The Cool Room by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 56

Upon returning to the funeral home, the unrecognizable body was transferred to an available cooler. Opening the medical file, Jonathan and Emily paged through its sparse leaves and reading the details of the man’s demise paused for discussion.

“I think we should see this for ourselves,” Emily said.

Jonathan agreed and opening the door of the cooler pulled out the stainless steel rack. After transferring the wrapped body to the preparation table they stood across from each other as if waiting for who would expose the horror that lay in front of them. “Well,” Jonathan said. “You want to do the honors?”

Jonathan hesitated, taking a deep breath. He had seen plenty of fatal burns, but he had a feeling this was different.

“The medical file said it was over 80 percent of the body. So, I guess it can’t be that bad.” Having already removed the remains from the red body bag, Emily assisted as he unzipped the nylon body bag used by the hospital. This having been accomplished, Jonathan reached for a pair of scissors and began cutting away the cloth straps holding the nylon shroud together. Finally unwrapping the shroud both stood horrified as they examined what was left of the once troubled man who had set himself ablaze in a corner store parking lot.

“Have you ever seen anything like this before?” Emily asked.

With wide eyes, Jonathan looked up and replied with a simple ‘no’. There is nothing more honest that what the eyes can convey -- a lie, fear, joy or anger. And Jonathan was being very honest. “You know,” he said. “I think I heard about this on the news. I just didn’t think it was this bad.” Emily was stunned, having never seen anything like, it even in textbooks.

“Jesus Christ,” she said. “How do we deal with this?”

Jonathan was at a loss for words but remembering something from the medical record he brought Emily’s attention to it.

“I think there’s something else,” he said. “Let’s turn him on his side.”

Without sliding the shroud out from underneath, they lifted and pushed by the shoulder and hip until the corpse was on its side.

“Holy shit,” Emily said. “Was this in the medical record?”

Any bandages and wrappings that were previously applied had been cut away allowing them to see where the flesh of the back used to be. While neither of them had seen anything so severe they managed to maintain their composure. But they felt there was something that needed to be done. Frank needed to see this.

Jonathan, having become irritated by what he saw as an unsalvageable situation asked Emily to go to Frank’s office and invite him in for a look. Moments later, she returned with Frank and having the body out in plain view Jonathan asked for his opinion.

“Jesus Christ,” Frank said. “What do we do with this?”

He was told that the body had been refused by every other funeral in the tri-county area, but Frank had not been given the details. However, as a matter of personal pride he accepted the body thinking that Jonathan could work his artistic magic. But when asked, Jonathan was at a loss for ideas.

“Well,” he began. “I suppose I could start by applying some clay and then make-up over that. But I don’t even have a picture of him, so I’m not sure where to start.”

From the perspective of preparation, Emily was not able to offer any other suggestions, but one thing had occurred to her.

“Have the police been able to locate any family?” she asked. “That would be a huge help. But without someone to identify the body I’m not sure there’s much we can do. And did you see the back?” Still holding the body on its side Frank walked around to the exposed back and examining the area spoke with confidence.

“We’ve seen worse than this,” he said. “Remember that midair collision? What a mess that was. A heavy layer of clay should cover that – maybe some adhesive plastic.”

As much as it seemed like a good idea there was still the man’s identity was still an issue. If the family could be found a picture could be provided. This would solve many issues as long as an accurate likeness of the face could be reproduced. But even with a picture, there were no guarantees. The burns were too extensive.

Police departments of three counties had been called several times throughout the day with no results. Everyone had heard of the incident but no one had heard anything from the family, leading law enforcement to believe that the deceased likely lived alone with no supporting family or relatives.

As far as the police were concerned, the case had been closed. Frank and his staff were back to square one and with no one to view the body or attend a service, cremation seemed like the only option. But Jonathan wanted to provide the client with some degree of dignity and consulting Frank it was decided that they would do their best to prepare them for a service attended by no one.