Chapter 7: The Killer's Message

The expressionless, sharp eyes stared at Som, making the smaller man madly fear for his life. Som screamed loudly, fell to the ground, and pointed at the person to whom those eyes belonged. He was shaking as if he had epilepsy, so the nurses had to rush and escort him back to an isolation room.

"Every time Dr. Gunn comes to the ward, Som's symptoms reappear," the psychiatric ward nurse said apologizing to Gunn. Gunn stood still, with his hands behind his back, looking at the glass partition between where the patient was and the nursing desk. The doctor turned to look at the nurse with an indifferent expression that looked terrifying, which briefly gave the nurse goosebumps. How Gunn's handsome face quickly returned to normal. "If... if you have any questions, you can call the pavilion directly."

"I would like to visit Som, but if it is an inconvenience to the pavilion, then it is fine." Gunn gave the nurse a friendly smile. "Then I won't bother you anymore."

As soon as Gunn turned his back and walked towards the exit, his face once again assumed an indifferent manner. His heart was on fire. If Som were not in the psychiatric ward that is so heavily guarded, Gunn would have been quick to strangle the truth out of Som, to find out whether or not he would have told anyone else what he had seen.

Gunn entered the elevator and found himself there alone. When the door closed, the doctor looked up at the ceiling of the elevator. He took a deep breath, slowly raised his hand, and hit the elevator wall hard. SLAM! The pain in his hand wasn't enough to chase away the feelings of anger, fear, and disappointment that were flooding inside him more than he could bear. What should I do next? From now on, what should be done?

When the elevator doors opened to the front of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), Gunn tried to concentrate and emerged looking like the Gunn everyone knew. The exceptional doctor whom everyone admired. Today he was asked to examine the case of a 60-year-old patient named Duang. Mr. Duang was seriously injured because he was attacked in the head. The neurosurgeon diagnosed that the patient was in a state that could only lead to one conclusion: death in the near future.

Yes, this patient was Ekaphol's father. He was the person for whom Gunn called the ambulance.

The doctor came to the nurse's table and said, "Hello, I'm here to see the palliative care case. Can I have the patient's history?"

"The third bed, Professor Gunn," the nurse answered happily. "But the record is in the hands of the medical examiner. Please wait a moment."

Gunn quickly turned to look at the third bed. Dr. Supapohn was standing there with the patient's chart in her hands. Since this is a file, it is not unusual for a forensic doctor to also come take a look. Gunn took a deep breath and walked towards the bed. The woman noticed his arrival and raised her head to look at him. She nodded slightly instead of greeting. Rin and Gunn met before at occasional events held by medical organizations. They weren't close, but Gunn decided to meet her in case he might become involved in forensic science issues again. Just how Bunnakit helped him before.

"Seeing you here, I know this is bad."

Gunn smiled, "How is the injury?"

"From what I can assess at this time, the patient was hit many times by a blunt object. The object did not have a large cross-sectional area. It caused a laceration to his skull. As a result, his brain is bruised and torn." Rin closed her eyes to imagine the situation. "The culprit only aimed at the head. The only objective was to kill."

Gunn went to take a look at the monitor which showed quite high blood pressure and a rapid pulse. "He's suffering." The doctor turned to look at the face of the intubated patient and his head wrapped in bandages. Gunn's hand gently touched Mr. Duang's face and leaned down to speak in his ear: "Mr. Duang, I am Kantapat. I am the home visit doctor who visited your son before."

Gunn's words made Rin's eyes widen in surprise.

"I have always admired you for taking care of Ekaphol with love and care. Now you don't have to worry about anything. Both Ekaphol and his mother are not in pain right now. They are both waiting for you. I would like you to focus on your good deeds in life. The ones you told me about before. You used to volunteer to help people who were suffering from the floods.

The rapid pulse gradually decreased, as did the respiratory rate. The patient seemed noticeably more comfortable when Gunn did not even administer any medication. The doctor had never before closely observed how Gunn treated his patients. The way he carried himself and spoke made her feel like a splash of cold water was soothing her from head to toe.

"Think about how you raised Ekaphol from a child until he grew up. Although he was seriously ill, you never gave up. On behalf of Ekaphol, I would like to thank you sincerely. Right now I will prescribe medicine for you. It will reduce your tiredness and pain." Gunn took the stethoscope hanging over the patient's bed to listen to breathing and turned to Rin, who seemed to be dazed. "Rin, have you finished using the file? I would like to prescribe some medication."

Rin quickly recovered and handed him the file, "Gunn, you can use it first."

"Thank you," Gunn received the file, opened it and took out a golden pen from his pocket.

"What types of medications do palliative doctors typically prescribe?" Rin asked out of curiosity.

"It depends on the case. We mainly consider the illness and the discomfort that the patient feels. For this case, I will administer morphine along with benzodiazepines to reduce pain, fatigue and anxiety."

Rin paused when she heard that sentence. Her beautiful sharp eyes looked at the handsome face of the doctor in front of her. "You mean mixing all the medicines in one bottle?"

"Yes," Gunn signed his name on the prescription and closed the file. "Because I usually reduce the number of unnecessary operations on patients once they have entered palliative care. For this patient, I will mix the medications in a syringe and administer them through the syringe controller so that the patient does not have to undergo venipuncture frequent." The doctor handed the chart back to Rin, "I won't bother you anymore. Thank you."

Rin stood still and watched Gunn left to talk to a nurse. He then turned to open the chart and see the document Gunn had written to order the medicine. "In the same syringe?" A mixture of morphine and benzodiazepine reminded Rin of the medicine in the syringe found in Som's house. If you wanted to look for someone with experience using these medications, Gunn would probably be one of the first people Rin would think of. Although Rin's hunch was very strong at the time, this was just a small observation that may not connect to anything at all because any palliative doctor probably administers medications the same way.

******

"Gunn, let me ask you something," Wasan asked while eating ice cream with Gunn in a shopping mall. "Is it still possible to traffic dangerous drugs like morphine and depressants from your hospital for use after Dr. Somsak is no longer there?"

Gunn looked at the police officer, who was now wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and smiled.

"Can't you take off your work along with your uniform? Right now we're on a date eating desserts. Let's talk about lighter things instead."

Wasan put the lemon-flavored ice cream in his mouth and made a sullen face at the person in front of him.

"How light does the item have to be? Light like cotton or tissue?"

The doctor laughed at the other person's sarcasm. He raised his hand to touch Wasan's cheek and caressed it lovingly with his thumb. "Honey, your job seems exhausting these days."

"If you want me to be less exhausted, you should answer me correctly."

The fierce big cat-like eyes stared and finally made Gunn give in as usual. "After director Somsak left, the new director who came to manage the hospital was very strict about safety, both for patients and staff. Right now, medical records and medication use are "All systematized electronically and are traceable. In my opinion, it is almost impossible for someone to take out the medications you mentioned without being traced."

"But there is a case," Wasan said in a lower voice. His behavior seemed as if he intended to tell Gunn everything out of trust. "Your patient, Som. You must have heard him by now, right?"

Gunn did not show any abnormality and said, "I know."

"A lot of evidence points in the direction that someone was trying to kill Mr. Som. One of them is the syringe found at the scene. When we checked the medicine inside the syringe, we found morphine, depressants and potassium chloride. Where Do you think the culprit got this?"

The doctor let out a small sigh, "This is like Déjà vu, don't you think?"

"Yes," Wasan replied dryly. "It might have been possible at that time because the main culprits were the director and the pharmacist. But, if you say the system is much stricter now, I will think of other sources."

"But there is a person who can take this kind of medicine," Kan smiled.

Wasan frowned, "Who?"

"I."

The young inspector sighed deeply. He grabbed Gunn's hand that was playing with his cheeks and took it away. "Do you want me to hand you over right now?"

"If you have the handcuffs with you, we can leave immediately." The more he said this, the more Wasan looked like an angry cat. Gunn raised both hands as a gesture to say that he had surrendered and would not mock him anymore. "As you already know, it is true that I am someone who can order these medications and take them outside the hospital. But I am always monitored. There is also a pharmacist who double checks things.

All containers of morphine must be returned to the pharmacist after use. I definitely can't steal them for personal use."

"It's a big headache to have a boyfriend who is a suspect in every case," Wasan turned to look out the window.

"But your boyfriend didn't do anything wrong." Lately, lies were told much more easily and fluently. However, Gunn felt pain inside his heart all the time. Gunn took Wasan's hand that was placed on the table and squeezed it gently. He brushed his thumb over the skin on the back of Wasan's hand and said, "Let's go home if you're satisfied."

Gunn could not sleep soundly that night. He dreamed that he was facing the dark shadow of someone whose face he could not see. That person was carrying a bat and hit Ekaphol's body hard and repeatedly. Blood and pieces of organs scattered all over the place. Gunn tried to ask him to stop, but he couldn't get any sound out of his throat. When Ekaphol stood still, that shadow sneered and said the phrase that Gunn didn't want to hear anymore.

"This is the work of the Angel of Death dressed in White."

"No!!" Gunn screamed loudly and woke up scared. He sat with sweat all over his body and trembled like a little bird. The stress that had accumulated for many days caused Gunn to be in this state. His bedmate was equally surprised. Wasan sat up quickly and turned on the bedside lamp. He looked at the frightened face of the man he loves.

"What happened?" Wasan raised his hands to grab Gunn's shoulders. Gunn was panting as he sat up on the bed. "Doctor?  Gunn shivered a little and bowed his head to calm himself, “I had a nightmare.”

"I've never seen you like this before," Wasan approached Gunn and looked at him with a worried expression before placing his head on the other person's shoulder and hugging him. Gunn raised his head and looked at Wasan with a slightly surprised expression.

"I've never seen you like this before." Gunn tried to pretend that everything was normal and said, "You don't usually comfort me."

"I can do it if necessary." Wasan stroked Gunn's head. "By the way, you seem stressed lately. Do you have anything you want to say?"

The doctor smiled slightly. His fast-beating heart calmed down a little, "I'm really stressed."

"I knew it."

"The patient I am caring for, his father and mother, were attacked in the head by a home invader. My patient and his mother died on the spot while the father was so seriously injured that the surgeon had to consult me. What happened really shook me to the point that I dreamed about it. Gunn sighed, "You're not responsible for this case, are you?"

"No, but I know about it." The police officer grabbed Gunn by the shoulder and pulled him back to the previous sleeping position before adjusting his own position to lie in Gunn's embrace. "There's no reason to stress if you weren't there when it happened."

Gunn was silent, so Wasan looked up suspiciously. The doctor seemed to regain consciousness at that moment. He put his hand on Wasan's shoulder and smiled. "That's true."

Wasan placed his hand on Gunn's strong chest and rubbed it slowly, "You have scared me and now I am not sleepy anymore."

Gunn looked at the hand moving over his own chest before smiling, "Me neither."

"But we should continue sleeping."

"You really don't want to go back to sleep." The doctor said conspiratorially. He grabbed Wasan's hand and moved it to rub the skin under his shirt. Wasan smiled knowing what to do. He moved his hand to play with the sensitive area of his breast. Gunn closed his eyes and let out a soft, low moan.

"Let's go back to sleep after sweating once," Wasan leaned into Gunn's ear. "So you can sleep so soundly that you forget your nightmare, how about that?"

"That's beyond cool." There is no better medicine for a nightmare than making love with Wasan. "Honey, be my doctor."

"Doctor Wasan Khamboonreung" Wasan sat up and straddled Gunn's hips. The doctor held his breath to control his excitement. He raised his hand and slid it under Wasan's boxers while using his other hand to rub his beautiful abdominal muscles. The doctor's hand moved down the lower abdominals and down to the sensitive part that had begun to be stimulated.

Both of them were like fire and oil that with just a light touch, the fire could devour the entire forest. It's been like this since they met. A gentle touch of Gunn's hands that were placed on Wasan's thighs on his saddest day led them to the relationship they had today. Wasan earlier wondered if the meeting between him and Gunn had been too strange because it seemed like everything was predestined. However, some things don't need a logical explanation. You just need to free your body and your heart, and immerse yourself in what happened.

Wasan lay face down on the pillow while the other body pressed against his bare back. He moaned uncontrollably with every movement of the other person. Gunn leaned down to kiss the crook of Wasan's neck and bit his ear as he thrust into him violently. Wasan could no longer feel his lower body and didn't know how much noise he was making. Their hot bodies made the cool air of the bedroom meaningless.

"Gunn... I'm about to..." The police officer reached behind his back to hold Gunn's arm and squeezed it tightly. "Slow down...Gunn..."

Gunn smiled and grabbed Wasan's hand and took it away before pressing it onto the bed with his strong grip. "Are you sure, honey?"

The doctor did the opposite of what Wasan asked. He accelerated even more violently, making Wasan feel like he was losing his mind, "Argh...Gu...Gunn!" Wasan's hands and feet clenched. He panted rapidly to the point that he momentarily forgot to breathe. His entire body twitched uncontrollably and his brain became empty. The tension he had been feeling all day disappeared as if it had never happened. Only Kantapat can take them to such climaxes.

"Do you realize you look so cute today?" Gunn whispered in Wasan's ear. "You called my name."

“You talk too much…” Wasan can only answer that because he was panting heavily. Gunn has not yet left his body. Wasan could feel the part of the other person that was still hard, which made him realize that he probably had to stay with this monster for a long time.

"Please say my name again. I want to hear your voice all night."

Doctor Gunn, this man was very scary. Wasan was fascinated by everything that belonged to him, not just sex. Wasan was left face up. They lifted his legs and placed them on Gunn's shoulders. Gunn reinserted himself into Wasan. Gunn's big hands were rubbing Wasan's chest before continuing mercilessly. The policeman could no longer feel anything. He was completely controlled by the man he unconditionally gave his heart and body to.

*****

"What should we do now, Inspector? When Somkid, the drug dealer, was shot dead, it's like we have to start all over again. What's more, those people probably already know that this handsome man is a policeman." The lieutenant in a black jacket and black cap pointed to himself.

Em laughed. "Is this handsome? Ask your boys to pose as drug dealers for you while you work with me on the documents at the police station."

"Inspector Em, you are bad. Can't you congratulate your junior to boost morale?" Kong sat up, took off his black cap, and placed it on Em's desk. He sighed exhaustedly: "It seems that our job the more we do it, the more we get tired for nothing. We can only arrest small-scale drug dealers because when we get close to arresting larger-scale dealers, we will encounter an obstacle. The "Meth is getting cheaper. Nowadays it's easier to get than pork."

"You can complain, Lieutenant Kong, but don't think about it too much. The more you think about it, the more stressful it becomes. It would be difficult to stay on the job then." Em responded coldly.

"You speak like someone who has lost all his passion, Inspector." Kong joked. At the same time, Em's phone rang. The caller's name made Em jump up in her seat before removing the phone from Kong's sight, which of course was too late. The thousand-eyed detective smiled exasperatedly. "A few seconds ago, your passion was zero. But, when Dr. Rin called, your passion is now through the roof."

"My passion increases every time I talk to a medical examiner. I was like that with Dr. Bunn too. It's you who decreases my passion. Go away." Em waved her hand to shoo Kong away carelessly.

Kong grimmed, stood up, and pushed his cap back. "Annoying Inspector Em is no fun. I'm going to go back to bothering Inspector Wasan like before. His anger is much cuter."

The young inspector sighed and shook his head. When he saw Lieutenant Kong walking away from within hearing distance, he pressed his phone to answer it. “A storm must come today for you to call me doctor.”

"I have something I want to consult with you. Is it convenient to arrange a meeting to talk?"

Em had never seen his work schedule so fast before: "I'm free tonight. Where do you want to meet?"

"At Krua Duang Dee restaurant, at 7 pm"

"You've even thought of the time and place for me. This must mean you really want to see me, right?"

"This is about work. I would like to consult with you about the medicine in the syringe that was found in Mr. Som's house."

Dr. Rin came to the point without much care. Em had managed to make women blush before, but she didn't know why it was so difficult with her. "Okay, Krua Duang Dee restaurant at 7 pm."

"See you," Rin hung up. Em placed her phone on the desk and smiled a little.

"The person who can sign and take the injectable morphine out of the hospital is a palliative care doctor." This was the first sentence Rin said after sitting in the chair. He said it before even ordering food, which made Em laugh. The doctor looked up angrily, "Is this funny?"

"I don't feel it." Em coughed. Today he dressed smartly in a dark blue shirt and a pair of jeans that matched well with his tall, muscular body. When combined with short police-style hair, his appearance was even more attractive. "I like that you're someone who gets straight to the point."

"I just don't want to waste time," Rin replied.

The young inspector looked dejectedly at the young woman in front of him. "Actually, your responsibility in this case is over. You just need to write us a forensic injury report and that's it. I'll take care of the rest."

Rin looked at Em's face fearlessly, "and should it really end there? Just because you want to close the case and get it over with."

"You and Dr. Bunn graduated from the same place, right?" Em sighed.

"You're talking about Dr. Bunn again. You must really like him."

"Everyone likes Dr. Bunn. He is very popular with women and men, with the living and the dead. Everyone runs to him." Em waved her hand at Rin. "From the looks of it, you'll be equally popular."

"Don't change the subject. Please take the information I told you today to consider in your work." Rin quickly brought the topic back to what he wanted to say.

"Okay, okay. I'll make a note of this." Em raised both hands in surrender. "Actually, I already know all this information. There was a case of euthanasia in which drugs were trafficked for illegal use with patients, so we inspected the origin of the drug. Thank you doctor for reminding me of this issue. However..." The young man inspector paused briefly. "If this is all you wanted to tell me, you could just call me. Why did you book a restaurant to see me like this?"

Rin shrugged, "I just want to see the police's expression. Whether they can be trusted or not."

"And did you get your answer?" Em asked with a smile.

"Yeah."

"AND?"

"They can't be trusted. They knew the information, but they didn't act on it. They're not doing anything useful."

Em laughed, "You can just say this to me because I'm a quiet person, but let me tell you something..." The policeman leaned his body closer, "You just came to live here. You're a little Doctor. If you want to stay "Here, I recommend that you do not say too much and simply do your duty to the best of your ability. I warn you because I have good intentions."

"You emphasize that I am a small woman because you want to oppress me with your masculinity and with your police authority," Rin looked at the other side without fear. "I thought you would be more special than the others. I was wrong."

This was probably the first time in Em's life that he felt like he wanted to hide from the eyes of the woman in front of him. Not because of shyness, but because the power she radiated was so strong that he couldn't bear it.

"If I made you feel like I was oppressing you, I apologize." Rin's words made Em realize that what she had just said, she really said it out of instinct. Em leaned back in her chair and raised her hand to call the waiter. "In this weather, we should order mushroom curry. Do you agree?"

"Can we order it without spice?" Rin continued.

Finally, you have found a weakness. You can't eat spicy food.

Em smiled. "Of course."

*****

"Damn..."

Wasan could not contain his vulgar language when he saw the condition of the deceased in front of him. Although he had seen many types of corpses that he was already used to, the body of someone he knew and his life story made Wasan feel nauseous and want to vomit. However, he had to restrain all unprofessional expressions and inspect the crime scene calmly.

"The deceased is Mrs. Junpeng Wongduern, 85 years old. The person who found the body is Miss Tim, Junpeng's granddaughter. At 7.10 am she opened the room door and found her grandmother in this state. Miss Tim "He shouted loudly that the neighbor, Mr. Sanan, ran to help and was the one who called the police." Sergeant Narong reported the information to Wasan. "Grandma Junpeng was a patient who had only stayed home for a year due to her advanced Alzheimer's symptoms. Tim was the primary caregiver and stayed with his grandmother all the time, except last night when Tim decided to leave his grandmother to going out to see her friend at the hotel in the city."

"Did you see your friend at the hotel in town?" Wasan frowned. "When the incident occurred, was Grandma Junpeng at home alone?"

"That's what Tim said. Right now she hasn't stopped crying and blaming herself."

Wasan heard the young woman's scream from the other room. "This sounds strange. Did you find any weapons?"

Sergeant Narong shook his head. "We're still searching, sir."

Wasan nodded. "Call the medical examiner. And call the neighbors to question them. Take Tim to the police station too."

"Yes, Inspector." Sergeant Narong nodded before quickly walking towards the room where Tim was crying loudly. Wasan took a deep breath and walked to where the corpse was to take a closer look.

Grandma Junpeng was Wasan's maternal relative. She used to bring him food when she visited him. As I was a boy. Wasan often got big, sweet longans from Grandma Junpeng's garden. He loved them so much that he sneakily climbed trees to get the longans and was then caught by Grandma Junpeng. They dragged him back to his mother and slapped him on the butt. After that they called him "Naughty Wasan". Wasan visited her once after returning to become an inspector here. His health had already deteriorated greatly. He had advanced dementia and could no longer recognize Naughty Wasan, Raweewan's youngest son.

The smell of blood that filled the room reached Wasan's nostrils. The mattress on the floor was soaked with crimson blood oozing from the fatal wounds on his face and head. The skull burst open, revealing the brain inside. Like a violently crushed coconut. Wasan could only look briefly and had to close his eyes again when he saw one of the corpse's eyes pop out and hang on the side of its face.

"Who the hell is responsible for this?" The young inspector cursed whoever did this. Both of his hands were shaking uncontrollably. "Killing an old woman who can't fight like this..."

At this moment, Wasan thought about the case that Lieutenant Kong told him about. The terminally ill patient with leukemia and his family. The culprit invaded their house and broke their heads in the same way as in this case. Wasan looked around the room and found a bag with medicines from the hospital that belonged to the deceased. Wasan put on his gloves, walked towards it and picked it up to look at it. There were medications for dementia, gastritis, vitamins and two appointment cards. One of them was for the Internal Medicine Clinic and the other for the Palliative Care clinic with Doctor Kantapat Akaramethi. The doctor's name was enclosed in red marker repeatedly so that the ink seeped through to the other side of the paper.

Wasan had goosebumps from head to toe. Not because she found the name of the man she loves at the murder scene, but also because she felt as if a dark shadow was hiding and moving silently to continue committing horrors in her beloved hometown.

That dark shadow wanted to communicate something to him.

If Wasan can't understand his message, this corpse... surely won't be the last.