Page 15 of Liar's Point

“Shit,” he said, sloshing coffee.

“Sorry,” she muttered, even though she wasn’t really. Served him right for being out late drinking.

He grabbed a napkin from the floor and glared at her. “Let’s just have this out now,” he said, blotting the coffee.

“What?”

“You’re pissed off Brady made me the lead.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Bullshit. I’m in charge, and you’re mad because you think it should have gone to you.”

“How would you know what I think?”

“You’re competitive, Nicole. And you think I don’t deserve to lead this one because I showed up late and hungover.”

Frustration welled up inside her, mainly because he was dead-on. She glanced at him.

“I was the one who got up at the crack of dawn and went to the autopsy and found out this is a homicide,” she said. “And I’m the one who’s established a rapport with our only witness. So, yes, I think Brady should have made me the lead here.”

“Good. We agree.” He tossed the napkin on the floor. “But he put me in charge, not you, and you should be relieved. This thing is shaping up to be a shitshow and we’re not even one day in.”

She shook her head.

“What, you think I’m wrong?”

“No.” She glanced at him. “Let’s just move on. You’re the lead. I’m over it.”

“Fine.” He sighed and looked out the window. “Okay, give me the rundown. Why homicide?” He looked at her. “It couldn’t only be the needle mark. What else?”

Well, at least he was giving David some credit.

“We discussed this before you arrived,” she told him. “There was something else he discovered at autopsy. Something with the livor pattern.”

“Oh yeah?”

“He found discoloration on her skin that made him think she was on her back for a while and then moved into the driver’s seat where she was found.”

“How long? An hour? A day?”

“A few hours, he estimated.”

Emmet looked straight ahead as they made their way through downtown. It was a typical off-season weekend. Not too many tourists, mostly locals. But the lunch places were starting to fill in.

“That’s an important detail,” Emmet said.

“Yeah, no kidding. It wasn’t just about the needle mark.” Her frustration was back again. “I don’t know why everyone decided to shoot the messenger.”

“It’s not you. They’re just mad.” He shook his head. “We fucked up. No question about it. We never should have released the crime scene. And the car—it’s sitting at the impound lot instead of the forensics lab.”

She sighed. “What a mess.”

“Tell me about it. Now if we manage to recover any good evidence from it, and if we make an arrest, and if the case goes to trial, some defense attorney someday is going to have a field day. Not to mention the prosecutor, who’s obviously going to hate us.”

Nicole’s stomach clenched, and she set her hand on it. She’d felt queasy since her meeting with David, and not just because of her close encounter with a corpse. Emmet was right. They’d screwed up, and some mistakes were irreparable. If they never got justice for Aubrey Lambert’s family, it was completely on them.

Emmet sighed and ran his hand through his sun-streaked brown hair. It was getting long again, and she hoped he wouldn’t get around to cutting it. He looked over and caught her watching him. “What?”

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