“That’s my therapy,” she sniggers. “Don’t hate on my coping mechanisms.”
Finally slowing to match the rest of Copeland City traffic, Aubree turns more serious. “Are weactuallythinking Holly was murdered? Like, they say suicide, we’re saying murder?”
Dragging my bottom lip between my teeth, I try to lay out each piece of our expanding puzzle in my mind. “Can’t say for sure yet. The fact is, it’s still looking like suicide. She’s got pills strewn across the interior. She’s driving late at night. No one else is in the car or near the scene. Henry has an alibi that places him at home at midnight, and Holly was low on her prescribed Lithium, whichcouldhave led to a depressive state. The only reason any of this is being called in to question is because Fletch got bored without his sidekick, and the original investigating cops have a reputation for being incompetent and crooked.”
“It all looks so textbook.” While we wait in the slower traffic, Aubree steers with her knees and fixes her seat so she can reach the pedals comfortably. “Woman who suffers mental health issues goes off her meds. Crashes her car. That’s the end of it.”
“Right. But put Kavanagh, Thomas, and Chant together, and now we’ve got a little trio ofless than desirablesrunning a delicate case. Maybe they still got to the correct conclusion, and if that’s how it goes, then that’s how it goes. But if they missed something—or worse, colluded to cover it up—then we have a big problem on our hands.”
“Worth a talk with Doctor Chant, then.” Rolling her eyes, Aubree pokes her fingers into her open mouth and mock-gags so the sound carries over the constant hum of engines outside. “Did you meet her? I know she left and you came in, but did you actually meet during that crossover phase?”
“She interviewed me for the job.”
I think back to the teleconference she conducted. Even then, she was too-brief. The questions she asked, while appropriate, were lacking. I thought, at the time, she was rushed and uncaring. She was on her way out, after all, and charged with finding her replacement. It felt like one of those ‘too good to be true’ situations. But my options were to take my too-good-to-be-true dream job and figure out the issues once I took office, or stay in New York and remain stagnant in a life that, frankly, bored me.
Same people. Same office. Everything was exactly the same, day in, day out—and that’s saying a lot, considering I was in one of the largest cities in the world. So I did something I rarely do: took a leap of faith.
In the end, that meant moving across the country and becoming the youngest chief medical examiner in… well,ever, I think.
“We only spoke that one time,” I tell Aubree. “A few more in email.”
“What did you think of her?” She pulls away from heavy traffic and cuts left when lights let us through. “Did you like her?”
“I don’t form opinions on whether I like people when I’m conducting business.” I sit back in my seat and study Holly’s photos again. Her hair cut short, and her body, thin, but covered in layers upon layers of clothes. “I wasn’t in that interview to make a friend, so the thoughtis she nicenever occurred to me.”
“Of course.” She rolls her eyes and smirks as we come to a stop outside a nineteen-fifties Victorian-esque home on a street lined with established trees.
Pretty gardens and flags adorn most yards. Most of them gun for the same political party… and those who don’t, I suspect would be run out before long and convinced to live someplace else.
“I forgot you lack feelings while on the clock.” Chuckling low on her breath, Aubree kills the engine and unbuckles her belt, turning to me with a teasing grin. “You were so stuffy and formal when you were new. Do you remember?”
I stare into her eyes for a minute. Unblinking, unflinching. And when she doesn’t back down, I bring a hand up and flick her nose. “I was never stuffy. I was professional.”
“As opposed to what?” She rubs her nose. “The abusive and mean version I work with now?”
“Don’t call me weird and stuffy, and I won’t be forced to flick you.” Unsnapping my seatbelt, I hold the file tight in my hand and push out of the car. “Which one is Chant’s?”
“Twenty-five-ninety-three.” Stepping out of the car, she nods toward the house at my back, then slamming her door, she fixes her coat with nervous movements. “And I didn’t call you weird. I said formal.”
“Why are you fidgeting?” When she steps to my side, I start onto the sidewalk that makes a path through Chant’s yard. “Why are you nervous?”
“I’m not nervous.” And yet, she clears her throat and tugs her coat down. “I don’t get nervous.”
“You’re freaking out.” I precede her up the porch steps and across a groaning, wooden deck, then stopping at the front door, I bring a hand up and knock. “Is Doctor Chant your mommy issue?”
“Absolutely not.” She looks across at me and scowls. But then the wooden door opens, Aubree retreats back into her awkward self when a broad woman with wide shoulders and a boxy frame stands on the other side of a screen door.
“Can I help you?” Chant’s voice is a rich baritone that I remember took me by surprise when we first met. I recognize her face, her eyes, her every characteristic. Yet she looks at me like we’ve never crossed paths before. “I don’t want to donate to any charity, and I have my own biblical and political beliefs, so if that’s—”
“No, wait.” I rush forward before she can close the door. “Doctor Chant. My name is Minka Mayet. I’m the—”
“Oh…” As though truly disappointed, the woman looks me up and down once more. “Mayet. Yes, I…” She draws a breath I’m certain with all my heart and soul,almostfollows an eyeroll. “Of course. I should have recognized you.”
“Because we’ve already met?”
“Because I’ve seen you on the news, making a mockery of my building.” Opening the mesh door and revealing herself in a satinhomesuit—the fancier version of the yoga pants and hoodie I usually sport—she doesn’t even look at Aubree as she makes room for me. “Come in, then. Leave your assistant outside.”
“My assistant?” I glance across and find Aubree’s eyes down. Her shoulders slumped. “No, Doctor Emeri isn’t my assistant. She’s my colleague. In fact, I believe you worked together for a couple of years.”