Blood Trinity (Belador #1)(48)

It didn’t take long to reach it, and she swung into a parking spot near the front door of the two-story building, which looked out onto Fulton County Stadium, where the Braves played baseball. She yanked her white coat out of her seat bag and rushed to the door. In one well-practiced move, she pulled the lab coat over her shirt.

Inside the glass doors, she walked straight ahead down the hallway until she reached the examination area, where Medical Examiner Beaulah Layton was dissecting a cadaver on the other side of the glass window. Beaulah’s eyebrows moved up and down in rhythm with her humming some music from the ’70s that Evalle couldn’t really place. Beaulah moved like a silent movie screen star, short black hair perfectly styled, as if she’d had dinner plans instead of slicing up bodies until five in the morning.

When Evalle wasn’t tracking demons, she performed simple maintenance on equipment and some cleaning, but she preferred to stay as far away from cadavers as possible. Unfortunately this morning she’d been face-to-face with a mauled body.

She tapped on the glass.

Beaulah turned just far enough to make sure whoever disturbed her peace got the full brunt of her glare. She put down the bone saw she’d been using and sidled over to the door Evalle had opened.

Evalle did her best to ignore the scent of stale death that invaded her nostrils. “Sorry I had to bail this morning. Must have been something I ate. It came and went though.”

“Good. I don’t want no H1N1 running through here, and especially not through me.”

Evalle smiled. “I hear ya on that. Just wanted to check in, see how things are going. Any problems with the equipment?”

“The equipment’s fine, but things were crazy here this afternoon.”

Evalle frowned. “I haven’t been listening to the news. Did we have a tornado or something? Somebody bomb the airport?”

“Uh, no. It wasn’t bodies coming in, but one that left.”

Evalle’s gut tightened in apprehension. That didn’t sound good at all. “What do you mean?”

“The chewed-up Jane Doe disappeared.”

For a moment, Evalle thought she might actually be sick. This could not be good for her. “What? How?”

Beaulah shrugged. “No idea. She was here when I went off shift at noon. I came in at six tonight to meet with the animal control investigator, who wanted to see the body, and I pulled out an empty drawer. No one knows what happened, and she sure as the devil didn’t walk out on her own. Cops dusted for prints, but the only sets were mine and the intern’s who helped me load the tray.”

Evalle cringed with every word that brought her just that much closer to disaster. “What do you think happened?”

“No idea. Security ran through the tapes of everyone who came in after I left. Nothing unusual. No one who wasn’t supposed to be here.”

That was understandable, since all the security staff Evalle had met were human and wouldn’t know that some nonhuman beings could enter and remove a body undetected.

The question was, who had been here and what had they wanted with the dead woman’s body?

To use as evidence against me? Her paranoia revved into high gear. And who could blame her?

Think, E, think.

Would Storm have taken the body? She had no idea what the extent of his powers was or what exactly Sen expected him to do while partnered with her, but she wouldn’t rule out his stealing a body to use as evidence against her, then returning it to the morgue.

Evalle fought the need to take deep breaths until she got outside, where the air wouldn’t taste like formaldehyde. “I don’t want to hold you up any longer. I’ll see you on Tuesday.”

“You take care.” Beaulah headed back to her cadaver.

Evalle made haste to get out of the building as soon as possible. The minute she stepped outside, she sucked air into her lungs and hurried to her bike. She’d just packed the white lab coat in her seat bag when a male voice startled her.

“Did you think I was joking when I said ‘or else’?”

She’d forgotten about Isak.

Evalle rearranged her panicked expression into a look of pleasant surprise before she turned toward him.

He didn’t appear quite so menacing tonight in a collared blue shirt that was tucked inside jeans, but she’d seen him in demon-killing mode and gear. Judging his relaxed pose as casual would be a mistake. All a person had to do was look into his steely gaze to see the danger lurking there.

Danger could be sexy as all get-out to a woman in her line of work. Like you care.

Funny thing was, she almost did.

She tucked her hands into her pockets. “How’d you find me here?”

“I have friends in low places.”

Just how low was the question. She glanced to the gate, where she’d swiped her card earlier. “How’d you get inside the security gate if you’re not law enforcement?”

She’d always considered this a safe place to park, but she started wondering now.

“Creative conversation. What happened to you this morning?”

“Sorry about that, but something unexpected came up and I didn’t have a number to call you to let you know. See what happens when you don’t share?”

No reply. No reaction. No sale.

She added, “It had to do with my job and my boss.”