Chapter 3

Soon, the autopsy results came out.

"The deceased was around twenty-six years old. Judging by the wounds, the perpetrator hated him deeply, torturing him extensively before finally killing him with the bomb.

"Also, the victim only had one kidney. We'll probably be able to find a clue about that if we check hospital records."

At those words, the room fell silent.

Torture, explosion, and the lack of one kidney. Just one of these descriptions was alarming enough, but now they were all used to describe the same person.

While my heart no longer beat in my chest, my kidney was still working just fine—It had been donated to Lucas about a year ago, after all.

Back then, Lucas had suffered sudden kidney failure and desperately needed a transplant.

Coincidentally, my kidney was completely compatible with his, so I was practically forced into the operating room by Jamie as a result.

Now, as she cut open my body, she couldn't even recognize me.

After hearing the forensic doctor's report, Truman frowned and looked closely at my body. "Poor guy… Let's get this case solved quickly so he can rest in peace, yeah?"

Later, in the courtyard, Truman chatted with Jamie. "Jamie, couples always argue! If your husband's upset, just play nice with him, won't you?"

Jamie scoffed. "Like that would work. He'd only start causing more of a ruckus! Just today, he called me while I was at work and threatened me, so he's probably going to act dead the next time!"

What she didn't know was that I was truly dead. Somewhere in my heart, I wondered if she would feel any semblance of regret for what she was saying at that moment once she found out.

That being said, I truly didn't care anymore. All I wanted was to be able to leave her completely.

Seeing that she wasn't listening to reason, Truman could only sigh softly.

The police then started to investigate reports on missing persons and hospital records, and after a few days in the office, Truman compiled a list of missing men who seemed to fit the bill—one of whom was me.

However, Jamie only took one look at my document and placed it aside, before carefully inspecting the other documents in the list.

Right at that moment, her phone rang. It was a call from her childhood friend, Lucas.

"Jamie, when are you coming home? I couldn't find you when I went to see you today!"

The exhaustion on her face from staying up all night melted into a smile. "I'm a little busy now, so I'll go back and be with you later, okay?"

Lucas' voice was almost like a child whining. "But Jamieee, I want to find a horror movie! Without you, I'm too scared. You always used to stay by my side, remember?"

In response, not only did Jamie not get angry at him for bothering her during work, she even started to comfort him instead. "I'll bring you on a trip after I finish dealing with this case, alright?"

Seemingly carelessly, he asked, "Oh, what is it about?"

"A man was blasted to death by a bomb after being kidnapped, so we're checking his identity now. We suspect that he's crossed the perpetrator in some way, see?

"Anyway, I won't tell you much about the details. You'd be too scared to fall asleep, knowing you."

I couldn't help but scoff at the ironic scene that was playing in front of me. She was even worried about scaring Lucas, but wasn't willing to spend a few seconds thinking about my whereabouts.

She'd always treated him and me completely differently, after all.

After hanging up the phone, she continued going through the documents with Truman, finally finishing late into the night.

At the end, none of the files really seemed to fit the requirements, and the investigation came to a standstill. Everyone sat in silence, wondering what to do next.

Jamie stared at the corpse for a long time, before turning to Truman. "Send out the victim's description to the TV station, maybe someone hasn't reported a missing family member yet."

The others nodded and quickly contacted the local TV station, and within ten minutes, the information was broadcast across the city.

Not long after, Jamie's phone rang again. Then, I was lingering beside her in a haze, dull and unresponsive, until the voice on the line jolted me awake.

It was my father's voice, frantic.

"Jamie, Caleb has been missing for days! The description you released matches him perfectly!"