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“We can back up now.” Seraphina places her hand on my elbow and carefully tugs me away. “You did great. You smiled and chatted. The cameras got it all, and now our building and the mayor’s are reunified.”
“Hang on.” I gently pull my arm from her grasp and step once more toward the woman I realize now is Jennifer Lawrence.
AKA Justin’s oldest daughter and the biochemist who helped me save more than a couple of lives so recently.
She didn’t know me, she had no reason to come to my aid, and yet, the moment I requested a consult and had her father organize it, she was on the phone and helping me.
“Jen?” While Justin talks to the man holding her hip, I step closer. “Doctor Lawrence?”
Slowly, the woman so clearly besotted by her father drags herself away and stops on me. First, she smiles in that passive, polite way people do for strangers in the street. But then her expression changes, and she grins big enough to have cameras flashing furiously.
“Doctor Mayet?” She moves closer, leaving her boyfriend and her father behind, then wraps me up in a hug that surprises me… and every single camera on-site. “I was so hoping I’d see you today.” She steps back but holds my hands. “You’re shorter than I expected.”
I choke on a giddy laugh. “Can’t say I expected you to be six feet tall. Thanks for your assist recently. It truly made the case and saved lives.”
“My pleasure. What’s up with your face?”
Stunned, I frown and cup my cheek. “What?”
“Someone walloped you good. You okay?”
“I’m fine.”And if not for my blood-clotting disorder, no one would be any wiser.“Everything is fine. Are you in town long?”
“Just for the night. Corey,” she looks back at the man who chuckles at something Justin says, “my husband, has to be back in the office tomorrow. And I’m working on some pretty big things of my own, so we ditched while we could, but we’ll have to run back just as quickly. Daddy says good things about you.”
“He does?” Glowering, I notice how Aubree steps closer to claim her space on my right. “We’ve hardly had the opportunity to work together.”
“Maybe so, but he says you’re smart, intuitive, and friendly enough to not want to smash against a wall on the regular.”
“Oh? Wow. Okay then.”
“High praise,” she winks and laughs. “Justin Lawrence is machismo personified. He’s angry while he works, he’s focused and unrelenting. He doesn’t often compromise, and he never smiles.” She grins now so her nose wrinkles much the same way her father’s does. “I think it’s lucky you remind him of me and my sister.”
“I do?” Again, I lookupat her six-foot frame. “I don’t see it.”
“Educated,” she clarifies. “Comfortable in your skin. Strong. Outspoken. Hardworking. You seem about the right age, and I already saw you on the news, saving a life.”
She slides her tongue along her left incisor and smirks. “I feel you and he will get along great. Except when you don’t,” she teases. “At which point, you’ll butt heads, he’ll say no, you’ll say something about how he’s not your dad and can’t tell you what to do, he’ll go home and bitch to Janine about how you remind him of me and Tabby, and then he’ll come to work the very next day and give you whatever it was you asked for in the first place.”
“Nerd?” Coming up on her right, her husband sets his hand on the back of her neck and smiles for us. But I swear, I feel that touch as if it’s Archer’s fingers on my flesh.
“Corey Rosa.” He offers a hand, but he can’t know the thoughts ricocheting through my mind. The fresh reminder of what I threw away just last night. He can’t see the goosebumps racing along my skin, and the tingles bubbling in my stomach.
He can’t know that I’d prefer to run from here before I’m caught weeping on live television.
“Uh… hi.” I fix my expression and take his hand. “Minka Mayet. It’s nice to meet you.”
“We actually already have. Sort of.” He releases me and wraps his arm around Jen to tug her in close. “A little while back, we met in a graveyard when you were called in to help excavate and evaluate the bones of a dead girl.”
My eyes pop wide. Then my brain catches up as recognition floods my system. “Ellie Solomon.” I breathe the words and feel the name in my heart. “Oh my gosh, yes, I remember. You’re with the police?”
Jen snorts and covers her mouth.
“Er… friend of the family,” Corey fills in.
“And you’re married to my boss’ daughter.” I set my hands on my hips and study the pair. “Small world. What ever happened with Detective Asa’s case? I couldn’t follow up after that day, but I hope it all worked out for the best.” I purse my lips. “Ya know, it’s funny I should meet you today; my odontologist ex-colleague actually called me last night for the first time in a while.”
“It all worked out.” Corey smirks in a way that promises a million secrets. “Everyone is okay, and the true identity of those bones now sits atop the grave in New York.” Casting his gaze across the crowd, he lifts a questioning brow. “So… you left the East Coast for Copeland?”
