Chapter 15

Tiff found herself a dry spot underneath the canopy of the crematorium.

Sandwell Valley in West Bromwich had been one of the first locations to offer digital post-mortems, and this was where the body of James Nixon had been brought. The process was less invasive than a physical autopsy, with imaging scans used to develop three-dimensional images for a virtual exploration of a human body.

Logan came into sight about thirty feet away. He offered her a wave and a wide smile. The gesture felt a little odd, under the circumstances, but she supposed he was just relieved to see someone familiar given the gruesomeness of the task.

‘Sorry, I'm not late, am I?' he asked,

as though they were meeting for lunch.

‘No, not at all,' she said, turning towards the entrance.

‘I was hoping it would be you,' he said, falling into step beside her with his hands in his pockets.

‘I'm happy to help. It's a difficult process to?—'

‘I don't even know your name,' he interrupted.

‘Tiffany,' she said automatically and then questioned her response. Maybe she should have given her last name or told him to call her constable, but she was off shift and out of uniform so such instructions didn't come naturally.

‘You look much younger in your own clothes,' he remarked without looking at her.

Maybe she should have kept the uniform on. Neither his manner nor his words were offensive, but she couldn't help wondering if he'd be saying the same things if she had still been dressed as a police officer.

‘Is your mom doing okay?'

He nodded as they turned into the corridor. ‘Yeah, she's handling it well.'

‘Must have been quite the shock for her.'

‘It's a shock for anyone,' Logan answered. ‘But it's not like they were really serious. Mom hadn't long lost Dad. She wasn't really over him. James was an all right guy, not deeply intelligent, but he was just a distraction anyway. He made her laugh, but it wasn't going anywhere. He didn't challenge her, and it would have fizzled out.'

‘But she reported him missing,' Tiff said. The report she'd read stated that the two of them had been seeing each other for around seven months. Seemed a bit more than casual to her.

‘Yeah, because she hadn't heard from him in a couple of weeks. They were hardly heading up the aisle. You're making more of it than there was,' he said, annoyance creeping into his tone. ‘It was no great love affair. We were just the last ones to see him alive due to Esther living so far away.'

‘Okay. Understood. Now I have to warn you that this might be difficult for you,' she said, buzzing for admittance. ‘I'm assuming it's your first dead body?'

‘It's fine. Honestly. I'm not easily shocked,' he said as the affable smile returned. Whether he'd been close to James or not, she'd expected a more sombre demeanour.

‘Good of you to save your mom from doing it.'

‘Yeah, yeah, is he in there?' Logan asked, nodding towards a closed door.

‘Yes, the door will open in—' She stopped speaking as the door did as she'd predicted.

An assistant appeared and held it open.

‘I'll be right there with you,' she said, gesturing at the door.

Tiff had a feeling that his youthful nonchalance might be challenged when presented with the actual body of someone he had known.

No body viewing was a pleasant experience, but corpses removed from water were probably the worst.

The bloating, waxy appearance could distort the facial features to a grotesque parody of their former selves.

Logan appeared to take a deep breath and ready himself as the doors opened and the trolley came into view.

Tiff allowed him to remain in silence as they made their way back to the entrance.

As she'd anticipated, upon seeing the body, the easy smile had disappeared and had been replaced with a blank expression. Adopted, she suspected, to prevent the true horror from showing on his face.

They stepped outside.

Tiff had never done this before and had no idea how much support she was obliged to offer.

‘Again, I'm sorry for your loss, and?—'

‘Wanna grab a coffee?' he asked, flashing her a wide smile.

‘Excuse me?' she asked, unsure she'd heard correctly.

‘Or a meal – maybe a movie? I dunno, both?'

Hadn't he just been in the same room as her, looking at the disfigured, bloated, grotesque form of someone who at the very least had been a family friend? And now he was hitting on her?

‘That wouldn't be appropriate, Logan, but thanks for the offer, and give your mom my regards.'

She turned and walked away before the flesh actually crawled off her body.