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“Off?”
“Not in a bad way. Objectively speaking, he was handsome. A few years older than me. I didn’t realize he was tall until he came outside with the toy, but when he did, I had to look up to maintain eye contact. He had a tattoo on his chest, which I know because the very ends of the design peeked out from the collar of his shirt. He had a tattoo on his hand too, but I was so focused on the entire encounter and keeping Mia safe, I didn’t notice that till he was pulling it away. By then, all I saw was a shadow.”
I stop and look to Aubree. “Maybe he’s no one. He could be a completely random dude whose breakfast we disturbed, and that’s all there is to it. It’s not like he followed us there. I hadn’t told anyone where we would be eating, and he was there before us.” I cast my eyes back to Mia as she spins Raquel’s chair. “It might be nothing at all.”
“But youthinkit’s something?”
“I don’t know.” Exhaling a frustrated sigh, I bring a hand up and rub my temple. My brain hurts, my body is already running low on energy, and the mere couple hours of sleep I got last night are kicking my ass. “It’s probably absolutely nothing. Just a guy enjoying his morning coffee.”
“Ahandsomeguy,” she butts in with a smile. “A handsome guy with a square jaw who is really tall and pays attention to things like little girls forgetting their stuffed toys. If you happen across him again and it turns out he’s completely normal and innocent, can you maybe mention you have this friend who likes tall and handsome? Square jaws are my thing, so…”
“No. And you’re into Tim, so stop being weird about it. Mia.” I step forward just as she reaches up to grab a twelve-inch serrated knife. “No, honey. You can’t touch that.”
“Doctor Mayet?” At the door behind us, Seraphina charges through on heels too tall for work, and in a skirt suit too sexy for a building filled with dead people. The atmosphere around here, if we let it, is morbid as hell and cold enough to seep into a person’s bones. But Seraphina Lewis is the epitome of sexy work-chic. Not even dead people can dampen her style choices. “I’ve been looking for you all over!”
“Er, well…” I fake a smile and move across the lab to take Mia’s hand. “I’m right here.” Then I turn to Raquel. “What have you got for me?”
“A backlog of three other bodies before yours.” She flashes a wicked grin and plops down onto her stool. “Doing my best here, boss. But since you asked, maybe you could consider hiring us another tech and taking a few files from my workload.” She glances down at Mia and smirks. “That’d be swell, kiddo. Tell your Aunty Minka to hook a girl up.”
“Aun—”
“Doctor Mayet?” Seraphina tries again. “You typically answer your phone when I call.”
“I’ve been busy.”
With one last look for Raquel and her frightening declaration that I’m suddenly someone’saunty, I turn away and lead Mia toward the door. Stepping through and emerging into a lobby-like space, I release Mia’s hand again and keep watch as she dashes away and skids on the cool tile.
“I’m working a case, and you would have gotten a call back when I had a moment. What do you need that’s so important you hunted me down?”
“Mayor Lawrence would like to meet with you.” She purses her lips and gives me that look that says she’s sick of my shit. Then she looks across at Mia with a similar expression.
Not quite as mean as when she’s nagging at me, but certainly in a ‘kids are sticky and weird’ way.
“He’s called three times already, Doctor Mayet. A fourth wouldn’t look good for our building.”
“Mayor Lawrence isn’t someone you have to worry about.”
Starting across the lobby when Mia gets a little too close to the elevator, and the lights above start changing—the last thing I need is for a three-year-old to get on the lift and lose herself inside amorgue—I snag her hand just a moment before she hits the button to stop it on our level.
“Justin Lawrence understands my dedication to my work. In fact, he’d prefer I continue with my task and call him back when I have a moment to do so, which means you needn’t worry about when and how often I take his calls. I’ll send him an email a little later. For right now, I have to get Moo to the nursery, then I’m going back to work.”
“Moo?” Seraphina looks down at the child clinging to my hand as though she’s a specimen on a slide. Something to be studied. Perhaps dissected. “Is your name reallyMoo?”
“My name is Mia!” And because she’s so friendly, she reaches out before Seraphina can dart away and plays with the buttons on her blouse. Sticky fingers. Smelly children.Oh, the tragedy! “Whas your name?”
“Oh, no, I—”
“Her name is Seraphina,” I provide. “But that’s a tricky name, huh?Seraphina.”
“Serfena.” Mia tries it out, bungling it like I knew she would. “Serfeena.”
“Seraphina,” the woman herself corrects. “Like, ‘Sara’ and ‘Fina’. It’s actually very easy if you try—”
“But you can call her Fifi.”
When the woman in question reddens so she threatens to explode from her skin, I bite my lips closed and tap the elevator call button, hustling the little girl inside the very moment the doors open. “Goodbye, Fifi.”
“You willnotcall meFifi,” she hisses. “No!”
