Untitled

Tara Edwards walked into her husband's office, knocking softly on the door as she entered.

"Dear? Phone."

The room was dark - the shades were drawn. The only light came from the small computer on the desk.

"I think it's important. Are you in here?"

"Yeah, I'm here," came John's voice from the couch. "Just taking a little nap."

"Oh, sorry to wake you honey. It's a Detective Barron from St. Joe's PD."

"Damn frat guys. What did they vandalize this time?"

Tara handed her husband the phone. Their hands briefly touched during the exchange - his were clammy.

"Good afternoon, Detective. What can I do for you today?"

"Good afternoon, sir. Sorry to wake you from your nap. We have a little bit of a situation sir. Got a call this morning about a body in the woods. As you know, sir, that's pretty unusual by itself around here. But there was something else."

John's head began to throb. More than was normal for a Sunday afternoon. "Go on."

"Well, turns out the body was headless, sir. At first I thought that it was just covered under some leaves or something, but that wasn't the case. So then I thought that we had a murder or something, but there was no blood, so sign of foul play."

"But the head!?" John was sitting up at this point. Massaging his scalp as he listened to the detective.

"Yes, sir, I was just getting to that. Turns out this was one of those people who can detach their heads. Modding is I believe what the kids call it. Haven't seen many of them around here yet - this is the first one I've seen detached. Anyway, the head's missing."

"Don't these things have backup systems or something? I have to admit not knowing too much - I guess I'm old fashioned, believing ones head should stay firmly attached at all times, but I thought I heard they could survive for days apart."

"I don't know, sir. Not too familiar myself, like I said, but this body is definitely dead. And there's one more thing, sir. I couldn't find her tag. She's not a student here."

"Then why the hell did you wake me up? It's Sunday, you know I'm napping."

"Alcohol, sir. Blood scan shows point one three alcohol content. Figured she was visiting and went out last night. I'll do a wider ID scan and figure out who she was, but I thought you could use a head's up."

"Well, thanks detective, for ruining my day. I'll see if I can make it out there."

"You're welcome, sir." Detective Barron shook his head as the call was disconnected. "Sunday afternoon hangovers. Ridiculous."