GODDESSBLESSYOUFROMDEATH, Special Case File 2: Intelligence Police and Mandatory Doctor

In the chaotic hospital bustling with people, a young doctor who had just left the examination room less than ten minutes ago, hoping for a cup of coffee, was interrupted by his vibrating communication device. He turned to the wall and gently began banging his head against it.

“Damn it!”

“Is everything alright, Doctor?”

“Uh… nothing, just fine.” Charn smiled at the nurse before rushing to the recovery ward upstairs where he was needed, though he really wanted to escape back to his condo.

“Were you calling for me?” Charn asked the nurses at the counter.

“Yes, Doctor Charn, sorry to bother you after your shift, but the police are here asking about the patient in room 804.”

“Police?” Charn furrowed his brows slightly before heading to the recovery room he was responsible for.

“Hello… sir.”

“Hello, you little smart aleck?”

“Hold on, see this?”

“Shirt?”

“What kind of shirt?”

“A gown.”

“Correct! This is a gown, this means I’m a doctor.” Charn pointed at himself with pride, “not the kid from that drinking session.”

“I have to work with you?” The intelligence police officer leaned back in his chair, looking utterly despairing.

“So, what brings you here?”

“The guy lying there is a suspect in a murder case.”

“For real?!”

“Oh, I’m kidding, he’s actually a cotton candy seller, I just wanted some.”

“You’re being sarcastic, Khun Merk.”

“Think before you ask, Charn.” Despite being three years apart in age, there was no awkwardness between them, especially not since the night they bonded over drinks, all formalities had vanished. “When will he wake up?”

“Probably in a day or two, he will have a skull fracture but no bleeding, no brain swelling, torn lung, broken ribs, ruptured spleen.” Charn reported the injuries casually before flopping onto the sofa, “Where did he get himself into such a life-threatening mess?”

“He killed a restaurant owner… then got hit by the owner’s son with a car.”

“Well, the case closed then, with a victim, perpetrator, and another perpetrator who was also a victim.”

“Yeah, except there’s another body at the scene that doesn’t seem related at all.” Merk twisted slightly before standing up, “I’ll get someone to keep watch.”

“Where are you going?”

“What good does knowing do you?”

“Maybe I’ll get a free meal coupon.” Merk rolled his eyes, then glanced at his watch, “Treat me to a meal.”

“A doctor with no money for food?”

“What do you think, being a doctor makes me rich?”

“I’m not free, got to go.”

“If you treat me to a meal, I might help with the case.”

“Help with what?”

“Like investigating the crime scene, checking on patients, stuff like that.” Chan stood up from the sofa, tilting his head arrogantly.

“I have a forensic team.”

“That’s cold, man.”

Merk shook his head slightly and answered his vibrating phone.

“Yes, boss?”

[Where are you now?]

   “At the hospital, checking on the suspect who just got surgery.”

[Perfect, the body found in the restaurant’s freezer was sent to the hospital. The forensic doctor is about to examine it. You can go listen in or wait for the report.]

   “…Sure.” After hanging up, Merk rolled his eyes at the kid who was annoyingly raising his eyebrows, “Doctors eavesdropping on people’s conversations?”

“With how loud you’re talking, I’d have to put my ear in the toilet to not hear you.”

“Come for food, then follow me.”

“No way, too late for that, officer. You saw my late fee, ‘Don’t play hard to get.’”

“First, I know I’m late on my fee. Second, I’m not going into the autopsy room because it’s not delightful.”

“First, it was pointless from the start. Second… scared to death, my mind tells me I don’t have to be sharp, just a small fry.”

“I wasn’t the one starting trouble in the first place. Sorry, officer, go enjoy looking at the corpse alone.”

“Oh, really?” Merk raised an eyebrow before smirking at the kid about to leave, “It’s okay, Dr. Charn, everyone’s scared of ghosts, not everyone’s brave, I get it.”

Merk spoke with full sympathy, but his face was mocking, making the robed man frown deeply.

“Sigh. I should go, I got work to do that some won’t dare, you know, kids will be kids.” Merk walked off, counting in his head. If he couldn’t handle this kid, he’d have stopped hanging out with Darin, Say, and Singha long ago. They were like ten of this kid rolled into one.

Three.

Two.

One.

“Alright!! I’ll go too. I’m almost an adult, why act like a kid! And you’re buying dinner!!”

“Heh, sure, sure, all grown up now.” The one time at a drinking session he accidentally called this kid ‘little one’, he’d nearly died from the outrage. That told him all he needed to know about how to push his buttons.

The two reached the autopsy room, not far from the morgue. Ever since the haunted house incident, Charn, already afraid of ghosts, didn’t suddenly become a ghost-whisperer just because he grew up in a temple. Look at Thup, who sees ghosts regularly yet is scared stiff, completely different!

“You’re walking this close, should I just go in?”

“Just walk.”

Merk rolled his eyes at the kid behind him. He was genuinely starting to think he’d made a mistake bringing this kid along.

The scent of formaldehyde filled the room, something doctors were used to from their studies, but the sight of a corpse on the autopsy table was still unnerving since he dealt with living people daily.

“Listen, Charn, if you bump into me one more time, I’ll really kick you.” Merk snapped, annoyed by the kid’s incessant clinging, “What kind of doctor are you?”

“A Thai doctor. If it were in English, would I be a French doctor, madamsang?” Wanting to hear the language.

“Annoying.” Merk rolled his eyes for the hundredth time that day since meeting up. He moved closer to examine the mysterious corpse brought from the nearby crime scene, then called the brat over, “Alright, your job, doctor.”

“I diagnose it as dead.”

“Then I could be a doctor too.” Charn sighed before stepping closer to inspect.

“Yeah.”

“Still, the forensic team needs to examine it. I treat the living.”

“Where did you find it again?”

“In a freezer at a restaurant.”

“A restaurant?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I have the restaurant’s name?”

“Why?”

“So I know not to eat there. Look at this.” Charn reached for a pointer stick on the table, then pointed at the right arm of the deceased, where some flesh was thinly sliced and removed with precision, “Some flesh here is missing, and this abdominal incision is fresh, probably died two or three days ago, hard to tell being in a freezer, but this kind of wound, looks like something was inserted there.”

“Don’t tell me…”

“I’ll tell you.” Charn said, pointing a stick that he once used to poke at a corpse towards Merk, “This isn’t just a victim, it looks like it could be raw material too, a surprise.”

“Oh, Charn, will you just shut up!” Merk swung the file in his hand to slap the forensic doctor, who he had forcefully brought along.

“Well, you dragged me into this.”

Knock, knock, knock.

“Damn it!” Charn, who was laughing heartily at the sight of the police officer nearly vomiting, jumped in surprise at the sudden knock on the door.

“Wow, that scared the bejesus out of me.”

“I mean, I was surprised too.”

“Hello. I am the forensic doctor here to examine the body.”

“Oh, Dr. Ray.”

“Hey there, you little troublemaker.”

“My name is Merk.” The newcomer greeted Charn warmly, “And you are…”

“I’m the intelligence officer sent to gather preliminary data.”

“Just a bit.”

“It’s quite the mess, isn’t it?”

“I guess you might have some doubts about this case.”

“Yes. If the autopsy results match the evidence from the restaurant, we might be able to wrap up the case.”

“Then I’ll get to the examination right away. The lab is already checking the evidence found at the shop.”

“Alright, I’m not in much of a hurry today.”

“How about we grab a coffee after we’re done here to go over the details?”

“Alright then.” I’ll get to…

“Feeling peckish.” Charn suddenly chimed in, completely oblivious to whatever the conversation was about.

“I think I’ve got muscle strain.”

“Double standards!”

“Delusional.”

“Haha, you two seem pretty close. Do you know each other?”

“More like forced to know each other.” Merk replied to the young doctor who probably wasn’t much younger than him. Just over 180 cm tall, about the same height as the kid next to him, but he looked much more composed and mature.

“Where to? You said you were treating us to lunch.”

“Oh, right. Excuse me for a moment, doctor. I’ll be back in about an hour.”

“Just call me Ray. I think we’re about the same age.”

“Sure thing.”

“Food!”

Finally, Merk dragged the troublesome kid to a nearby cafe, not far from the hospital. The place had food, drinks, and blessedly, air conditioning.

“What do you want to eat?”

“You yell at me with such a strong voice, but with the doctor, it’s all sweet and gentle.”

“You want me to yell at him the first time we meet? Manners, man.”

“You yelled at me the first time we met.” The kid retorted.

“I must have been possessed.” Merk said, opening the menu to order what he fancied.

“I’ll have the same, but change the water to iced green tea.” Charn smiled at the waiter, then turned to look at Merk with a death glare.

“Oh, but you’re all smiles for the girl, and then you give me that sour face.”

“Your face looks like a butt?”

“Your butt?”

“What kind of cheeky talk is that?” Charn’s mood brightened as he poked at the constantly frowning man. “You said you weren’t part of the field team.”

“I am now.”

“Why?”

“Remember I told you about the villain who killed the restaurant owner and got hit by a car?”

“Yeah, you said it was his son who hit him.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And?”

“The person handling the case was standing next to him and also got hit, so I had to take over.”

“Tough luck, huh?”

“Indeed.”

“So, that means I’m lucky then.” Charn said, leaning on the table with a grin towards the man across from him, reading documents.

“What’s that?”

“That I get to see you again.”

Merk glanced up from his papers to the kid who was giving him a meaningful smile.

“Trying to flirt?”

“Could be worth a try.”

“Try flirting, or try something else?” Merk put down his papers, mirroring the action by leaning in as well.

“Are you trying or am I trying?”

“I’m not up for it.” Merk said with a half-smile. “Me neither.” Charn retorted playfully.

They stared each other down, neither one backing away, turning this into a significant gamble. The waiter, coming to serve their food, paused as the customers were locked in a betta fish stare-off.

“Uh, excuse me… your food is ready.”

Both Merk and Chran broke eye contact, turning to their meals, shifting the conversation entirely to mundane topics with changed demeanors.

“Yes, boss, I’ll go check on it.”

Charn handed over his shiny silver card to the waiter, noticing the man he was with had been on the phone for a while and had just sipped water, signaling he was done eating.

“Got some work, huh?”

“Yeah. Have you paid already?”

“You want me to pay you back?”

“Nah, thanks for the treat.”

“Actually, I could treat you for life.” Charn teased with a wink. “But, you’d have to die tomorrow.”

“You little rascal.” Merk thought there wouldn’t be much serious talk with this kid. “Looks like I’ll have to get the autopsy results tomorrow; I’ve got business to attend to today.”

“Tomorrow? Then call me.”

“Planning to return the favor with a meal?”

“Not really. Just don’t want you alone with Ray.”

“Why not?”

“He’s got quick hands.”

“And you’ve got a quick mouth.”

“Fast waist, want to give it a try?” Charn raised an eyebrow at the person about to get up. “My waist is quick too. Want to try?” Merk chuckled before standing up fully, showcasing his height. “And the legs too.”

“Can we flirt first and then play rock-paper-scissors on the bed?”

“You’re cursing at me in paragraphs, and now you want to flirt?”

“I like it, I’ve never met someone as snarky as you.”

“Should I be touched?”

“So, what’s the deal? Can I flirt or not?”

“If I say no?”

“I’ll keep trying to flirt like this.” Charn stood up following Merk, crossing his arms and looking at the older man.

“Alright, flirt away.” Merk smiled, walking closer to the younger man who wasn’t much shorter, his eyes sparkling as he whispered near Charn’s ear in a softer voice than usual. “As long as you’re on the bottom of the bed.”

Charn laughed softly, turning his face towards Merk until their noses touched.

“I can be on the bottom… if you volunteer to be on top of the bed.”

This battle between the intelligence officer and the young surgeon was grand. No villains. No ghosts. No beliefs, just winners and losers… only in the bedroom war.

  

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