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I shake my head and slide the phone into my pocket. “I asked her to marry me, Fletch. She’ll never be safe again so long as the Malones are skulking around.”
MINKA
“I’m just arriving on scene now,” I tell Aubree through the phone. “Fox and Grayson are already here.” Taking the keys from the ignition and pushing out of the car, I hold the phone between my ear and shoulder, carry my keys and close the door with one hand, and in the other, I lug my crime scene kit that Aubree so often carries for me. “I’m at some warehouse just along the bay.” Wrinkling my nose, I add, “smells like rotten fish here.”
“You’re not far from the dump,” she says. “Plus, Detective Fox and Officer Grayson are the human versions of a trash bag, so that makes sense. Can you believe that asshole broke up Fletch’s marriage?” she huffs. “What a jerk!”
I remain by my car for a moment, but I glance across to the waiting cops as they lean on theirs. They wear suits to work, when so often, Arch and Fletch wear jeans and button-up shirts. These two detectives aim for the aviator sunglasses,I think I’m too sexy for my pants,look, while the detectives I know on a more personal level already know they’re kinda awesome.
“No one breaks up someone else’s marriage except whoever’s in it,” I murmur for Aubree. “Fox was there for a good time. It was Jada who should’ve been loyal to her vows.”
“Fox knew Jada was married!” she hisses. “That makes him equally guilty.”
“Guilty of being a douchebag,” I shrug. “Still, wasn’t his marriage. He made no such vows.”
“You’re defending him?”
I grin, but work to keep my voice quiet. “I’m providing a voice of reason. He’s a jerk, we’ve established that. But if Archer sneaks out to look up some other woman’s skirt, that’s on Archer. Not the woman. He’s the one who made promises, not her. And in your case,” I add, since I know she must be close to the bar by now, “The woman Tim is dating didn’t break anything either. Whatever is going on between you and Tim, whatever may or may not happen, is between you and Tim.”
“You’re saying that so I don’t hit her.”
“Correct,” I snicker. “I strongly advise you not to hit her. And no matter how tempting, don’t hit him either. It’s not cool.”
“I’m here to apologize. To be the bigger person.” She bolsters her breath and strengthens her voice. “I can’t be the woman I should be, the woman who would catch his eye, if I’m being an immature little idiot and crying about unfairness. So if he wants to date someone else, then that’s his decision. If he just wants to be friends, then fine, I’ll be his friend. And if, in ten years, twenty years, we’re still not together, then that’s fine too. Because that’s what he wants, and I don’t want to spend my time in a relationship I’m not wanted in.”
“Atta girl.” Pushing away from the car, I trudge across loose gravel and uneven ground. To fall on my face in front of these men, especially when Archer specifically asked me to be careful, is the last thing I want to do. “I’m hanging up now.”
“I’m at the bar.” Her breath comes faster because of her trek. The sound of traffic at her back makes me wish I was stepping into the bar with her. “I’ll catch up with you when you’re in the office.”
“Yeah. See ya.”
Hanging up, I lower my phone and come to a stop in front of the midtown duo. “I’m here. Where’s our primary scene?”
“In the warehouse.” Fox juts his chin toward the massive steel structure at my back. “We didn’t go in again since we called you. Figured we’d wait.”
“Just as I requested.” Taking the lead, I turn on my heels and start toward the huge hangar doors. “What do you know so far?”
“Same MO as previous cases,” Grayson fills in. “Two bullet wounds. Shooter stood outside the vehicle. Killer isn’t trying to make it look like suicide anymore. They’re going straight for homicide and cutting to the chase.”
“Interesting.”
I watch my step and monitor the ground. Footprints? Bullet casings? Any damn thing to help tie up the case that’s been haunting Copeland for weeks.
Reaching into the bag I carry, I take out the recorder Aubree would typically hand to me, and hitting the button, I begin.
“This is Chief Medical Examiner, Minka Mayet, from the George Stanley Building, Copeland City. I’m the lead M.E. on this, and three other related cases. Lead authorities are Detective Fox and Officer Grayson, from midtown PD.”
Using my shoulder, I nudge the heavy steel door open to reveal a shadowed car, and while I do that, I slip gloves on to my hands. “Initial inspection shows a five-seater sedan. Four doors.” I squint and look closer. “Burgundy in color. Seems to be a new-ish model.”
“Two-thousand nineteen,” Fox murmurs. “Standard make and model. No apparent upgrades.”
“Two bodies in the car.” I edge closer, and setting my bag down on the dirt, I free up my non-recorder-holding hand so I can work. “Passenger side window is blown out. Blood spatter along the windshield.”
Circling the car, I frown and come closer to look at the bloody handprint on the outside of the vehicle. Fingers-down.
“Looks like the driver was alive a little longer than our usual. Stuck his hand through the window and tried to open the door from the outside.” Moving closer, while Fox and Grayson remain a few feet back, I peek inside the car.
“This is already different, Detectives. Every other case before this, the vics were dead instantly. Kill shot: bang,” I point my finger and repeat, “bang. But now we have one who was alive long enough to attempt escape.”
