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“Your voice already did that,” Cody said. Receiving a glare from her did nothing more than recharge his sass battery.
When the doors slid open, Lucia Durant stepped out of the elevator. She stopped at the sight of their group and dropped her gaze to the floor, shaking her head. Cody could hear her muttering under her breath, and wondered if it was some kind of spell she was casting, or maybe a prayer to whatever evil, ancient god she worshipped.
After a moment, Lucia lifted her head and approached them, eyes narrowed and expression stony.
“Please tell me you haven’t told these yahoos anything,” Lucia said, looking at Dr. Graham.
“Yahoos?” Cody said.
“No, of course not,” Dr. Graham said. “They’ve only been here a few minutes, barely long enough for introductions.”
“My sympathies,” Lucia said, looking at Zenona. “And you?”
“Oh, Dr. Graham and I are already acquainted,” Zenona said, glancing at him and smiling.
Cody just bet they were.
“No, I know that.” Lucia sighed. “Have you told these—”
“Yahoos?” Cody offered, receiving a glare from Lucia this time. His sass battery was going to overload if he wasn’t careful.
“Them,” Lucia corrected before looking back at Zenona. “Anything?”
“Well… ” Zenona avoided looking at Cody and Demmy.
“Dammit, Zee,” Lucia said in a quiet, worn out voice.
“Hey,” Cody said. “You were the one who came to us and asked us to get involved. If you really want us to help, we need to know all the facts about all the weirdness.”
“Facts about weirdness,” Clarabell said, nodding approvingly. “I like that. Oliver could use it on his blog.”
“Goddammit,” Lucia said, turning on Clarabell. “When the hell did you get into town?”
Everyone started talking at once until Dr. Graham said over them all in a strong voice, his accent commanding attention, “Excuse me!”
They all fell quiet and looked at him. He adjusted his lab coat, cleared his throat, and set his gaze on Lucia.
“Deputy Durant, do you want these individuals to be privy to the information I was going to supply you?”
Lucia looked up at the ceiling and put her hands on her hips. She let out a long, slow breath before looking at Dr. Graham once again. “Fine. Since I invited them into the original case, let’s see how this plays out.”
“Very good.” Dr. Graham gave a single nod and waved toward the doors to the morgue. “If you’d all be so kind as to follow me.”
Cody really didn’t want to be that kind at all, but he stepped aside to allow Zenona and Lucia to follow Dr. Graham first through the swinging double doors.
“Not how I expected our day to wind up,” Demmy said quietly before following Clarabell into the morgue.
“Not how I expected my life to wind up,” Cody said, pushing through the doors as well.
It felt even colder inside the room, or maybe it was Cody’s imagination. Either way, gooseflesh rippled up his arms and across his back. He stopped just inside the doors. Three stainless steel tables stood on one end, each with its own set of lights, sink, and stainless steel benches with tools neatly arranged. Cody’s stomach tightened at the thought of all the bodies that had been cut apart on those tables, and he quickly looked away.
To the even worse sight of the doors of coolers where bodies were stored, stacked three rows high and three columns wide, like the set of some kind of macabre Hollywood Squares.
Maybe Demmy had a point about how much he was watching that rerun channel.
When Dr. Graham bent to open one of the cooler doors, Cody nearly blacked out. He did not want to see Claudia or Devin Sykes stretched out on a cold metal slider, torsos cut open and organs in bags between their legs.
But a shaky sense of relief went through him when the torso of the body Dr. Graham rolled out was covered with a paper sheet. It was Claudia Sykes, her face still and pale, hair piled on the drawer to one side of her head. Dr. Graham was talking and pointing to Claudia’s legs as Lucia, Zenona, and even Clarabell leaned in to see better. Demmy stood a few feet back, hugging himself tight, his face pale as he tipped his head to see what Dr. Graham was explaining. Cody moved up behind Demmy and put his hands on his shoulders, feeling him jump slightly. He gave him a quick, reassuring squeeze before he tried to tune into what the ME was saying.
