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I look at Demyen, who’s now just as curious as Alice is. His eyes widen and he holds up his good hand. “That was not me. I didn’t even know you existed until a few days ago.”
Alice narrows her eyes at him. Then turns to me. At least she’s set her pan down on a table. “And what about you? Your daddy send you to finish me off? Everetts and Zakrevskys working together to silence the honest M.E.?”
I slowly shake my head. “My father and I are not… shall we say, on speaking terms. He doesn’t know I’m here.”
She cocks a brow and shrugs. “Well then. Even if youarelying, it’s too late now. I’ll be dead by tomorrow morning. Tea?”
Again, Demyen looks at me and discreetly gestures to her like he’s asking if she is literally out of her mind. She might be, to be honest. All this time hiding from people who—apparently—tried to kill her could have done a number on her sanity.
“No, thank you,” I answer with a gentle smile. “We don’t want to trouble you.”
She eyes the broken door I’ve propped up against the doorframe. “Right. Just nice, normal, pleasant guests who don’t leave a mess.”
Demyen clears his throat and steps forward. “We’re here because we have questions about your original report.”
“Of course you are.” Alice quirks her mouth in a wry smile. “The report that made it impossible for your brother to be guilty of murder.”
He sighs with relief. “Yes. That. Do you?—”
“No. I am not going down that road again.” She shakes her head and slumps into a worn armchair. “Not unless you plan on relocating me to Tibet. And I actually like it here, so… thanks but no thanks.”
“It’s just LVPD,” I try to reason. “They don’t have jurisdiction?—”
“Honey.” She interrupts me with a patronizing eye roll. “Jurisdiction only matters to people actually following the rules. Obeying laws. You know, the kind of people whowouldn’tthreaten me to change an autopsy report and fake a death certificate.”
I frown. “Who threatened you?”
Alice chuckles. “As if you don’t know. You’re cute, you know. You were adorable back then. Grew up nicely. Still as gullible as ever, though.”
I want to thank her for the part that was a compliment, but she adds the insult and it lands on the part of me still stinging with guilt.
Demyen takes one look at me and spins Alice’s chair around. He cages her in with a hand on either side of the backrest, his face inches from hers. “I’m not fucking around,” he snarls. “You want to waste time with insults? I’ll start, you fucking coward.”
Her eyes widen. She clutches the armrests. “I-I’m n-not scared of you.”
“Keep this up and you will be.”
Part of me wants to remind Dem that we need to be on her good side so she’ll help us.
Part of me hopes he scares her shitless.
“Alright! Alright.” Alice lifts her hands in surrender. She sighs, her eyes closing as she slumps back into her chair. “I’ll tell you what I know.”
“Great.” Demyen smiles and backs off to lean against what must be the dining table. He folds his arms across his chest and makes it very clear he’s not leaving any time soon. “Start from the beginning.”
I pull up a wicker chair and quietly sit down. Demyen glances over at me, and I motion to him that I’m fine. Better to focuson getting answers now that Helen Cooper/Alice Tremaine is willing to talk.
She sighs again and rubs her forehead. “As you already know, I was the chief medical examiner for the Las Vegas Police Department back in the day. And even though I had assistants and techs to help with caseloads, priority cases always fell into my lap. Michael Little, being on the force, was an immediate high priority case.”
I gulp painfully. I should have accepted the tea. I don’t know if it’s the tropical heat or being this close to answers that suddenly has my throat dry.
“They said it was a gunshot wound that killed him, and they just needed confirmation on the trajectory, organs punctured, et cetera. Normal things. But legal requirements as an examiner, meant I had to run bloodwork, check stomach contents, the works.” Alice picks at a piece of lint on her chair. “And that’s how I found out Michael Little was poisoned.”
“The bullet wound masked the heart attack, right?” I try to remember what her former lab tech told me when we met outside the compound.
Alice frowns at me. “What? No. The bullet didn’t even graze his heart.”
Demyen stills. “Come again?”
