Chapter 4

Danny looked uncomfortable but didn't pull away.

The second he noticed me, he quickly slipped Alicia's hand off his arm.

"Wrenn? What are you doing here?"

"I got a job."

I calmly cleaned my tools.

Alicia's expression cooled.

"Wrenn, why do you smell..." She frowned. "Don't you know Danny can't stand bad smells?"

I answered evenly. "It's the smell of dead bodies. I recover bodies from the water. It'll probably never wash out."

Danny stared at me.

"You're recovering bodies?" He frowned. "Couldn't you find a normal job? If not, just stay home and be a housewife. Why are you out here all day? Do you really think I can't support you?"

"This job suits me just fine."

He shot me one last icy look, then turned and walked off.

Alicia looked me over.

"Then keep the job. It's the only thing you're good for. The gap between you and Danny keeps getting wider, so why are you still hanging on? Don't you have any self-respect?"

She walked away after that.

I didn't bother responding.

A little while later, my phone started blowing up with calls from my mom.

The second I answered, she exploded.

"You asked Danny for a divorce? And now you're working as a body recovery diver? Wrenn Whitmore! Have you lost your mind? Get home. Right now!"

***

I brought the facial reconstructions I'd finished over the past few days to Homicide first.

"Captain Russell, these are the reconstructions for the unidentified drowning victims from the reservoir."

He looked surprised.

"This many? And you finished them that fast? You're good. I'll check them against our records and call you."

After leaving the precinct, I went home with a heavy heart.

Mom looked so much more worn down than I remembered.

The second I walked in, she slapped me.

"Wrenn, your kid is already this old, and now you want a divorce? Didn't you love Danny? Before your father died, he trusted Danny to take care of you! And now you're throwing it all away to recover bodies? Are you trying to kill me?"

After Dad died, I'd never dared talk back to her.

But this time, I met her eyes. "Mom, marriage needs love. Danny has never loved me. I feel like an intruder, like I stole someone else's place and happiness.

"I know you'll say Dad gave his life to save Danny, so Danny owes us. But I don't think Dad saved him so he'd be forced to marry me. I think he just wanted Danny to live.

"I want to choose my own path. I want to be happy too."

She just stared at me, stunned.

I wasn't the bright, carefree daughter she remembered anymore.

Her eyes filled with pain.

"How... How did you end up this unhappy, sweetheart..."

She never tried to stop me again.

That night, Homicide called and told me to report to the precinct to help with the new murder case.

My job was to rebuild victims' faces from skulls and sketch suspects from witness descriptions.

I dove straight in.

The victim's skull was badly damaged. Whole sections were missing and had to be pieced together through analysis.

After three full days of study and deduction, I finally finished reconstructing the victim's face.

From my reconstruction, the police identified the victim, found the killer, and arrested him.

They later found two more victims trapped in his house.

Because the case was solved in time, both were rescued alive.

Captain Russell said I'd passed my trial period.

Once the paperwork cleared, I'd officially join the PD.

I'd even inherit Dad's badge number and had been nominated for a criminal profiling program in Warrington City, Amiraka.