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The chimpanzee doctor folded the sheet down to reveal the face of a human corpse.
“Is that him?” he asked the gorilla standing next to him. “Is that the human you are looking for? What’s his name again?”
“Virdon.”
“Well?” The chimpanzee absently rubbed his muzzle. “Is it him?”
General Urko bent down and got almost nose to nose with the body. He sniffed. “I don’t know.”
The blonde hair that framed the face of the dead human was caked with mud and dried blood.
“Why is he so bruised?” the gorilla general asked.
“A human body will discolor after death,” the doctor explained. When Urko raised an eyebrow at him, he added, “Though the gorilla interrogators may have been a little… aggressive... with him.”
“Did they get any information about the other fugitives?”
“No” Urko waited for more so the doctor quickly added, “He denied to the end that he knew anything. Kept saying they had the wrong man.”
“What color were his eyes in life?”
The chimpanzee shrugged. “They had already clouded when he arrived. I could guess blue or gray but that is nothing more than a guess.”
Urko stood up and turned to the chimpanzee. “All humans look alike to me.”
The doctor knit his brows and tilted his head. “You’ve hunted this man--and his fugitive friends--for how long? And you can’t be sure what they look like?”
A cloud of anger crossed Urko’s face. “I could identify Galen from half a mile away...but the humans? Bah!” He waved his hands dismissively. “Fold the cloth down further.”
The doctor brought the sheet to the corpse’s waist. Three bullet holes, each surrounded by circles of dark, dried blood were in the center of the chest.
“If it is him,” Urko began, “my orders were that I wanted him alive. He has information about his friends that I need.” He picked up one of the corpse’s hands and turned it over, examining it. It was dirty and calloused. Dark brown specks of blood covered the fingers. Urko let the hand drop and the sound of it landing heavily on the table echoed in the room.
“Doctor, were there any other marks on him that might identify him? Anything about his clothing?”
“Just three holes in the front of his shirt.” The chimpanzee smirked at his own joke but then seeing the gorilla’s deadly serious expression, he swallowed the smile. “No. Just another dead human taking up space in my veterinary hospital.”
In one quick movement, Urko pulled the sheet off the naked body and scanned the entire body from head to toe. He examined the corpse’s mouth. Everything about it looked like every other dead human Urko had ever seen though the knees were badly cut and dried blood stained his legs and feet. “Just another dead human,” Urko snorted. “How am I supposed to know if that human is Virdon or not?”
“I’m sorry, General. I can’t help with that.”
“If that is not Virdon than this was a wasted trip.” Urko grabbed the sheet and threw it over the man on the table. He spit on it. “And if that is Virdon than it’s now one down, two to go.”
Urko began to walk towards the door of the examination room. The doctor took step behind him. “How are you going to confirm his identity?” he asked when they got to the door.
“I have to find those criminals and see if there are three or only two,” Urko growled. As he stalked off, the doctor called after him, “What do I do with that body?”
“Bury it. Burn it. Throw it in the river,” Urko called back. “I don’t care. Whatever you want to.”
The doctor returned to the body and looked down at it. Just another dead human, he thought.