Chapter 12

INT. - SILVER CITY MORGUE - MORNING

Ray couldn't stop pacing, her heart keeping time with the hurried steps of her circling. She heard Gerri's voice approaching and stopped in her tracks, suddenly nervous to see the detective. After all, Gerri had been adamant against belief when Ray insisted something was wrong when they'd first encountered each other again, here in Silver City. Ray's first and second case as city coroner both led her to believe there were more things she didn't know about the world and what might be living in it than what she did.

Not to mention the night Joe died. The thing Ray was sure she saw.

She'd sat on her autopsy since yesterday, from filing it officially, if only to hold off on the response she knew she'd receive from Gerri. She hated having to hide it from Robert. He hadn't pushed her when she'd made excuses, but that wouldn't last long. Any second now, he would return to the morgue and ask her why she was so late sending the report in. Would ask her if she wanted him to call the insane asylum to come pick her up for writing what she'd written. And, what would she say?

What could she say? Anger Gerri avoided her this long died when the door to the suite swung open and clear, green eyes met hers. Ray could tell Gerri knew she was hiding something. It didn't help her slim hand shook a little as she wiped her mouth, nor that Gerri's face hardened as she approached, as though expecting exactly what Ray was about to tell her.

But there was no way around it. No matter her precise upbringing, or how she longed since she was a child to be a doctor, Ray was backed into a corner. Chastised from a young age for asking people about illnesses they claimed they didn't have, only to discover a short time later she was right... Unnerving and uncomfortable for a young woman. She learned quickly to hide the knowledge she shouldn't have, to hate being a physician when she understood working with the living only made things worse, rather than better. Going against Mummy's desires for her to be a happy, kept socialite wife to pursue medicine had been one of the hardest things Ray had ever done. But, easy compared to eagerly embracing medicine in the hope of healing those she knew were ill. Hopes dashed when she finally understood, despite knowing what she knew, there was nothing she could do.

Which led her here, to the dead. Who had no effect on her.

Gerri stopped partway down the length of the slab, watching Ray with careful eyes. Ray adored her tall, gorgeous friend, had often dreamed maybe someday Gerri and her stunning, pale skin, her luscious red hair, her voluptuous, muscular body might decide men weren't doing it for her anymore and see just how delightful a woman's attention could be. But they were too close for Ray to allow such fantasies to take hold. Or to do anything about it. Besides, Gerri wasn't really her type. She leaned toward smaller women, more dainty and delicate, women she could feel superior to. And yes, Ray was well aware where that need came from, to be stronger than.

Thanks for that, Mummy.

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" Gerri stood with her hands on her hips, her favorite stance from what Ray could tell. More masculine than Ray thought necessary.

"You're not." Ray sighed out her tension, rubbing her arms through the sleeves of her lab coat. She'd already sent her assistant, Robert, and the morning shift examiner out so she could talk to Gerri alone. Just in case there was shouting. Not to mention she didn't want them to overhear, to think she'd lost her mind completely, was a freak. But Gerri had to hear what she found in Aisling's body. No matter what.

She turned, reaching for the professionalism she'd honed over the years to hide the hurt of not being able to share what she could do with others. It helped being raised British, in her estimation. All those emotions suppressed under Mummy's careful eye. Ray led Gerri to the lightboard, showed her the X-Rays as she spoke in a clinical tone. Maybe Gerri wouldn't hear her voice shake.

"As I said at the scene, there were multiple stab wounds. The blade is two inches wide with a depth of six inches in length. The forensics team is attempting to identify the specific weapon through metallurgic testing and comparison of an impression they took of the clearest strike. Here." She pointed. "Over the heart." Ray swallowed, her façade crumbling as Gerri frowned, squinting at the X-Ray.

"What the hell is that?" The detective leaned it, eyes scanning the center of the chest. Where Aisling's heart should have been.

"That," Ray said, barely speaking above a whisper, "is what you're not going to like." She glanced over her shoulder, then back to Gerri, though she knew, without a doubt, they were alone. "Adam Rose doesn't have a heart."

Gerri snorted, shook her head. She paled, then flushed, lips opening and closing before she finally met Ray's eyes. "You're full of shit," she said, faint panic in her eyes.

"I wish I was." Ray stared up at the film. "I confirmed it when I opened her up. There were a few other anomalies." She turned toward one of the drawers, felt Gerri pulled along behind her. "I have to show you." The latch stuck a little, forcing Ray to jerk on it to get it open. The moment she did, she knew something else was wrong.

"The heart's not the only thing missing." Gerri peeked inside as Ray pulled the tray toward her. It slid out easily, stainless steel cold under her hand. Light. Empty.

"This is impossible." Ray stared down at the tray then up at Gerri who frowned, chewing her lower lip. "I just put her in here."

"You're sure you didn't file her wrong?" Gerri waved at the other drawers, as though Ray had misplaced a piece of paper in a filing cabinet.

That infuriated her. She leveled her best Mummy glare. "I'm certain," she said, even as her inner, hateful voice meeped in her mind. Had she put Aisling in the wrong drawer?

Gerri didn't wait for permission, but grasped the handle next to her and pulled it open. The white sheet draped over the body inside revealed a heavy, white man. Jacob Harner didn't look any better now than he had when she did his autopsy. "Heart attack," Ray said without hesitation. "My, how much weight you've put on, Aisling. And your manicure needs some serious attention."

Gerri grunted something that sounded like a swear before slamming the body back into the drawer and thudding the lid shut.

"Could she have been moved?" Gerri's brows came together. "To another hospital?"

"I don't see why," Ray said, turning to the computer. Why hadn't she thought of that? Because her mind instantly went to conspiracy. She was spending far too much time with Kinsey. Maybe Robert had mixed up paperwork, transferred the body when he should have accepted a new one? It sounded entirely unlikely to Ray, and yet about as plausible as Aisling being heartless. A quick check of the system showed no such exchange. With Gerri hovering over her shoulder, it was hard to concentrate. Until she realized the obvious.

"There's no body even listed." How was that possible? She'd logged her autopsy report just an hour ago, unable to hold off any longer. But the file was gone, the body was gone. Every trace of Aisling-Adam Rose-was gone. Except the X-Ray. Which she'd kept with her when she left last night, to pour over while she drank a bottle of red wine and tried to decide what to do.

"Let me look into this." Gerri's growling voice wasn't helping Ray's nerves. She hated it when Gerri let her temper get the better of her. "There has to be a logical explanation."

Sure there was. Aisling was a paranormal and someone stole her body from the morgue to cover it up. Ray giggled softly, unable to stop herself. Gerri's hand on her shoulder turned her around, away from the screen.

"There is," Gerri said, eyes soft and kind. "Please don't freak out on me, Ray. We'll figure this out."

Ray wanted to nod, to let the detective calm and soothe her. But she knew Gerri was wrong. "What if it's happening again?" The loss of Joe Mutch, still clung to Ray like a cloud, dark mist blaming her for his death, though she was never able to stop it when she knew the end was near. "That thing that killed Joe-"

Gerri looked away, jaw jumping. "Joe was killed by a lowlife drug dealer," she said, in a tone that refused to hear otherwise. "Cut up and drowned as retribution for putting his girl in prison." Ray's memory of the night of his death took her to the edge of the lake, to the flash of moonlight on scales, the glimmer of long, sharp fangs. Maybe the drug dealer kid did kill Joe. But that thing? It dragged the body into the water. The sound of Gerri screaming, the report of her gun being fired over and over, lingered like a growing abscess Ray couldn't heal.

Just the creature, with eyes full of understanding, of intelligence. It stalked them through the park and dragged Joe's dead body beneath the water for what reason she had no idea. And didn't want to know. Not really.

How had Gerri allowed herself to forget? To turn the truth so far around Ray didn't recognize the words coming from her mouth? Because, like Ray's reticence about the reasons for the creature's attack, Gerri didn't want to remember what happened. But it was one thing to turn from reasons why and quite another to ignore outright in favor of pure denial.

What was Gerri so afraid of?

Ray shook her head, looked away. "Whether you like it or not," she said, "something strange is going on in this city,. Something unexplainable." She pointed across the room at the X-Ray still clinging to the lightbox. "And there's the proof."

Gerri backed away a few steps, a woman at war with herself. Ray slumped in her chair, hands between her knees, feeling drained, but vindicated. She'd told Gerri what she needed to know. The rest was up to the detective.

They hung in that silent moment for what felt like eternity to Ray. As though they would never leave it, never move forward from this place of echoing solitude and fear. Until Gerri's phone rang and shattered the bubble. Ray turned to the screen, doing another fruitless search as her friend answered.

"Meyers." Gerri's voice was rough. With emotion? Ray didn't know for sure. "Uh-huh." The computer told her yet again, "search criteria not found." Ray felt like pounding her fists on the keyboard, just to vent a little. "What? When?" The altered, surprised tone in Gerri's voice turned Ray around again, in time to catch her shock turn to grim acceptance. "I'll meet you there." She tucked her phone into the interior pocket of her jacket, meeting Ray's eyes with her stormy green ones. "Whatever you think is going on, it'll have to wait."

Ray wouldn't accept that. "What about the body?" They couldn't just let this slide.

Gerri shrugged. "That's the thing about our line of work," she said. "There's always another body to worry about." Ray stared at her, mind still frozen by the loss of Aisling. Gerri's face softened yet again. "Get your stuff, Ray," she said. "There's been another murder."

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