necessary investigations. The image displayed the victim bleeding profusely while being pulled to emergency room on a trolley stretcher by a team of four nurses and a doctor. From Sermond's angle, it turned out that Leonardo was right all along. The wounds on the victim was by far more severe and larger than he had thought it would be. He had seen as well as experienced the injuries bears and mountain wolves inflict on their victims including their prey and what he as well as his three escort saw was much savage compared to his personal knowledge of bear attacks. It was worth his efforts to leave his business office to come take a look at the victim's wound which was far more fatal than what he had expected and little could he phantom how the victim was able to survive after sustaining brutal wounds on his body particularly the side of his neck where the blood was heavily gushing out from than the rest part of his body. The others were also appalled by the horrible sight of someone's blood tainting the hallway as he was being conveyed to the emergency ward especially Leonardo who got to see the Basketball player for the second time and was reminded how terrifying it was to have seen someone severely bruised without remorse on the side of the attacker but he kept his cool though he wondered how Pennant was able to look at the screen without any expression.
"You think it was bear attack?",
"Possibly, yeah",
Sermond replied unsure of his findings. He knew at first glance that the monstrous attack on the victim was done by a werewolf but a being with more ferocity probably a lone alpha or omega.
"That was my first guess as well but I have quite a few other guesses in mind",
Dave said, arresting all attention to himself
"Like what?",
"They are just speculations I still haven't proven yet",
"I'd personally like to hear your opinion about this, Doc",
"Well, I'll share one with you if you insist",
"Go ahead and tell us. It's all part of the investigation",
This time, it was Leonardo who daringly spoke from behind even though he looked more like a teenager than a detective to the forensic scientist. Dave went ahead told them his guess even when he felt like he was sharing his personal opinions with the four men.
"My guess is that some wild animal that has similar claws with a wolf but much bigger to deliver fatal wounds on the victim's throat and his left abdomen",
Dave replied pointing to the affected areas of the victim's injuries on the TV screen.
Pennant cut in.
How can you tell that the wounds came from a wolf claw?",
"Well...I have quite enough experience studying body wounds and how it was inflicted on the human body. It's what I do as forensic scientist, so, believe it or not these claw marks definitely have the claw marks of a wolf",
"Or a Tiger",
Simon interrupted with a dry Joke but Sermond sneered at him after the other three men including the doctor, were puzzled at his senseless lack of humor.
"Far from it. The Tigers in the city are kept in the Zoo and there were no reported cases of a missing tiger on the loose on last week newspaper",
"Then maybe a wild animal from the dogs family, did this",
"I suppose. Jackals and Foxes are way too insignificant to be counted as a potential predator of this attack"
"But it was an animal, right?",
"It sure is. Even a racoon is not listed to have attacked him even though they stray from their natural habitat"
"So, you are implying.....",
"That we are talking of a bigger animal that's not a bear but wolf that has the body size of a bear",
"That's way too fantastic, don't you think, Doc?",
"I know that it is mind blowing but what we can set our minds on is a bigger animal like a mountain wolf....",
"Because of similar paws",
"Yep",
"I'm sure you know that it would take a whole lot of efforts to make it fact for the police chief",
"I do know that and that's why I did a thorough examination of the dead corpse that belonged to the second victim",
"And you found something",
Leonardo rejoined.
"Lucky guess, boy, I mean, officer",
"What's it that you found?",
Sermond question with sharp curiosity.
"One of the assailant's claw which was left stuck inside the victim's large intestine",
"And you dug it out?",
"Yes, I did even though I had a hard time getting my hands sticky with the blood and the goo inside the entrails",
Dave answered, fondling his right wrist as though the sticky substance was still glued to his hands in spite of him wearing gloves.