Page 37 of Dirty Looks

“That’s what we’re about to find out,” I said. “I’m hoping we find Evie Lidle’s scratch marks all over him. If so, three bullet holes to the chest seems like the easy way out.”

“Agreed,” she said. “I was hoping for public castration.”

“Ahh, the good old days,” I said.

“I’m just saying this whole thing is weird.”

“Maybe Martinez will be able to get something out of her,” I said. “He’s going to let her sit in lockup for a while. She hasn’t even asked for an attorney. All of this is like adding another long day to an already long day.”

I turned onto Catherine of Aragon and watched the funeral home come into view. It was nice to see a semblance of sun and sky instead of the gray clouds that had become our normal, and people were taking advantage of it. Parents were walking along the streets, talking to neighbors, while their kids rode bikes. And a group of teenagers were playing a game of football in the street since the yards were too wet.

“Long day indeed,” Lily said. “If I didn’t have another couple of hours of studying to do I’d be spending my night in a bubble bath with a glass of wine.”

I grunted, thinking that didn’t sound like a half-bad idea. I was already tired to the bone and the regular workday hadn’t ended yet.

“Maybe you’ll have time for both,” I said, pulling under the carport. “I can cut you loose once you help me move him. This is going to be pretty standard as far as autopsies go. And if I need help I’ll call Sheldon. He’s not off until five.”

“Really?” she asked. “That would be great. I’ve got exams coming up. Just to think I have three more years of this.”

“It’ll be over before you know it,” I said. “And then you can start your residency. That’s when the real fun starts.”

“I’ll figure that out when I get to it,” she said. “I don’t want to wait too long to start a family. Cole and I figured getting pregnant after med school and before residency was the right timing. I know he’s worried about being too old to be a dad, but lots of people have kids into their forties and fifties now. It’s no big deal.”

“Does this mean you’ve decided to marry him?” I asked, getting out of the Suburban and going to the back. We slid the gurney out the back.

“Oh, I’d already decided I was going to marry him by our second date,” she said, grinning. “I just had to let him catch up to the idea.”

“Then why did you tell him no when he asked you?” I asked.

“Because he was asking because he thought that’s what I wanted him to do. Which I did. But he needs to ask me because it’s what he wants to do. Now he’s had a couple of weeks to talk himself into the idea, so when he asks me again he’ll be ready. If that makes sense.”

I just grunted because none of it made sense.

“Just let me know when the wedding is,” I said.

“You’ll be the first,” she said. “So I heard you got a dog.”

I typed in the code for the lab door and waited as the door released and opened. “That’s the rumor going around.”

“You said you’ve always wanted a dog,” she said.

“I have,” I said. “That was part of my deprived childhood. But I think I’m just overwhelmed at the moment. I’m a delayed processor as far as emotions go, so I’m not sure this has all set in yet. And I tend to look at things through a skeptical lens anyway.”

“It’s a dog,” she said, laughing. We rolled the gurney onto the elevator and I pushed the button to take us down. “What could possibly make you skeptical about a dog?”

“There’s a certain amount of paranoia that comes with being the daughter of my parents. My father is dead, at least I think he is. But my mother is still alive out there somewhere, working for who knows what government or terrorist organization. Could be a toss-up. So when I hear that Doug found a dog caught in the creek by our house, my first thought isn’t that it’s an answered prayer because I’ve been asking for a dog.”

“You think the dog has a nefarious purpose?” she asked, good humor sparkling in her eyes. “The dog is a government plant?”

“I know it sounds ridiculous,” I said. “I’ve just learned to be cautious in life. My head is a busy and crowded place right now. I’m sure I’ll process the fact that we have a dog once I see how much damage he’s done to the couch. If I make it home before Jack maybe I can help salvage whatever is left.”

“Jack’s going to love that dog,” she said. “He just has that weird hang-up about his childhood pet. It’s traumatizing to lose a family pet.”

“Especially when he named it after his grandmother,” I said. “There aren’t many golden retrievers named Barbara. May she rest in peace.”

“And now he has a dog named Oscar.”

We got Alan Goble lifted onto my autopsy table, and I got out the necessary paperwork and my recorder. I was already focused on the job. We knew who killed Alan Goble. But what we didn’t have was motive. And while he was lying dead on my autopsy table the real case still belonged to Evie Lidle. Every hour that went without us discovering who her killer was meant he was still out there, with his sights possibly on another little girl.

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