It’s Not Tina
Tim was squatting beside the body, and he answered without looking up, “She jumped from a great
height and landed headfirst. Her skull broke, and she died on the spot. And also…” He held her hand
and pinched it from her fingertips to her shoulder. The bone doesn’t feel right. Tim had a weird look on
his face, and he quickly tossed it away and held the other arm up, pinching up from her fingertips to her
shoulders as well. When he was done, he squinted, his eyes gleaming darkly.
“What’s wrong?” Toby asked, curious about what Tim just did.
Tim stood up, but he didn’t answer Toby. Instead, he looked at Teddy. “Take the body to the morgue. I’ll
have to perform an autopsy.”
“I’ll have to ask my boss about that though.” Teddy frowned.
Tim took his gloves off. “Then make it quick. This is important to the case.”
Teddy looked at him, then at the body on the ground. In the end, he went aside to call someone.
Toby gazed at Tim. “What did you find? I know something’s wrong. The look on your face tells me I’m
right.”
Tim adjusted his glasses. “Yes. I suspect that this is not Tina’s body.”
“What did you say?” Toby was shocked, and his face darkened. “It’s not Tina?”
Tim grunted. “I’m seventy percent sure. You know I worked part time as a forensic doctor overseas, so I
know a lot about human skeletons. When I checked the arm, I realized that it doesn’t match Tina’s size.
Sure, it is almost the same height as Tina, but its bones are bigger, so…”
Teddy came back before he could finish. “My boss has approved the autopsy, Dr. Lancaster. We’ll be
counting on you then.”
Tim nodded. “Sure. Just remember to pay me on time.”
The corner of Teddy’s lips twitched. “Don’t worry, we will.” He then told the other officers to clean up the
place and take the body to the morgue.
Tim looked at Toby. “I have her DNA sample in the hospital, so I’ll be extracting the body’s DNA and
comparing it to hers. If it doesn’t match, that means Tina isn’t dead and is on the run.”
Toby clenched his fists. The air around him was filled with murder, and the look on his face was colder
than ice. “I understand. You may leave now. I’ll handle the rest.”
Tim didn’t say anything more. He put his hands into his coat’s pockets and left.
Toby stood in the same place and watched as the officers cleaned the place up. He pursed his lips, his
eyes filled with a raging storm. He believed Tim’s speculation that the body did not belong to Tina. He
already knew something was wrong about Tina’s suicide while he was on the way here. The timing and
her motives didn’t add up, and that made him think something bad might have happened. In the end,
his worries were not unfounded as Tina wasn’t the one who killed herself; the corpse was just a stand
in.
Tim said the bones didn’t match, and the body’s face was weird as well. Toby looked up at the building.
He recalled that Tina lived on the tenth floor, so if she did jump down from that height, she would die on
the spot, but it wouldn’t mangle her face into an unrecognizable mess.
But the body’s face was just a mess of flesh and bones, making it unrecognizable. He thought
something was off when he first saw it, but he hadn’t been able to put a finger on it. When Tim said the
corpse might not be Tina, only then did he realize that the body’s face was off.
He could almost confirm that the body’s face had decomposed before it ‘jumped.’ That was why it was
a bloody mess. Nobody could recognize it, or they would know Tina didn’t kill herself.
A cold, mirthless smile curled Toby’s lips. She managed to slip through maximum security and got
herself a stand in. It seems I have underestimated her.
The body was taken away a short while later, leaving a patch of wet blood on the ground. Toby glanced
at it for a moment, then he went toward Sonia.
Sonia was drinking the water Tom bought for her. When Toby came over, she quickly screwed it shut
and uncapped another bottle to hand it to him. “Here. It should help with the discomfort.” He might not
be scared of the body, but he must feel uneasy seeing it. He should feel better if he has some water.
Toby looked at the bottle of water, and he stopped frowning. “Thank you.” He took it from her.
“No problem.” Sonia shook her head and looked at where the corpse was. “Is the inspection done? I
saw them taking the body away.”
“No. It’s just taken to the morgue. Tim found something.” Toby sat down beside her.
Sonia nudged to the side and gave him a lot of space. “What is it?”
“That body might not be Tina’s.” Toby looked at her.
Sonia was shocked.
Tom was petrified as well. “I-It’s not Tina?”
Toby nodded. He told them about the conversation he had with Tim, as well as the guesses he came
up with.
It took Sonia a long while to organize her thoughts. When she spoke again, she sounded agitated.
“Impossible. If it’s not Tina, then who is it? She’s under house arrest, and the police are keeping an eye
on her 24/7. She couldn’t even leave the ward, so how did she get someone to kill themselves for her?
And how did she escape? That’s just absurd.”
Tom nodded as well. “Yeah, sir. That sounds implausible.”
Toby stared down at the ground. “Nothing’s impossible. She can’t get out, but someone can get in. As
long as they did a switcheroo with her, she could escape without the cops knowing.”
“That’s just…” Sonia and Tom were flabbergasted.
Yeah. She can’t get out, but someone can get in. If the body is confirmed to be someone else’s, then
Toby’s guess would be right. Someone went into her ward, did a switcheroo, and jumped off the
building. Tina would escape prison successfully, and people would believe that she killed herself,
throwing all suspicion off her.
“We’ll have to look into how Tina managed to get someone to kill themselves for her,” Toby took a sip of
water and continued solemnly.
Sonia said nothing, but she felt goosebumps appearing all over her body.
At this moment, Toby’s phone rang. He put the bottle down and took his phone out, but he frowned
when he saw who the caller was. “I’ll have to take this call.” He stood up.
“Okay.” Sonia nodded.
Toby went forward, and Tom followed him as well. He noticed that the caller was someone from the
company, so Toby might need him to do something.
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