“D amn, Hope, you’re one hell of a shot,” Carson shook his head as he dismantled his weapon. His sandy blonde hair fell into his eyes as he carefully placed his gun in the box.
“Whatever, Carson, you just need to work on your reflexes.” I jabbed his arm as I walked past him. I pulled the clip from my own gun and placed it in its case.
“So, do you have big plans tonight?” Carson glanced over at me as he holstered his gun.
“Nah, I’m looking forward to some uneventful time at home.” I slipped my leather jacket onto my shoulders and turned toward the door of the training room. “What about you?”
“Marissa is making dinner tonight. She’ll kill me if I miss another family dinner.” He leaned back against the table. “I can’t believe your man doesn’t have anything big planned.”
“Why would he?” I asked.
“I don’t know, cause it’s your birthday. You don’t have a single thing planned?” His eyes bore into me, and I could feel his judgment.
“I don’t make a big deal of it.”
“It’s your birthday, you should make a big deal of it.” He shook his head. “Do you want to come have dinner with us? I can call Marissa right now.”
“No, I’m fine. I don’t really want to spend my birthday with you and Marissa, no offense.”
“Oh, none taken,” he laughed.
“I just don’t see what the big deal is about birthdays. I’ve never been one to celebrate them. Now can we drop it?” The cold, stale air of the room hit me, and I shivered. I knew it wasn’t as cold as it suddenly felt in the room.
“Message received, so, what are you thinking about the case?”
“I think we need to go back and talk to the coroner. Something about their bodies doesn’t add up.” I had been thinking about the case since we got the call this morning. There was something niggling at the back of my mind. I just hadn’t figured out what to do about it.
“What are you thinking?” Carson asked.
“Well, there wasn’t that much blood at the scene. But based on their wounds, they would have bled out.” I tapped my finger against my lips. “Where did the blood go?” I turned to look at Carson.
“Are you sure there wasn’t a drain nearby or something? Blood doesn’t just disappear.” Carson held the door open for me.
“No, there weren’t any drains close enough to the body. It was in an alley.” I gave him a duh stare before continuing. “There was nowhere else for the blood to go. Maybe I’ll pay a visit to the station before I head home for the night.” I pulled out the keys to my Dodge.
“Call me if you come up with anything.” Carson’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen.
“Marissa?” I asked.
“Yeah, on second thought, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Will you at least do something fun tonight? It is your birthday, after all. And don’t stay at the station. I know how you like to think you can pull all-nighters, but then I have to deal with your crabby ass the next day.” Carson narrowed his eyes at me. He was dead wrong; I could go at least two nights of no sleep before I was crabby.
“Okay, Dad, I’ll try.” I smirked, knowing I had no intention of listening. If the case led me down the rabbit hole, I had no problem following it.
Carson hit the button on his phone and turned away from me. “Hey, honey, I’m just finishing up at the range with Hope.”
I shook my head and walked to my car. I wasn’t sure how Marissa put up with him sometimes. My latest failure of a relationship proved no one was really willing to put up with me that was for sure. Long hours and my inability to leave my job at home certainly affected every relationship I’d ever been in. I wished there was one person out there who was willing to understand my passion for what I do. Michael certainly hadn’t understood. We got in regular fights about me staying in the office. He would get mad at me anytime I talked about work. He used to tell me it was just a job, and I shouldn’t be so wrapped up in my job. He didn’t understand. He never understood. It was too bad. He certainly knew how to please a woman in bed. Damn, I was going to miss that part of our relationship.
I pulled up to the parking lot near the coroner's office. I had to get answers for the victims. There had been two similar murders in the last few weeks. I wanted to know if these murders were committed by the same perpetrator. There was something about the wounds and the blood that was niggling at the back of my mind. Something told me this was an important detail. I had a feeling the connection was in the blood.
I walked through the door to the coroner’s office. Laura had her feet up on the desk, a sandwich in one hand and her mouse in the other. A game of solitaire was on the screen. “Hard at work, I see.” Laura started and dropped her sandwich onto the desk.
“I’ll have you know I’m on my lunch break,” she shot back and turned to look at me, her cobalt eyes sharp.
“Oh well, sorry to interrupt your precious lunchtime.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Careful, Hope, I could make you wait for whatever it is you came here for, considering your shift was up, what three maybe four hours ago.” She flipped her blonde braid back over her shoulder. She lounged back in the chair, taking another bite of her sandwich. I knew she was bluffing.
“Okay, Laura, I am deeply sorry for disturbing you. I only have a few quick questions about the man who was brought in this morning. I know you’re not the one who completed the autopsy, but you’re the best, so I was hoping you’d have a second look.” I fluttered my lashes and gave her my award-winning smile.
“You’re insufferable, you know that.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Fine, let’s go take a look.” She stood up from the chair and headed into the lab. She signed into the computer and pulled the notes up on the screen. “Did you change your hair? It looks nice,” she commented as she read over the notes.
“Thanks, I got some layers and highlights the other day. So, I have a few questions about the wounds.” I tucked a piece of auburn hair behind my ears.
“Yeah, it looks like there were jagged knife wounds across his neck. He noted it was rather messy. Let’s take a look at the body.” She glanced at me and walked over to one of the doors. She pulled the handle and grabbed the table to glide the body out of its compartment. She carefully pulled down the sheet to examine the wounds. With a gloved hand, she touched the jagged lines on the neck. “It’s weird how these cuts indicate the killer wanted to really slice up the neck. It looks like they cut several times over the same spot.” She stretched out the skin and moved her head closer. “It almost looks like they used the tip of the knife to make sure they punctured the artery.”
“Okay, so the victim should have bled out at the scene?” I looked at Laura as she stood up straight. Her hand was still against the man's neck. He couldn’t have been much older than eighteen.
“Yes, the artery is punctured. They would have bled out within minutes.” She dropped her hand. “Where are you going with this?” Her eyes narrowed as she walked back over to the notes. She pitched her bloodied glove on the way.
“There wasn’t much blood at the scene. Certainly not enough to indicate the victim bled out from a punctured artery. Are you absolutely sure they would’ve bled out from the neck wound?” I asked.
“Positive, there are over two liters of blood missing from the body. The cause of death was exsanguination based on a cut to the carotid artery. There should have been a lot of blood at the scene.” Laura shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
“So, the question of the hour, what happened to all that blood?” I blinked up at Laura.
“Maybe a vampire drank it,” Laura’s eyes sparkled.
“A vampire, really?” I rolled my eyes. “You’ve been watching too many of those vampire shows. Who’s the flavor of the week?” I asked, knowing she was watching one of the many shows about vampires.
“Damon,” she answered automatically.
I shook my head. “I think it’s more likely we have some weird sicko out there with a blood fetish. I’m going back to examine the evidence. Any other weird things noted about the body?”
Laura glanced back at the notes. “She had a good dinner about an hour before her death. Looks like she had lobster. How often do you eat lobster?” Laura dipped her head.
“Not very often, it must have been a special occasion. I’ll look into it. Thanks, Laura.”
“You are very welcome, so why aren’t you out with Michael tonight?”
“He’s busy,” I headed toward the door.
“Oh no, you don’t. He’s too busy to spend time with you on your birthday. That’s not like him, spill.” She grabbed my arm and turned me to face her. She’s lucky she’s a friend, or I would have knocked her on her ass for grabbing me like that.
“Michael decided he didn’t want to be with a workaholic.” I looked into Laura’s eyes. I watched as her face softened into a look of pity. “It’s fine. I didn’t want to be with anyone who didn’t understand my passion for the job anyway.” I pulled my arm away from her, and she let me.
“I’m sorry, Hope. That’s shitty. What kind of guy dumps his girlfriend right before her birthday?” She shook her head.
“What’s the big deal with birthdays? Everyone acts like I should be out getting drunk or something. What if I like investigating? This is absolutely how I would choose to spend my day.” I pulled on the sleeve of my jacket.
“Examining dead bodies in the morgue is your ideal birthday. Oh honey,” she patted my arm before shaking her head and turning away.
“I need to go follow up on this lead. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sure, call me tomorrow. I have the day off. We can have a girls' night out or something.” She gave me a sympathetic smile. Seriously, the pity thing was getting a little annoying.
“Yeah, I’ll call you.” I turned and walked back out the door. Laura and I were friends, but we weren’t that close. Most of the people I hung out with were the people I worked with on a regular basis. My shoulders slumped a little as I thought about that. Maybe I needed to find some friends outside of work. I drove back to the station and opened the file on my desk.
Looking over the photos, I knew it. There wasn’t enough blood at the scene to support the victim bled out there. There also wasn’t anything to suggest the body was dumped. So, what happened to the blood? I went into one of the layout rooms. I pinned up all the photos from the case on the corkboard. I took a step back and stared at the photos. There had to be something here I was missing.
The door opened behind me. “Aren’t you supposed to be at home, celebrating or something?” Reed stood in the doorway.
“No, I am exactly where I should be.” I looked at Reed over my shoulder.
“Well, since you’re here, you need a fresh set of eyes?” I couldn’t help but notice how nice his muscles looked against his blue button-up. His dark hair fell slightly over his eyes, and he brushed it back as he walked up to the photos. He tapped the photo with the body sprawled out on the pavement. “It looks like a straight robbery. Did you search the area for her ditched wallet?”
“What makes you think it was a robbery?” I asked. I wasn’t ready to move from my seat yet. I tilted my head as he turned back to stare at the photos. Damn, his ass looked nice in those tight black jeans. I had a rule not to get involved with anyone I worked with, but I might make an exception for Reed.
“Well, he was found in a back alley without his wallet. What else would it be?” he blinked, looking back at me.