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“Don’t even.” I glance across to the recorder and glare for a moment. “Not in here, Emeri. Not anywhere. It’s none of your business, and it doesn’t need to be recorded and stored for the rest of time.”
“But you guys were so cute together.” As always, she ignores my request for privacy, and barrels on. “He smiled sometimes when you were around, and now, he’s always angry.”
“Archer Malone’s moodiness is not my responsibility. I am not his keeper, I’m not his mother, and I’m not in charge of stroking his feathers so he’s never angry or unsettled.”
“But when you were…” she clears her throat, “ya know, stroking, youbothseemed pretty happy.”
“Great.” I seal my last sample and glance up to watch Aubree label her vials of blood. “Still not my problem.”
Reaching across Kiera, I snag the audio recorder and bring it closer. “Pausing the record at five forty-nine a.m., January first. Awaiting labs and tox report. Will continue when they’ve arrived.”
Ending the recording, I set the device in my coat pocket and bring my gaze to my assistant. “Not cool.”
She snorts behind her mask. “No one’s gonna listen to that anyway. So, you and Arch?”
“Are none of your business.” Taking the sheet covering Kiera’s bottom half, I carefully drag it up to cover her torso and face, then I step away and tear my plastic gown away to toss it in the trash. “He was a fun time, Aubree. He was someone I met the minute I got to town. We had sex, we both went into it knowing it was casual, and now it’s done.”
“Well, excuse me,Doctor Delicious. But if the scalding chemistry on scene this morning is anything to go by, I’m thinking it’s not done.”
“Donotcall me Doctor Delicious.” Stopping at the top end of Kiera’s table, I kick the brakes to release the wheels. “I don’t like it when Detective Fletcher does it, and I’m sure as hell not gonna tolerate it from my own employee.”
“What are you gonna do?” She follows my steps with a soft snicker, removes her mask and other PPE, drops them in the trash, then goes to the bottom end of Kiera’s bed and places her hands on the handles. “Fire me?”
“Maybe. I could find another dozen medical examiners for the same price I pay you.”
Not true at all, actually.
Not only is Aubree being paid far too little, but she’s possibly the most knowledgeable M.E. I’ve ever met. She’s young and teachable, she’s never too proud to accept there’s plenty she hasn’t learned, and she knows this building and this city like the back of her hand.
“Or I might just whip you with a stick,” I amend. Backing through the room and pulling Keira along, I use my ass to push the glass door open. “I don’t want to talk about Archer.”
“So let’s talk about Tim.” Her lips stretch into a playful grin. “Because I went to the bar last night before bed, and he smiled at me.”
“He smiles.” I stop by the elevator and hit the button with my elbow. Instantly, I hiss at the sting that rockets through my arm.Stupid. “He’s a smiley guy between the hours of noon and midnight.”
“But he smiled atme! And he said my top was cute.”
I look at her shirt and narrow my eyes. “That’s my top. You still haven’t returned it.”
When the elevator arrives on our level and the doors open, we wheel Kiera in. “This ismytop now,” Aubree sniggers. “Dibs. But you can borrow it sometimes if you want. And no. I was wearing a different top last night. Tim liked the other one.” She lifts her face and beams. “Said it was cute.”
The doors close behind us, and when Aubree kicks the button for the second floor, we start down. Without saying so, we’re both on the same page about where we’re going.
“Tim’s…”
A mafia killer. The first-born son of an active faction whostillsells contraband and kills people. He’s dangerous, and the Malone brothers’ past is just a couple steps behind them. Always. For as long as their father lives and the family commits the crimes they do, they’re dangerous friends to have for someone as sweet and innocent as Aubree Emeri.
Funny, I don’t worry about them being too dangerous for me.
“Tim’s too old for you.”
She only rolls her eyes. “Once a woman becomes a woman and is no longer underage, it doesn’t really matter. Besides, he’s, what? Thirty-two, thirty-three years old? That’s hardly ancient.”
“Even at thirty-two, he’s damn near a decade older than you. It’s not ancient,” I admit. “But it’s a completely different part of life compared to where you’re at. He’s old enough to want to marry and have kids and all that crazy stuff.”Or return to the motherland and take up his position as the next mafia don.“You’re in the thick of your career and still have so much more to do.”
The moment the elevator stops and the doors open, we reverse our steps and head toward the negative temperature refrigerators to store Kiera’s body.
The moment she died, decomposition began, but since this is not only a criminal case—as in, her family will want to see her, too—we need to do what we can to slow that decomposition.
