Chapter 153

Episode 153: The Headless Corpse (3)

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All the puzzle pieces had come together, and now all that was left was to explain it. We moved to the staff break room in the corner of the temple.

The weather was colder than expected.

I didn’t start my explanation until Amy, the police, and I were all gathered, with three cups of tea placed on the desk. Amy tilted her head curiously.

I added sugar to my tea.

“Officer, do you by any chance know how long it takes for a human corpse to decompose?”

Scipio nodded thoughtfully.

“I see them pretty often. With this weather, it’d probably take a few weeks for a corpse to fully rot away.”

Why was the headless corpse in the attic?

How long had it been there?

“Then… How many days had passed since the headless corpse found in the attic died?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe two weeks?”

“Let me double-check the timeline, but patients started showing symptoms about a week ago. It’s possible they were exposed to toxins from the decaying body.”

“That… makes sense.”

“Do you remember the outline of the corpse we found earlier in the attic? There was one body without a head, and the head was lying separately nearby. The area was soaked with bodily fluids from decomposition.”

“Yes.”

“Here’s what I think. What if the head didn’t get cut off by someone but fell off on its own? Wouldn’t that explain everything?”

The police officer shook his head.

“Does that sound plausible?”

“It could happen if the body was hanged.”

“Hmm… No rope with knots or nooses was found at the scene. Just some frayed, rotten pieces that couldn’t have been used for hanging.”

“But there was a rope, right?”

There was indeed a rope, though no noose or knots. As I pondered how to explain further…

“You know, maggots don’t usually penetrate skin easily. They start decomposition from places like the eyes, nose, mouth, and groin where it’s easier to enter. But if there’s an open wound…”

Scipio sipped his tea thoughtfully.

“Right.”

“If there’s a wound, things change. When someone hangs themselves, post-mortem muscle stiffening occurs, and the skin loses elasticity, leaving marks from the noose on the neck. These marks appear within hours.”

“But there was no noose!”

“Think about it. If blood or bodily fluids got onto the straw rope, those parts would’ve rotted away due to bug infestation.”

This explained why there was no visible noose. Now the severed head remained an issue.

“So who cut the head off?”

“The noose itself might’ve caused the initial wound, accelerating decomposition around the neck. Once the neck rotted through, the weight of the body could’ve snapped it clean off.”

The police still looked unconvinced, while Amy blinked excitedly.

“This is late autumn. A corpse wouldn’t decompose so quickly in just a few days.”

Scipio countered again. From what I recall, during midsummer, decomposition can reveal bones within a week.

“Under normal circumstances, yes. But this house has a chimney running through the attic, and these people were wealthy enough to keep heating going all day. That could’ve sped up decomposition.”

“Ah.”

“With the warmth from the chimney, the corpse decomposed faster. The head detached due to advanced decay after being hung, and the blood-soaked rope disintegrated—”

“Then it all fits.”

I nodded.

Science isn’t built solely on conjecture; once a hypothesis is proposed, it must also be testable for falsification.

“We need evidence to back this up.”

“Agreed.”

“If the corpse belongs to the deceased servant, there should be a suicide note somewhere in the mansion. Collecting remnants of the rope could help verify whether it was actually used for hanging.”

“Ah-ha.”

“Also, if this person did hang themselves, there might be characteristic fractures in the cervical vertebrae. Are the skeletal remains still intact?”

This type of fracture is called a ‘hangman’s fracture,’ commonly seen in victims of hanging. It typically affects the second cervical vertebra.

I occasionally encounter such cases in the ER.

Scipio furiously jotted down my words.

****

Some questions still lingered. Ultimately, our priority is treating the patients. Amy looked at me curiously.

I took another sip of tea.

“Anyway, there are different kinds of toxins from corpses. How do we determine which toxin affected the patients?”

I paused briefly.

“Well, ideally, you avoid touching decomposing bodies altogether. There might be botulinum toxin present, or even anthrax spores in animal carcasses in extreme cases.”

“Could the family members have contracted bacterial infections?”

“It doesn’t seem bacterial. Only the father showed signs of infection, suffering from severe pneumonia unresponsive even to antibiotics.”

“So we don’t know what disease it is?”

I made a guess.

Toxic substances from the corpse triggered allergic reactions in three patients and infected one. However, toxins like botulinum wouldn’t escape the decomposing body.

We should be able to deduce it from here.

“Think carefully, Amy. Decomposition toxins have no way of escaping the corpse, right? Didn’t we learn something that could directly release toxins into the air?”

“Uh… Directly release toxins?”

Amy thought hard but couldn’t figure it out. I’d assumed she’d get it, but maybe I overestimated my student.

I finally spoke up.

“Mold spores can spread directly outside the corpse. They can cause allergic reactions and, rarely, pneumonia.”

“Ah!”

Amy gasped in admiration.

“Amy, instead of just admiring, let’s find a way to prove it. How would you prove it?”

“Uh… Could we find spores or fungal hyphae fragments in the patient’s phlegm? Fungi are much easier to detect than bacteria.”

Fungal pneumonia is far harder to treat than bacterial pneumonia. Time to reconsider our approach.

****

Scipio was visibly startled.

Frankly speaking,

I’ve met countless people who love playing detective. Locked-room murders, love triangles, mysteries. Most turned out to be baseless nonsense.

People who waste time fantasizing while neglecting reality. Life is weirder than fiction, and people are often dumber than you’d expect. That’s all there is to it.

Locked-room murders were usually just drunken deaths in solitary confinement without notes. Love triangles were often accidental falls down stairs during sleepwalks. Mysteries were mostly just madmen’s journals.

I saw this case as similar.

If you find a headless corpse in someone’s home, isn’t it natural to assume the family killed and hid the body?

But Professor Asterisk was different. He could draw conclusions just from the traces left behind by the corpse.

From explaining why the head fell off to unraveling the mysterious illness affecting the family, he provided a solution that answered every question presented.

We almost had a disaster. Without Professor Asterisk, innocent people might’ve ended up in jail. Given the charge of murder with decapitation, execution wouldn’t have been unreasonable.

Still…

‘Smart people who reason well aren’t exactly common.’

In truth, Scipio admired Professor Asterisk not just because he was smart, but because he clearly listed the information needed to verify or refute his theories. Instead of being dazzled by his flawless logic, he focused on identifying the next necessary steps.

That’s rare.

Not only intelligent but also considering the possibility of being wrong, judging accordingly, and not fearing refutation—that’s terrifying skill. No wonder he’s called the empire’s greatest diagnostician.

Now we just need to verify. Is there damage to the cervical vertebrae? Can we reconstruct enough rope to confirm hanging? Are there fungi growing in the patients’ phlegm?

****

Aspergillus.

A common mold species that rarely causes infectious diseases unless under extraordinary circumstances. Having a rotting corpse in your house certainly qualifies as extraordinary.

It’s typical mold found in decomposing bodies and capable of causing pneumonia. After inhaling spores for several days…

The reasoning checks out… yet…

I stared at the patient’s phlegm sample for a long time.

If we can’t find fungal traces, we’ll have to rethink. Lack of evidence in the phlegm doesn’t disprove fungal pneumonia, but it complicates things.

“Hey, I found it!”

“Really?”

I lifted my gaze from the microscope. Mold and spores from the phlegm should be visible. Amy leaned in to look through the eyepiece.

“Whoa! It’s true!”

Of course, it is. Whose theory do you think this is?

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