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Joy.
“She knows we’ve kept information from the public up till now. We did that to maintain the integrity of our investigation. I guess she wants us to make it public. See if that flushes him out.”
“I’ll let you know once we’ve got the body back at the George Stanley,” Archer says. “Aubree will autopsy him. It’s still early here, so she has time to do it before dinner. Once we have that and our scene has been cleared, we’ll decide what to do next.”
He rumbles his goodbye. His, ‘I love you’. His, ‘I promise to be safe’, then he kills the call and offers the phone back.
“She thinks we should call a press conference and release strategic sections of information.”
Beaming, Fletch drops his hand and offers a discreet, respectfulon-a-crime-scenelow-five for me to clap. “I feel like she’s my partner on the job now, too. I can read her just by the sound of your ringtone.”
“Uh-huh.” I tuck the phone into my pocket and go to my murder-bag tocollect a scalpel and the thermometer, and a fresh pair of gloves. “Sometimes she’s a little rough in her delivery.” Twisting, I crouch beside the body and prepare to slice. “But she has a gift that means she’s rarely wrong. I guess it’s time to release a statement.”
ARCHER
“Are you ready for this?” I stand on the steps of the police precinct, the towering building spearing up behind my back and the blue and red rotating flashes of lights fill what is quickly turning into a night sky. Winter is sprinting closer, day by day, and with it, the freezing wind that whips people’s hair back.
Aubree’s, most notably. Considering she’s the only woman I keep close. Tim can’t step out here and do it on his own, and the reporters who fill the street and wait for our statement… well, they’re someone else’s problem.
“You need to make a statement as the medical examiner,” I tell her. “Report it factually. Keep it quick and clean. Then clear the area, because I’m gonna drop a stink bomb and folks won’t tolerate it all too well.”
“Do you consider this necessary?” Mayor Lawrence, Minka’s favorite ‘he’s not my daddy’ father figure huddles in close, while Fletch makes our fourth. “I’ve heard your reasons, Detective. But we both know how this will go down. You’ll need protection once you’re done.”
“I can take care of myself, and my wife is out of the state. My home is clear, and I’ll be the mouthpiece, which should keep Fletch safe.”
“This won’t end well, Archer. You know that, right?”
I glance over Aubree’s shoulder and meet the ferocious stare of a mafia heir and his protective gaze. He’s forced to stand an easy fifty feet from where we are, away from the cameras, and away from even Aubree’s view, because if she saw him, she might lose her nerve. But I feel his power in theair when he lingers, and I know, even if I cock this up and put her in danger—though I won’t—she’ll be safe for life, purely because of him. “You’re safe,” I assure her. “You’re just the doctor reporting on the medical stuff. You won’t be anyone’s target.”
“Besides,” Fletch smirks, ducking his head lower, if only to hide his smile from the media, “Delicious told us to do this. Don’t you trust her intuition?”
“I mean…” She gulps and meets the mayor’s stare. “There was that time she killed a dude instead of reporting what she found and letting the authorities deal with it.”
My stomach flips as I think of Copeland City’s vigilante killer and the lives she’s ended. But that’s not what Aubree means. Thank fuck, she has no clue her best friend is a killer… the serial kind. She only knows about that one time.
“Come on.” I straighten my back and clear my throat, if only to break our conversation and stop it before it devolves into something more. Then I look at Fletch and know he’s thinking the same thing. “You first, Aubs. Then I’ll make my statement. Fletch will stand by, but he won’t speak. Mayor…?”
“I’m here. If they have questions for me, I’ll speak, but my answers will remain consistently in support of the Copeland City police department.”
“Let’s go.” Fifi steps away from the crowd and stalks closer, because it’s Thursday, which means for today and tomorrow, she remains employed by the George Stanley Medical Facility. Not only is that facility in possession of three dead cops, but their sweet little hippie doctor is the first who will speak on national television.
I guess we like pissing an entire nation off. Not just a city.
“I’ve prepared a statement for you.” She ignores Fletch completely, passing a stack of cards to a nervous Aubs. “I’ve left gaps for you to enter your medical-speak. Make sure you keep your opinions to yourself; for as long as you speak, you represent Chief Mayet’s facility. She’ll flay us both if you screw up.”
“Comforting.” Aubree presses one hand to her belly and the other to her lips. “Someone might shoot me. But if I survive that, my boss might kill me.”
“No one is gonna shoot you.” Fifi passes a second stack of cards to the mayor. “I’ve prepared a statement for you, too. The pertinent details are in bold. The italicized sections are a little more light-hearted. My hope is that you can use those sections to bring the tension back to manageable levels once Detective Malone speaks.”
“Today will forever be known as the day I make a thousand enemies in a single beat of my heart.” Shaking my head, I wrap my palm around Aubree’selbow and steer her toward the temporary podium placed here by… well, maybe Fifi, I suppose. “Speak clearly. Speak calmly. You’re just the doctor reciting a few big words. Use them to your advantage and hold our crowd captive while I get a good look at everyone. I do not believe you to be in danger, so stop freaking out.”
“We’re about to start a firestorm,” she groans. “I’m not accustomed to doing that without Minka at least standing right beside me.”
“She’s busy this week, so you gotta hold your own.” I glance up when Fifi’s stare pins me from a few feet away, then I look at the overflowing crowd, cameras flashing and reporters shouting. Media vans block the street, and journalists in suits, mostly women, push closer to bark their demands. “You don’t have to answer their questions. You don’t even have to let them ask them. You have a statement to make, so hold your boundary and speak clearly. I’ll be with you the whole time, okay?”
She nods, short, sharp, and wildly nervous.
“Buck up, Hippie Princess.” I lean closer, grinning because I feel Tim’s glare from a quarter of a mile away. “Life is gonna get a hell of a lot scarier once you start dating my brother. That shit ain’t for the fainthearted.”
