AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I sneer in response, she lowers it again and goes back to the sink to wash her hands a second time. Soap, water, scrub, and dry. She pulls latex gloves on and meets me on the opposite side of the table.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Talk to me about O’Dey.”
“Oh… um. Okay.” Surprised by my request, she takes a moment to reset her thoughts. “He’s young and a little weird. Not weird like he’s charming and cute, but like he might’ve been homeschooled a little too long. He’s been working here a couple of years now. Straight out of community college.”
“What did he study at college?”
“Crime scene investigation. A 101 course that would have sent him down our path if he kept going.”
“He didn’t?”
“No. He stuck for three semesters, then the job he currently has became available. I guess he saw it, applied, figured he’d learn more on the job. Got the position, started working. Hasn’t stepped out of line since.”
“Until today. Would he have tried that shit with Chant? Holding on to evidence overnight?”
Aubree shakes her head. “You forget you’re new too, Mayet. Not only that, but you’re kinda badass and intimidating. You’re a complete one-eighty on what we had.”
“Chant wasn’t intimidating?”
“A different kind,” she answers. “Chant was a bit of a hardass. She tolerated no fools and ran a reasonably tight ship. She maintained compliance with the fear of putting staff out of a job. You’re different, because you’re on the ground with us. The chief M.E. isn’t even supposed to go on scene, ya know? That’s for the little people while you sit in your ivory tower. But you’re on every single scene for every single body you assign yourself to. You lead your team by showing the way. It’s kind of inspiring, after a few years of terrible management. Add in that you’re young, you’re smart and intuitive with the work you do. You’re beautiful, and that’s—”
“Inappropriate.” I cut in.
“You’re the popular chick everyone wants to be friends with. So O’Dey holding onto something until he can hand it to you personally?” She shrugs. “I can see it.”
When I glance across with impatience, she throws a hand up. “I didn’t say it’s okay! I’m just saying a young employee wanting your attention? Yeah, I see what he did, and I see why he did it. He’ll need a kick in the ass, he’ll need to be scared into thinking he’ll lose his job, and you’ll have to remind him who the hell you are and that you won’t tolerate stupidity like that again. But I’m just saying, beneath all that, I see what’s up. He wanted you to pat his ass and call him a good boy.”
“I’m not his mother.” I cap my second swab and roll it across the table for Aubree to label. “I am not a daycare teacher. I do not pat asses. I thought we covered that on my first day?”
She writes on the side of my collection tube with a black marker. “My ass is appropriately warned, Doctor Mayet. And to be fair, most of the doctors on the ninth floor have caught on. You’ll have to give O’Dey a second to catch up. He spends most of his time in the basement.”
“Creepy people. Alright.” Standing tall once more, I place the matchbook back inside the plastic collection bag and seal the top. Then I peel my gloves off and toss them in the trash. Snagging my half-eaten banana, I lean against the counter and take a bite. “I had plans this morning, and O’Dey threw me off.”
“Nature of the beast. You gotta adapt.” Finishing her labels, Aubree sets the tubes in a silver tray and stops to look up at me. “What’s new that I haven’t heard yet?”
“Detective Malone watched the security footage of the inside of the Opulus last night.”
“Detective Malone…” A sly grin works its way across Aubree’s face. “As in, on-duty police officer doing his job in a super professional and formal way in his quest to solve a horrendous crime?Or,” she giggles, “Archer and Minka had a movie date night with special cuddles and half a bottle of wine?”
“There was no wine. And what I do outside of work is none of your business. Did you know he has a cat now?”
“Chloe?” She chokes out a laugh, only to rein it in when a menacing growl rolls along my throat. “Uh, yes, Doctor. I knew he had a cat.”
“And you knew her name?”
“Er…” Taking a step back. Then another. She raises her gloved hands and forces a smile. “I, uh… I might’ve discussed it with Detective Fletcher at some point.”
“And you let me stomp around about it for a week?”
“I didn’t know it… I was sworn…”
She twitches when I take an aggressive bite of my banana. “I took a vow of secrecy! Fletch made me promise before I realized what he wanted from me. But by then, I’d already promised, and I can’t go back on that.”
“Yes, you can!” I bite off another chunk so I have to talk around the glob in my mouth. “You tell me I look like an idiot. That’s literally your job, Aubree.”
“Uh… are you sure?” She works to straighten her face when Doctor Kernicke wanders past our autopsy room. “Because I thought my job was to examine dead bodies, refer to my education in pathology, and attempt to find the cause of death. Is that not… is that…” Her smirk trembles. “Literally my job description?”
“Your job description soon will be to transport bodies from the scene to the lab. Bump O’Dey out for being an idiot, bump you down for being an asshole.”
“Not at all a legally defensible reason to demote me.” She glances across at my half-consumed coffee. “Can I get a little of th—”
“Touch it and you die. Then you can perform your own autopsy.”
“Grouchy woman.” Tossing her gloves into the trash and snagging her phone to kill the recording—the one where I threaten to demote and kill her—she drops it in her pocket and lifts the silver tray. “Want me to run these to the lab?”
“Yes. Then come to my office so we can discuss what’s next.”
