AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That arctic voice makes my pulse stop and my lips to curl into a sneer.
Turning, I come eye to eye with the woman who hasn’t returned my calls in damn near two weeks.
At first, I worried.
After that, I was pissed.
At this point, I don’t know what the fuck I feel. But I know for a damn fact that seeing her again makes it so I can breathe for the first time in too long.
She stops in front of us, trim body, long legs, and sexy lines. She’s the perfect five feet, seven inches of woman, with a sassy mouth and fast wit. But her eyes pass over me without a second of interest and stop on Fletch instead. “You made it.”
“Doctor Dimples. Did you request us on this, special, because you enjoy my face so much?” Fletch does as Fletch does and pulls the beautiful Minka Mayet in for a side-hug the way he did Aubree. He’s gentler with the second. Quicker. Then he releases her and ignores the fact she didn’t hug him back.
And she sure as fuck doesn’t turn to me for the same treatment.
“No special request.” Stiffly, Minka reaches down and fixes the hem of her coat. “We were called in by dispatch. We had no clue you would be the investigating detectives.”
“Lead detectives assign the M.E.” I speak clearly, calmly, and ignore my every instinct to pull her someplace else and demand answers.Why haven’t you called me? Why are you so cold? And why the fuck do you have a bruise on your chin?“We only just arrived on scene,” I say instead. “Why were you called?”
She lifts a single, dainty shoulder and turns away.
She knows we’ll follow. She fucking knows we’ll watch her work.
Like a moth to a flame.
“I don’t know how we landed this one.” She kneels by Kiera’s body, clearly not for the first time tonight, since she doesn’t react to the girl’s mottled face. “But I got the call, so I came to the scene. Kiera Chase.” She pauses for a moment and glances over her shoulder at us. To me. “The woman from the restaurant?”
When I nod, her eyes grow a little darker. A little sadder. Then she looks back to her newest patient and continues to work. “Bile and blood on her chin and in her hair. Scratch marks on her neck and face. Blood and skin under her nails says she put those scratches on herself.”
“Could be she choked on something?” Aubree kneels by her superior and gently opens Kiera’s mouth. Shining a flashlight inside, she searches for an obstruction. “Doesn’t really explain the blood or bile, though.”
“Dried blood on her face and hair makes me consider poison,” Minka counters quietly. “We’ll run the standard labs before diving deeper.” She looks to Aubree; Fletch and I are invisible to her. “Document her hands, then bag them. I want to run tracing on her fingertips in case she took something that made her sick.”
“She’s not the type to take drugs.” Annoyed, I step forward and wait for Minka’s icy stare. “Kiera doesn’t do drugs.”
“You’re a little close to this one, Detective.” She turns her back on me and keeps working. “Might I suggest you pass the case on to someone else?”
“Might I suggest you stand and speak to my face?” I snarl in response. “Or are you too busy for that?”
“Dude,” Fletch murmurs.
Ignoring me, Minka speaks to Aubree. “Blunt force trauma to the side of her skull.”
“Where she fell?” she responds. “Club management has agreed to provide security footage just as soon as the investigating officers request it.”
Minka remains crouched on strong legs. Her hair, tied into a ponytail to keep it away from her face. But that means her delicate neck remains exposed. The tiny tattoo behind her ear. The very place, warm and sexy, I set my hand whenever we’re close enough.
“Perhaps the investigating officers should go do that, then.” Pushing up to stand, Minka peels off her latex gloves and drops her hands into her pockets.
Finally, she turns and meets my eyes, and her stare is like a kick in the stomach. “Detective Malone, you have my condolences. I know our victim was your friend. However, if you insist on running the case, you need to do the work. Get the footage and start there. You’ll probably find Kiera’s drink was spiked.”
“Which makes this homicide.” Fletch brings his coffee up and his gaze to me. “Not natural causes.”
“Still to be confirmed,” inserts Minka, Copeland City’s brand-new chief medical examiner. “I won’t sign off on my final report for a little while yet, but my preliminary investigation tells me Kiera now belongs to the homicide division.” She looks to Aubree. “Call in transport and have Kiera placed in Autopsy Room One. You can go to bed if you want, but I’m heading to the George Stanley building to get started on this.”
“I’ll come with you.” Aubree takes a fake-diamond-encrusted cell phone from her pocket and steps away.
Which leaves three.
