Touch of Red (Tracers #12)(6)

She scoffed. “Definitely an unusual case.”

His gaze narrowed. He eased closer, and Brooke’s pulse picked up. She could feel his body heat and smell the rain on him.

“You know something, don’t you?”

“Maybe. I’ll call you if I get it nailed down.”

He watched her for a long moment. Then he reached over and touched her chin, and she felt a rush of warmth. “You’ve got something here.”

“Swedish black.”

His eyebrows tipped up.

“Fingerprint powder.” She cleared her throat. “It gets everywhere.”

He smiled and stepped back. “Go to bed, Brooke. I’ll catch you tomorrow.”

? ? ?

Sean strode through the door of the station house and checked his phone.

“Any word yet?”

He looked at Ric as they walked down the corridor of offices. “No,” Sean said.

He’d expected to hear from Brooke before the autopsy wrapped up, but he’d had nothing from her and it was almost noon. He was going to have to track her down.

“Hey, you okay?” Ric asked.

“Yeah. Why?”

“You look stressed. How’s the leg?”

“Fine,” Sean said, even though it wasn’t. It felt like someone had jammed an ice pick into his knee, which was more or less true.

Sean had been shot during a takedown four months ago. He’d broken his leg in the same incident when his truck skidded off the road. The leg turned out to be a bigger deal than the bullet wound, and he’d had to have a pin inserted in the bone and go through weeks of rehab. Although he’d passed his physical and been cleared for work, he still wasn’t 100 percent. He wasn’t about to tell anyone, but Ric had figured it out.

Sean checked his phone again as they entered the bull pen. He wanted to hear from Brooke. She was good at her job. Freakishly good. She saw things most other people missed, and Sean wanted to know what had snagged her attention last night and sent her racing back to the crime lab.

“Conference room in five,” Ric said.

“I need to grab some coffee first.”

Sean headed for the break room and stopped cold at the sight of Brooke. She was with Jasper, who looked like a giant standing next to her, and she was laughing at something he’d said. Damn, was he seriously flirting with her right there in the bull pen?

Sean walked over. “Hey, what’s up?”

Brooke looked relieved to see him. “Oh, good, you’re back. They said you were in Austin.”

Sean shot Jasper a look. “We’re meeting in the conference room.” The rookie took the hint and excused himself, and Sean turned to Brooke. “The autopsy wrapped about an hour ago.”

“Was it bad?”

“Long. I could use some coffee. Here, come on.” He ushered her into the break room, where the pot was almost empty, of course. “You want some?”

“No.”

He grabbed a styrofoam cup and poured the last dregs. It looked like sludge, but he didn’t care—he just wanted a few moments alone with her. She was the first good thing to happen to him all morning. And not just because she looked good and smelled good, which she definitely did. She was in jeans and a thin black sweater, along with some black lace-up boots that were totally hot. She was standing close enough for him to get some of that scent she wore, something soft and feminine that always drove him crazy.

But the really, truly good thing about seeing her was that she was a busy woman. Much too busy to waste her time coming to the station unless she had something important to share.

“I got those results back.”

He noticed the spark in her eyes. It was something important. “And?”

“I’d like to go over my findings, if you have a minute.”

He sipped his coffee, watching her, and something told him her findings weren’t simple. He eyed the file folder sticking up from her oversize purse.

“Come on back.” He pitched his cup into the trash. “You can sit in on our meeting, tell all of us.”

Sean led her into the conference room, where the rest of the case team was already assembled around a table. In addition to Sean and Ric, they had a third detective assigned to the case, Callie McLean, plus Jasper to help with the legwork. Lieutenant Reynolds sat at the head of the table. Sean doubted he was there to work—probably just wanted an update. The chief of police hated press conferences and probably planned to have Reynolds take the podium for the briefing later.

“You guys know Brooke Porter with Delphi,” Sean said as she took a seat. “She’s got some updates on the lab work for us.”

Everyone knew Brooke, at least by name. His teammates nodded greetings as Sean grabbed the seat beside her.

“Let’s start with the autopsy first.” Reynolds looked at Ric. “You were there?”

“Sean and I drove up at six,” Ric said.

Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office in Austin handled most of the autopsies in their county, which created logistical headaches, especially since the pathologist liked to start cutting people open at the crack of dawn.

“The formal report should be ready tomorrow,” Ric said, “but we have the basics. First off, he confirmed her identity. Samantha Bonner, twenty-three.”