Page 7 of Beneath the Scars

"Do you need the rest of the team?"

I take a moment to think over his request. Unfortunately, things don't work the way TV shows portray it. There's no big-shot fancy team working on one case at a time until it's solved. Out here in the real world, our team is used to working dozens of cases at the same time. Our attention is always split, working multiple leads. You will rarely find more than two of us at any given location because our time is just too valuable to waste like that.

"Give me tomorrow. I'll get the lay of the land and see what I can find. Then I'll let you know if I need any backup."

The old man grunts before cutting the call, forcing a reluctant chuckle from me.

Hinds is a ball buster and a stickler for details. But he also cares way more than any of the other asshole bureaucrats who push papers in Washington.

Turning back to the morgue, I take a photo of the note in my hand and shoot it off to Giz. They'll see to it the rest of the team gets it and add it to the main case file on our shared server. Before I step back inside to face the stunning Doctor Gale and her loyal assistant, my phone beeps with an incoming call.

Giz.

Smiling for the first time since Doctor Gale started on the autopsy, I answer the call.

"Burning the candle on both ends, I see," their snarky voice comes through the phone.

"The same can be said for you, Giz," I respond as I push the door open. In my absence, Doctor Gale and Karl have continued with their work. Karl pushes away the portable X-ray machine as the sexy doctor steps up to a computer screen.

I'm not worried about what they'll find next. Other than the obvious torture, mutilation, and sexual assault, there won't be anything to see.

No DNA, no fingerprints, no trace.

The Cat is too careful. Too good.

"So it's the Cat," Giz says, drawing my attention back to our conversation and away from the poorly hidden curves of the dark-haired doctor.

"Yeah. And once again, he's taken another sick bastard off the streets." My inner turmoil over needing to catch the killer continues to battle over the reluctant gratitude that they're helping us, even if it's in the wrong way.

"Did you get the victim's devices?"

"Yeah. I have them in my hotel room," I respond, and at my words, Doctor Gale looks up from her screen, motioning me closer. Curious, I head her way as I continue my conversation. "I started working through it while I waited to hear about the autopsy but was called in before I could get very far. I'll jump back into it when I return tonight."

"You had to wait for the autopsy?" Giz asks, and I'm reluctant to answer because it would mean I'd have to explain the taciturn doctor and my first meeting. For some reason, I want to keep her to myself.

"Yeah, long story. Listen, I need to go, but I'll send you what I find. Tomorrow morning, I'll have the laptop and phone sent to you. That way, you can dig into it yourself."

"Fine, fine. I'll forward the note to the rest of the team and wait to hear from you. Good luck, and be safe."

Putting my phone in my pocket, I carefully place the note on one of the trays before looking at the screen Doctor Gale is indicating.

"What's up, Doc?"

Her mouth quirks up in the barest hint of a smile before she points at an X-ray on the screen. "I've found your cause of death."

"Wait, what?"

This doesn't make any sense. The victims thus far have all bled out from the castration.

"What do you mean you've found the cause of death? He didn't bleed out?"

Doctor Gale shakes her head before running her finger down a line on the screen. "Due to rigor, it wasn't obvious at the initial examination, but he's had his neck broken. From the visual wounds, it's clear the victim was tortured before he was killed, but this man definitely didn't die from exsanguination."

"You're sure?"

She glares at me again, and I know she thinks it's scary or intimidating, but with her size and overall demeanor I can't help but find her anything but adorable. A description I'm sure she won't appreciate.

"You're sure," I say when she doesn't answer my question. "This... This changes things."

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