Crime of an Angel

There he lays, back flat against a cold, metal table. The smell of sterilizer fills the air, replacing the smell of his once fragrant cologne. The tan of his skin has faded away, leaving nothing but a prominent paleness in it’s wake, a man of a new identity. I reach out an unsteady hand, spreading my fingertips as if I'm trying to grab hold of the air; it seems to be the only thing that's really keeping me alive. I press my hand against his chest, shocked by the chill of his skin, but I don't move.

I imagine what he used to be. I imagine his warmth, the slow and steady beating of his heart, his heart that beat for me and me alone. My fingers trail from his chest to his eyes, tracing every detail of his visage with my nail. I envision his beautiful, hazel eyes gleaming into mine. His bow lips that used to confess his love for me, the lips that whispered “Gwen, will you marry me?” My own lips had responded with “yes,” but within twenty-four hours, the thought of marriage was over. For Preston had married death, forever espoused to it’s gruesome grip, united by the sharp edge of a coward’s blade. And it is this matrimony that leaves me alone and heartless, completely and utterly destroyed.

“I think it’s best if you leave now, Ms. Dean,” the coroner says to me, placing a gentle hand upon my shoulder. I laugh at my name in disdain. In a couple of months, I would have been Mrs. Lier, wife to the brilliant, successful Preston Lier. But the killer stole this dream from me, swiped it clean out of my hands; when the murderer committed the crime, they didn’t just take away Preston’s life. They took away mine.

I am guided out of the room and into the hall outside. I turn around and peer through the glass one last time, waiting for Preston to come back to me. But of course, he does not. I know I should cry, I want to cry, but I don’t. I’m numb to any and everything. All of my surroundings fade to the background while my mind is clouded with thoughts and memories and Preston. He’s all I want, he’s all I ever wanted, but some sadistic demoniac ruined that for me. They obliterated my future with the single slash of a knife, but I realize something. I’m not numb, no. I’m infuriated. They took something that I love so dearly away from me, and now I’m going to return the favor.

It’s the dead of night, yet the world is teeming from below our�"my�"apartment. The chandelier that hangs from the ceiling illuminates the very spot where Preston was murdered. The carpet is drenched with blood, a crimson color that’s replaced the beige it once was. It’s been nearly two days since Preston’s death, but I can’t bring myself to remove the carpet, and I’m not sure that I ever will.

I peer back up at the chandelier, each crystal stone carved with careful precision. The crystals hung from the fixture as if they were vines, softly swaying in the breeze. The light catches on my engagement ring, my last remaining memory of Preston, but I quickly remove it and place it on the table. I cover my hands in latex gloves before lowering myself to the ground, and begin to inspect the bloody area around me, hoping I’ll find even the slightest bit of evidence.

The police had searched the house yesterday from top to bottom, but I knew Preston best; if anyone could identify something out of place, it’d be me. However, the scene looks almost exactly as it had before the murder, the only thing that has changed is the blood stain. I scrounge around for a little while before coming back up empty handed. Defeated I sit on the couch, resting my head against the cushion of the pillow, but something is different. I rise up and remove the pillow cushion, tossing it aside the blood, but there’s nothing there. I press around the overlay of the couch’s springs, and I feel something, something that I know was not originally here. I dart to the kitchen and grab hold of a knife, then I carefully pace myself back over to the couch.

My hands are shaking as I rip the cloth open, though I’m not entirely sure why. And there, laying enshrouded in the depths of aluminum coils, is a metal box...