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Could there be a way to counteract the killer’s poison if someone was to get to the victim fast enough after injection?
Could there be an antidote I simply haven’t considered yet?
Aubree and I went back to my apartment late again. We watched trashy TV and ogled slutty guys and their obnoxious six-packs. We ate dessert and laid bets on who we thought would win the competition—none of them—and then we slept until my alarm at six this morning. And all along, Aubree played along with my new reality and allowed me to pretend Archer Malone doesn’t exist.
We both know he does, and we both know he’ll be by the George Stanley sometime this morning. But for a few trashy hours last night, she let me pretend.
“I want to call the mayor this morning.” I peel my coat off as soon as Aubree and I step inside my office at a little past eight. We’ve eaten, we went by Tim’s and took our fill of coffee—we didn’t step in to face a gun—and now we’re here bright and early, ready to find a killer before he gets four women in four days. “Do you think it’s too soon to call him?”
“Depends.” Shedding her coat too, Aubree takes her coffee to my couch and drops down with athud.
On my first day in office, she talked me into reorganizing my space and moving the couch for my own personal use on long nights on shift. I’m starting to wonder if bymyuse, she meantheruse.
“You looking to explore your daddy issues too?” She sips her coffee and smirks behind the lip of the mug. “Or is it business? And if it’s the second, you remember he’s not actually the mayor yet, right? Oh!” Eyes wide, she sits taller and looks at me. “Since the office is technically empty until his ceremony, I bet you and I could go over there and be acting co-mayors for a few days.”
“No.”
“I was acting chief medical examiner for a day.” She inhales her caffeine and smiles. “Best day of my life.”
“Still no. And I don’t need the mayor. I need Justin Lawrence.”
Bouncing her brows, my second forces my temper just a little closer to the surface. “That’s one way to get over Malone, I suppose. In which case, I bet DA Justin wouldn’t mind an out-of-office-hours call from the beautiful Doctor Delicious.”
“You have something seriously wrong with you.”
Checking the time on my computer, I pick up the phone and call Seraphina first.
“Doctor Mayet?” She answers on the first ring. “Can I help you?”
“Can you get me Justin Lawrence’s private cell number?”
“Oh, uh—”
“I need to speak with him this morning.”
“Uh… okay, sure. Lemme look it up.” She taps at a keyboard, proving she’s already at her desk and working.
She’s the astute professional and never misses a beat.
“I caught the news last night, Doctor Mayet.”
My lips peel back into a sneer. “Channel 63?”
A soft exhale feathers through our call that could almost pass as a laugh. “Guess we have something horrible in common now. I told you she’d take her shot.”
“You called it. And I’m pretty damn repulsed by it all. Was Archer Malone your fiancé, by chance?”
Now she laughs for real. “No, Doctor. He wasn’t.”
“Guess she just gets around, then. Stupid bitch.”
Despite how quietly I speak the last two words, Aubree still looks across at me with a lifted brow.
“Unprofessional,” I add. Pushing up tall and dropping my shoulders back, I chastise myself. “Not at all appropriate for me to say. I mean, I’vealsoslept with Malone, so am I a stupid slut bitch in the eyes of the next woman, too?”
“Well—” Aubree starts.
But I cut her off. “Seraphina, the mayor’s number?”
