Page 69 of Dead Serious Case 4 Professor Prometheus Plume

We burst through the study doors, almost tumbling over each other to find Rosie leaning against the desk, breathing hard with her hand pressed to her chest.

“Oh goodness! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you all!” Rosie gasps out. “My heart’s still pounding. I just wasn’t expecting… it was a knee-jerk reaction. It just looks so realistic.”

“What does?” Ellis asks.

“Him.” Rosie points and we all look to the left.

There, sprawled on the Aubusson rug in front of a marble statue, is Professor Prometheus Plume, his head tilted towards us, his eyes wide and unblinking. A large kitchen knife protrudes from his neck and beneath him is a large, circular bloodstain.

“Oh, bravo!” Essie and Martha break into applause along with the Nakatomis. “Very authentic! The wound is almost real.”

Danny takes a step closer, glancing at me worriedly. “Tris, that looks entirely too real.”

“That’s because it is,” I say faintly as I stare at Professor Plume standing by the statue, pale and shaking and with a knife jutting from his neck, as he stares down in horror at his own body lying in a pool of blood.

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“Nobody touch anything,” Danny orders as we both cross the room to the body.

“Goodness,” Essie coos in admiration. “He does take it very seriously, doesn’t he?”

“Ellis,” Danny calls to the usually perky blonde who is staring at the corpse with uncharacteristic silence. “Go call the police.”

“Rosie,” I call to the young office assistant, “are there any disposable gloves anywhere? In the kitchen maybe?” I look at the corpse. “And some plastic bags? Large Ziplocs or freezer bags? Something like that, elastic bands and tape, too.”

“What are you talking about?” Martha purses her lips. “Calling the police, plastic gloves, this isn’tCSI, you know. We’re supposed to be gathering clues and talking to suspects.”

“Trust me, there will be plenty of that to go around. This man really is dead.” Danny frowns.

“No, he’s not.” Essie looks down at the professor.

“Yes, he is,” I interject as Rosie and Ellis hurry from the room. They at least seem to have realised this wasn’t part of the planned event.

“How do you know?” Mr Pennington asks me, his expression deeply suspicious.

I decide to go with the obvious rather than,Because his ghost is standing right next to me, looking a little shell-shocked.“Because I’m a pathologist. This is literally my job.”

I stand aside when Danny pulls out his phone and starts taking photographs. I hear more approaching footsteps and turn in time to see the other actors push their way into the study.

“I thought I was supposed to be the victim? Did you change the script again and not tell me?” Mr Meadow turns to the others crossly. “I’ve been lying on the bloody freezing floor for ten minutes in the conservatory. Although the snow looked pretty outside, it was positively arctic in there.”

“We didn’t change anything,” Mrs Snow says, her tone dry as she looks at Professor Plume on the floor. “Is he actually dead or is he overacting again?”

“No, he’s actually dead,” I reply.

Ruby gasps loudly and throws herself into Mr Greyson’s arms with a dramatic cry, burying her face in his shoulder.

“My god!” Greyson holds her in his arms, managing to look both manly and troubled.

I glance over at Danny, and we share a look. I know we’re thinking the same thing.

Actors…

“Here.” Rosie rushes back into the room clutching handfuls of the items I’d requested. “I’ve got bags and gloves. There should be elastic bands and sticky tape in the desk over there.”

I hand a pair of gloves to Danny and pull a pair on for myself. “Are you done?” I ask him, and he nods.

Trying not to disturb the blood or get any on my trousers, I kneel down and go through the motions of checking for a pulse even though I know he’s dead. Next, I check his neck. There’s no break, but it’s obvious from the blood, the positioning of the wound, and the angle of penetration that the knife most like severed his artery. The injury would have been quick and lethal.