Gary was a relatively simple man. And as such he lived by relatively simple rules. For instance: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” That was a pretty simple rule, one that had never steered him wrong.
Therefore, he chose the morgue again.
The amount of blood soaking through the sheet covering Todd’s body shocked Gary. He hadn’t really gotten a good look at the body in the fountain—nobody but the butler really had—but even still he just hadn’t expected there to be this much blood.
He pulled off the sheet.
Todd’s body was lying face-up on the table. The man’s eyes were still open. Gary closed them out of a mixture of respect and not wanting to have lifeless eyes watching his every move.
The body itself was riddled with several obvious injuries. His legs and arms were clearly broken in several places. Yet, on the front side, there were no noticeable injuries that could have caused the type of blood loss soaked into the white sheet. Which is why he was somewhat prepared for the grisly sight before him when he finally flipped the body over.
Todd’s back was almost unrecognizable as a human being’s back. There were multiple, jagged, deep gashes covering his entire backside. It was so horrific, Gary could see the white of his ribs all along the left side. And in one spot, about halfway down, Todd’s spine had clearly been severed by something.
Gary couldn’t identify what type of weapon had been used on the poor, defenseless computer programmer, but it had definitely been something savagely sharp.
Unfortunately, none of these things told Gary why the body had been in the fountain, or how it got there. Or, perhaps most important, what, if anything, it had to do with the huge explosion they’d all heard moments before the body had been found.