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“There’s not a lot about you I don’t remember,” he said, leaning over to kiss me softly. “You’re the girl of my dreams, Dr. Graves.”
“You keep that up and we’ll end up skipping dinner,” I said, feeling the warmth spread under my skin. “In fact, maybe we should skip dinner. There’s a Holiday Inn right across the street.”
“Are you crazy?” he asked, looking horrified. “We’ve already got a full moon and Friday the thirteenth. Do you know what you’re like when you haven’t been fed? I’ve only got so much manpower to spare.”
“Hilarious,” I said, getting out of the car.
“That’s why you married me,” he said, taking my hand.
“No, I definitely married you for your body. And your brains. And your body. If you play your cards right, I’ll let you give me a refresher course on why I married you after you feed me.”
“Very generous of you,” Jack said, opening the door for me.
The smell of onion rings and grease assaulted my senses as soon as we walked in out of the wet, and my mouth started to water.
“I don’t remember it being like this,” I said, looking around at the fresh paint, retro memorabilia, and signed photographs of celebrities on the walls. The booths were red vinyl, the floors black-and-white checkerboard, and there was a soda fountain with stools that lined a long Formica bar.
“New owners,” Jack said. “They renovated the place. I’ve been here a couple of times with the guys.”
“How you keep that body I will never know,” I said. “I can feel my hips expanding just breathing it in.”
Jack squeezed my backside subtly and whispered, “One of the many reasons I married you.”
“You are not helping me stay focused on getting back to work,” I warned him. “You’re not thinking ahead. What happens when we’re both worked up to the point of self-combustion and then we have to stay the night at the sheriff’s office because we can’t make it back home?”
“Wow, you’ve already thought this out,” he said. “Fascinating how your mind works.”
“I’m a planner,” I said. “In all things. Including where and when we can have sex. Because again, that body of yours is hard to resist. You’re always just a hairsbreadth away from me jumping your bones at all times.”
“The people would be shocked,” Jack said, leading me to an empty booth.
“No they wouldn’t,” I said, winking saucily at him. “You’re mine, I love you, and I can’t keep my hands off you. All married people should be so blessed.”
I wasn’t the best at expressing my feelings. Jack was much better at it than I was, but I could tell he was touched by the way he squeezed my hand. It was just good timing that my phone rang so things didn’t get too mushy.
“Graves,” I answered, recognizing Lily’s number on the screen.
“I just signed the death by sex guy in,” she said. “Let’s just say that rigor has most definitely set in and I am not looking forward to massaging that out. After today, I’m off food and sex. I have never seen an erection like that before. No wonder he’s dead. Looks painful.”
I winced in sympathy. Been there done that. Death puts a time stamp on the body. With the blood flowing to all Mr. Danforth’s parts, he’d be frozen in time at that moment until rigor passed. But rigor lasted around twenty-four hours, which meant the only way to get rid of it to do the autopsy was to massage it out.
“It’ll be tomorrow morning before I get to him,” I said. “Maybe that’ll give you the pardon you’re looking for.”
“I sure hope so,” she said. “Though it is a great topic for a paper.”
“Always look on the bright side,” I said.
“In other news,” she said, “I finished cleaning the skull fragments of Steve Hargrove. You’re not going to believe this, but when I put the pieces together I found radiating fracture lines.”
“You’re kidding,” I said, looking up at Jack. “That would explain the red flakes. That’s a good find, Lily. Go ahead and run blood and urine samples on Mr. Danforth, and then wrap up whatever you need for the night and head out. I’m going to stop back by and take a look once we’re done here.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” she said, disconnecting the line.
“What?” Jack asked.
“Looks like we get a reprieve,” I said. “Lily found radiating fracture lines on Steve Hargrove’s skull. That along with the flakes I turned in to the lab are more than enough to determine it as a homicide. Blunt force trauma might not have been cause of death, but it was contributing. I’m still waiting on Cheney to come back with the lab results for the flakes.”
“That’s the best news I’ve had all day,” he said. “Let’s eat while we have a few seconds of peace.”
