THE EMPTY TABLE
For several seconds, Marcus couldn’t move.
The table was empty.
The sheet lay crumpled on the floor.
The nun was gone.
Daniel stared at him.
“How?”
Marcus checked the door.
Still locked.
He checked the second entrance.
Locked.
The ventilation system was too narrow for a person.
There was no other exit.
Daniel whispered:
“She was dead.”
Marcus looked at him.
“I know.”
“So how did she disappear?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
He was thinking.
Then the emergency lights came on.
Red light filled the room.
Marcus saw something beneath the table.
A small trail of water.
He followed it.
It led toward the drainage system.
Then he saw something else.
A piece of black fabric.
A torn piece of Sister Mary’s habit.
Marcus picked it up.
There was blood on it.
Fresh blood.
Daniel stepped backward.
“Doctor…”
Marcus looked toward the locked door.
Someone had taken the body.
But not through the door.
He crouched beside the drain.
The cover had been removed.
Behind it was a narrow maintenance passage.
Daniel stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Not impossible.”
He stood.
“Planned.”
Someone had known the morgue.
Someone had known exactly where the body would be placed.
Someone had known about the message.
And someone had been waiting for them to discover it.
Marcus grabbed the phone.
He called security.
No answer.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Then the building’s alarm sounded.
A red warning light began flashing.
Daniel looked terrified.
“What’s happening?”
Marcus walked toward the security monitor.
The cameras were still working.
He checked the hallway.
Empty.
The entrance.
Empty.
The parking lot.
Empty.
Then he switched to the camera outside the morgue.
His blood ran cold.
A black van was parked behind the building.
Its doors were open.
And standing beside it was a man wearing a priest’s collar.
Marcus zoomed in.
He recognized him.
Father Gabriel.
The man who had signed Sister Mary’s death certificate.
Continue to Page 5…
