“Fishing?”
She nods. “Last night I sent him home, he looked wiped. I told him to take the weekend off. He balked at first but when I suggested he go fishing, he lit right up.”
“Any idea where he might be?”
She turns to me with an eye roll. “Wherever one goes to fish, I assume.” I grin at her snarky response. Sounds like Meredith is back to her normal self. “Look,” she continues to Keith. “Let me call Janey. She may have an idea. Or even Lauren.”
“When you talk to Janey, ask her about the office backup system,” I prompt, handing her the phone.
From Meredith’s side of the conversation, I gather Janey doesn’t know where the older man would go fishing, but she does confirm the software the office runs is web-based and all files are stored on an online server.
“Ask her if she can change the password remotely,” I interrupt their conversation, nodding at Meredith when she looks at me quizzically. “She should do that right now.”
“And see if she can meet us at your office this morning,” Blackfoot adds. “Your autopsy technician too.”
Meredith slaps her hand over the phone’s mouthpiece and glares at Keith.
“Surely you don’t think—”
“I don’t think anything right now, but we’ve gotta talk to everyone,” he explains. “Besides, they can help you put together a list of people who’d know their way around the morgue.”
Instead of objecting—as I can see Meredith wants to do—she takes in a sharp breath through her nose and gets back on the phone.
While she’s talking, I turn to Keith.
“Did you have a chance to talk to Tom Ward this morning?”
Hard to believe we were out at the man’s trailer just last night. A lot has happened since.
“He was still snoring earlier, but I plan to rattle his cage in a bit. He’s the only one who got a decent sleep last night. Can you handle things at Doc’s office?”
“Yeah, sure.”
He leans his elbows on his desk and wiggles his eyebrows before whispering, “Unless you didn’t get any sleep?”
Ignoring seems the smart thing to do, any reaction will only encourage him. I’m sure he’ll eventually get tired of busting my balls.
I hope.
The autopsy tech looks twelve years old, not twenty-four like she claims to be. She makes me feel instantly old at forty-two.
I’m convinced the wide-eyed girl has nothing to do with what happened. Heck, I can’t even figure out what the hell she’s doing in a job like this.
“Four months,” she responds to my inquiry about how long she’s been with the coroner’s office.
I take her through the same questions I asked Janey earlier, but nothing she has to say sets off any flags either. This girl might have had access, and not to mention the technical ability to dismember a body, but I’d bet my house she doesn’t have the stomach, despite her chosen profession.
I lead her back into Meredith’s room, where the other two women have already started putting together the list we need. Outside in the hallway I give Blackfoot a quick call.
“I’ve got nothing new here. Any luck with Ward?”
He snorts. “The man’s even harder to stomach sober than drunk. Started by saying he never wanders far from his trailer and he doesn’t keep tabs on what others out there might be up to. When I brought up the name Billy, he got a little fidgety and clammed up. Claims he gets confused sometimes and can’t remember who that is or why he would’ve called.”
“Convenient,” I mock.
“Very. Anyway. I’ll hold him for a little longer, at least until we’ve done a thorough search of that property. Ramirez is out there now with a few uniforms and a crime scene team.” He yawns loudly. “Jesus, I’m beat. Never fails, does it? A case drags on for weeks without anything happening and then suddenly everything happens at once. I’m getting too old for this.”
“Go home, get some rest. I’ll be heading back to the station as soon as we’re done here,” I suggest.
“And do what? Sleep?” He laughs. “Fat chance of that, not with an energetic toddler at home. Nah, I’ll be here, looking into that phone number and maybe having another go at Ward. I’ll see you when you get here.”
I tuck my phone back in my pocket and catch Meredith glancing at me. I motion for her to step outside, and the moment she does I pull her farther down the hallway and out of sight of her employees.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
I slide my fingers through her hair and cup the back of her head as I lean in for a kiss. Her hands come up and plant against my chest but instead of shoving me off, she curls her fingers in my shirt and pulls me closer.
Fuck yeah.
“What was that for?” she wants to know, when I reluctantly lift my mouth from hers.
“I needed a reminder of where we left off so I’ll know where to pick it up later.”
She darts a glance down the hallway before turning her eyes back to me, full of humor.
“Later?”
I brush a thumb over her full bottom lip and resist the urge to kiss her again.
“I’m gonna have to go to the station after and I have no idea how long I’ll be, but I’d like to swing by your place later.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” she teases, an eyebrow raised and a smirk pulling at her mouth.
“I don’t like leaving things unfinished.”
She slides her hands up and around my neck, lifting on her toes to brush my lips with a sweet kiss.
“Neither do I,” she mumbles, before she lets me go and starts walking away from me.
“Come hell or high water…” I wait for her to stop and turn around before I finish, “those steps will get done.”
She’s still laughing when she disappears into her office.
It’s a great sound.
Chapter 16
Meredith
Jesus, these things are expensive.
I rub my hands over my face. The cotton I woke up with is morphing back into a full-fledged pounding behind my eyes and staring at a computer screen is not doing it any favors.
Jay left for the station a couple of hours ago and I stayed behind with Janey and Lauren, against his objections. He’d wanted me to go home and rest, but I wouldn’t do much resting; there is too much to do. A uniformed officer and a few forensic technicians are still milling about the morgue downstairs and I won’t have access until Monday morning, but I want to make sure we’re ready to hit the floor running. Already Janey had to request the hospital hang on to the body of a drowning victim and who knows what else will come in over the weekend.
I sent Lauren home, but Janey insisted on staying, helping me put together the file on Dennis Heath and I dictated a report with my findings Janey is now typing up. Of course, we don’t have all the physical evidence, but she was able to pull X-rays, images, and documentation off the server. Together with Casey’s report and my personal observations it’ll have to be enough.
When Jay left he took the list we’d compiled, which turned out to be quite substantial. Janey keeps careful track of everyone coming in and out of the office and by the time we were done we had over thirty names on that list. All people who had visited at some point over the past two months. Most of them included for the sake of accuracy, but Jay said a few names might warrant a closer look.