Page 77 of Above All Else
I snorted as I collapsed onto the couch, sinking into its cushions and tucking my feet underneath me with a pillow huggedto my chest.
Brainiac.
Thunder boomed in the distance.
Did it follow us from Indiana?
What else would follow us here?
What happens now?
I ran my fingers through my hair, my long locks falling around my shoulders.
Large decorative silver globes hung from the ceiling, reflecting my motions. Lightning flashed in the distance, and a micro jerk seized my legs. I hugged the pillow tighter, burying my face, and inhaled. Carter’s scent soaked my senses, and every muscle in my body surrendered.
I laid down, my knees drawn up, and snagged the remote beside the Nat Geo magazine and pressed the power button.
What was the last thing he watched?
Was he a news kind of guy, or did he prefer reality TV?
“As investigators dug deeper, they uncovered a chilling secret—“
“Nope.” I switched the channel.
“What started as a routine investigation quickly unraveled into a nightmare—“
I slammed the power button and dropped the remote onto the magazines.
Thunder rattled the windows, the sun giving into the cloud cover, casting the living room in dim light where shadows danced along the walls like the beasts in my dreams.
Chapter 20
Carter
Exhaustion rippled through my bones, tearing at my tendons, causing them to scream in protest as I stood over yet another corpse. The Y-incision, opening the chest cavity, my double-gloved hands moving through the organs.
“There it is.” I pointed to a deep, jagged laceration on the liver standing out against the pallor of the large organ. “Judging by the pooling in the abdominal cavity and the distention of the abdomen when paramedics found him... I’d say this is the cause. “
Jackie, the stand-in from a local doctor’s office, jotted downnotes on the fifth autopsy, two of which stemmed from significant trauma. Taking my scalpel, I removed the organ, and Dino photographed the laceration, then weighed it and returned it to the body after finishing my examination of the other organs.
“Your conclusion, sir?” Jackie leaned in, her fingers flying across her tablet keyboard as I stripped the gloves from my hands and tossed them in the hazard bin.
“No visible external injuries or trauma noted. A notable laceration was observed on the surface of the liver, extending into the parenchyma. Hematoma is present around the laceration. Significant internal bleeding was identified within the liver and surrounding abdominal cavity. No other significant injuries or pathological findings observed in the remaining abdominal organs.” I stripped my gown and tossed it into the secondary bin. “Primary Cause: Internal hemorrhage due to liver laceration. Contributing Factors: Blunt force trauma.”
“Okay, I’ll have this printed out and sent over to the department straight away this morning.”
I nodded. “Thank you, Jackie.”
“Sure thing, Dr. Morgan.”
The spry twenty-two-year-old walked away with a bounce in her step, the tablet pinned to her chest. I stepped into my office, the scent of antiseptic singing my nose, and dropped into my chair.
Riiiiinnnnggg.
I groaned, my lids heavy, and swiped the phone from my desk. “Hello.”
“God. You sound like shit.”