THE DEAD LOVER

Sheba knew that her job as a forensic doctor in the medical college hospital was too taxing and daunting.There was only one junior colleague who was helping her perform autopsies every day .Moreover there was lot of pressure from the police and the judiciary to finish the VVIP cases as early as possible and a little lackadaisical report brought forth too much unwarranted criticism and a warning summons .
As she turned the car slowly through the passage to her house she saw the shoes and smiled to herself .Her husband had come home. She got out with her bag and files to hury to the front door and rang the bell. The door opened and she was glad to see him so lovable and charming with his welcoming stance. She snuggled close to him. .” When did you come?” He kissed her on her check and she saw her 10 year old daughter behind him .He gathered her bag and files and she led her daughter in, hugging her .Her old mother hesistently turned to hail her and she saw her watching the daily routine serial, glossed. over it . It was a very happy family except that her husband changed his job frequently and then left for months to come back after resigning it and then stayed with her for 6 months and then left on one pretext or other to seek a another job. She was used to it and when he was in the house he took care of her very well. He was also a passionate lover. She had requested him to stay at home as she was getting a good government salary which was more than enough for a small family but he would not listen . So she allowed him the freedom to earn on his own and spend for the family .”I love the family too much and can’t imagine myself not earning for it”.She also knew he did not like being bossed and that was perhaps the reason he changed his job frequently .
Two months later after getting a job as a computer specialist he left for a nearby metropolis and she felt his absence and she was a bit gloomy .He also had the habit of not contacting her often and she was used to it for sometimes weeks together. It was almost a month, so she made a call .It responded ‘ could not be reached’. It was also a routine for her.
The next day after the usual autopsies , her junior colleague wanted her to see a dead body . The body was lying wrapped in a bag on the autopsy table and on opening it, she noticed that the face was smashed and there were tire marks on it. It was completely run over by a car or truck. The crux of the problem was that it was not brought by the police nor were any other details available . It was quite baffling on how it was found on the autopsy table . It seemed to have landed there on its own. She scoffed when her assistant detailed her. “ How is it possible?” Every dead body brought inside and taken outside was thoroughly written and signed by the department assistant in charge of it .She summoned him and he had not seen it or entered it in the note book. This was a peculiar case where someone had brought the dead body and left it on the table .It was not possible without an inside connivance.
She must inform the Dean and the police about it .She strode to her phone to verify and spoke on his direct line . “ Are you sure?.Did you check with your colleagues?. When she said it was affirmative, the dean informed the police. All were sworn to secrecy in order not to inform the news papers ,who would blow it out of proportion. The police made their own enquiries and recorded all details and ordered to preserve the dead body till it was identified or someone claimed it.
Sheba could not but ruminate about the sudden appearance of a dead body from nowhere. Its presence seem to follow and be near her all the time .She felt she needed a real break from the nerve racking routine with the dead bodies and spend some prime time with the living. She felt it with her husband near her as he was also a caring lover . She decided to call him somehow that day . Her several attempts all ended with absolutely no response. She found it difficult to sleep and dreamt the presence of the dead body near her .She got up and drank some water and tripped over something in the nearly dark room. She found the wrapped up body near the stairs .She was shocked and summoned enough courage to open the plastic cover .She saw the mutilated face. She almost ran to the phone to inform her colleague and police. Somebody was playing a prank with her.Why should they do it? As far as she knew she had no enemies. Was it a disgruntled and vengeful person against whom she had given a unfavorable report leading to his arraignment. As she sat struggling and trembling she heard the bell ring and it further send jitters inside her . She got up to open the door and her collegue with a poise of policemen entered. He made her sit on the cushion and went to verify with the police man. After sometime they returned with a bland expression. “ Where is the dead body?” “Beneath the stairs where I left it” . Her collegue again questioned her . She got up and led them to it . They could not find any dead body anywhere. She was equally shocked and baffled . ”I am sure I opened it and saw the mutilated face” she retorted. “Did anyone see it?” “How can I show a dead body to my young daughter and old mother” she replied. The police were disgruntled for waking them at dead of night for a wild- goose chase and left. As Sheba was adamant she had indeed seen the body, both went to the forensic department to verify. The dead body was in the freezer as it was placed before. Was she crazy enough to see what was not evidently present in her house near the stairs?
She met the Dean the next day to ask for a week’s holiday to tide over her supposed problem of finding a dead body in her house which did not exist, and reporting about it. It was the gossip of the college and every one whom she saw advised her to take a sabbatical. She decided to visit her husband at the metropolis but she had no details to enquire about. Her attempt yielded nothing and she blamed herself for all the mess. She should not have allowed him to go even if he had insisted. She needed him now more by her side than ever before. Without knowing his whereabouts , there was no point in searching in the vast metropolis. She decided to bid her time relaxing with her daughter and mother . On the third day while she was reading her favorite author late at night she head a sound in the kitchen . She went to investigate and found the dead body all wrapped up in the bag .She opened to see the mutilated face and took a snap of it. She decided to call her collegue first, all the time sitting near it and he reluctantly came when she send him the photo . She left the door open and called him in when he rang the bell. He came and saw its face and photographed it in all positions. He then called the police. While both were waiting in the hall silently not knowing what to do, , the police barged in reluctantly. When he directed them to the kitchen they tiptoed slowly in and then came out staring at them. Both walked inside and found that there was no body. Where did it dissappear? They searched everywhere and it had vanished into thin air. They showed all the photos and the police was not convinced .At least Sheba had his colleague to vouch for her.
The next day her collegue reported that the dead body still not identified was in the freezer as it was placed. There was no possibility of any outsider removing it as it was a very strong room with enough locks and security cameras every where and none of them revealed anything .The police were baffled and doubted the veracity of their claims
Sheba after discussion with her colleague and Dean requested for a transfer to a nearby district as this episode became a laughing stock in the college and everyone suspected the entire department's trumped up , quirky stories. On the Dean’s recommendation she was posted to the nearby district . She was happy to leave as the work was less and responsibity almost none.
After a week she settled down in her new assignment in spite of her supposed notoriety being discussed behind her back in the new place. On the tenth day when she went to her department , the male nursing orderly who assisted her informed that he had found an unknown body in the autopsy room , neither brought by the police nor any entry was available .As she dreaded, it was the same mutilated body. She phoned up her collegue in the previous station and he verified and reported that it had vanished into thin air. So there was some indirect connection with her .What was it ? She was mulling about it often and it seemed to assail her mentally . She very badly needed a diversion,staying away from the dead body.
She applied leave for a fortnight and left in search of her husband and to bring him back for good. She knew a high ranking police friend there, who volunteered to help her. They searched all the reputed computer companies and they discovered that one of them had hired him .She went in person and it was confirmed he had joined there a month back and had left all of a sudden within a week without any information whatsoever. From the security his residential address was traced and he was found to live in a hostel for working men. The locked room was forced open and his belongings were identified . Enquiry of the police stations in the adjacent vicinity for a missing person was instituted and it was of no avail. The worst case scenario of murder or accident was also sought by the police. An unknown body without identification was reported and Sheba went to the police morge to enquire . The dead body was found in the corner of the street run over by a car and the police had taken over and brought it for identification According to the records the body after ten days was disposed off for burial as no one had reported or identified it . Photographs of the body looked similar to the dead body in her previous station. Further enquires by senior police officers revealed that the body had vanished but it was reported as given a burial to prevent punishment for the staff responsible for its disappearance. Sheba returned to join after her leave lapsed .
She was a bit disturbed as the dead body she saw in the police morge in the metropolis resembled the one here . She got permission to perform a post mortem unofficially and asked her collegue to do it . The collegue presented his findings and when she heard it she was shocked beyond words .She swooned and fell down.Her husband had a scar in the back, had undergone appendisectomy, and his molar tooth were removed due to caries and infection last year . She could not identify him due to the mutilated face . He had followed her everywhere even after his death in a gruesome accident in the metropolis.
She had to recover from her shock and move on. She informed the authorities, identified the body as her husband by DNA analysis and performed all the rituals for burial . The whole house was gloomy and she found it difficult to explain the queries of her daughter and mother .
After a month she got all his items from the hostel which the police had confisicated and she rummaged through it. She found a dairy witha letter in it,which he had written and tears flowed down as she read it . “If I call you often I feel like seeing you so I detest from it” It was better not to disturb you, considering the nature of your job.I hope you understand . I have decided to work at least for a year in the present job which you always insisted and as per your wish , though I wanted to leave it.Love to all at home. Take care .Spend your prime time with our daughter. Don’t worry about me .I am fine here . Though I am not present there I am always with you there” It was dated just a day before the accident.
He was very close when he was alive and wanted to be the same even after his death.