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“I see.” Dr. Graham shifted uncomfortably. “What can I do for you?”
“Got time for a few questions?” Clarabell said, her voice practically scraping the paint off the walls.
Dr. Graham looked between them in confusion. “I’m sorry, are you reporters?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Clarabell said.
Before any of them could say another word, the elevator down the hall dinged. When the doors slid open, Zenona stepped out, her pace quick and her face lighting up when she saw Dr. Graham in the hallway. Cody couldn’t help wondering if she had ever looked that happy to see him back when they’d been dating. For some reason, he didn’t think so. It took her a couple of steps to recognize them, and her expression immediately clouded, the joy shutting down.
“Hey, Doc,” Cody said, trying for casual, but thinking it may have come out more smarmy and arrogant. He really needed to work on his delivery. “Good to see you again.”
“Zenona, we can explain… ” Demmy tried, as usual, to intervene and smooth things over, but Zenona wasn’t having it.
“Zip it, Demetrius.” She stopped a few feet away, the three of them standing between her and the ME like they were kids who had been acting up and had been caught by their parents. Hands on hips, she raked her angry gaze over them and finally, surprisingly, settled on the ME. “Please tell me you didn’t talk to these three.”
“We had just made introductions when you arrived,” Dr. Graham said, his voice shaking a bit more, but the English accent sending a wave of relaxation through Cody. “I was under the impression they were reporters of some kind.”
Zenona let out a short, harsh laugh. “One of their group can say that without lying about it, and he’s not even here right now.”
“We would have shared what we learned with him though,” Cody said. “So we’re kind of de facto reporters.”
“That’s not really the proper use of de facto,” Dr. Graham said.
“Look, I don’t tell you how to cut open dead people, do I?” Cody said.
“Well, no, but we have just met, so I can’t say for sure what you might do at some point in the future.”
Cody felt a strangely satisfying rush at the bit of banter nerdy Dr. Graham had engaged in with him. What the hell was that about?
“Okay,” Demmy said, holding up his hands and looking between Zenona and Dr. Graham. “We came down here to see if we could learn something about the two drowning victims and make certain Claudia Sykes was actually still here in the morgue. All right? But we almost have official permission because Lucia did come to us and ask us to get involved.”
Dr. Graham and Zenona shared a quick, almost furtive look, and Cody saw the mild panic in both of their expressions before they shut it down again. Most likely something they learned in medical school when they had to go in and give a patient bad news, knowing that it actually had the potential to be much worse.
“Those drownings are active investigations within the sheriff’s department,” Dr. Graham said. “I’m not allowed to discuss those findings with anyone but Deputy Durant.”
“Did you talk about your findings with Dr. Baldwin here?” Clarabell asked.
“Um, well, I…” Dr. Graham looked at Zenona, eyes wide. “She’s a medical professional. A colleague.”
“But she’s not Deputy Durant,” Clarabell said.
Dr. Graham gave a quiet snort. “Far from.”
Cody decided he really did like the new ME. And was it his imagination, or did the good Dr. Baldwin blush at Dr. Graham’s comment? He’d never taken her for a nerd chaser—she’d dated him, after all, and Cody knew he wasn’t anywhere close to being a nerd.
“Look,” Zenona said, lowering her voice and stepping in closer. “I already told you two more than I should have.”
“You did?” Dr. Graham said, sounding startled.
Zenona made a face and looked at him. “I’m sorry, but Demetrius and Cody are old friends, and we’ve been through…” She shifted her gaze to meet Cody’s briefly before looking back at Dr. Graham. “Well, we’ve been through a lot of weird stuff together.”
“I’d like to point out that I was a participant in a good chunk of that weird stuff,” Clarabell said, raising her hand. She looked from Zenona to Dr. Graham and back again, the overhead lights flashing off the lenses of her glasses.
The elevator dinged, causing all five of them to turn.
“Busy place,” Demmy said.
“That elevator could wake the dead,” Clarabell said, then looked proud of herself.
