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“That’s a great idea. Thank you, Theo. I appreciate your help. Did you eat?” God, the caring is so ingrained in her.
“Um, yeah. Grabbed pizza.”
“Funny. So did I.”
“Do you want me to stay on here while you open the email?”
She glances over at the email icon. “Yes and no. I think ... no. I might not look at it tonight anyway.”
“Don’t lie to me, Halley James. You’re going to be deep in it all night.”
“Maybe. I have a lot of thinking to do. But I promise I’ll call and wake you up if I get too messed up. Seriously. Promise.”
“I love you,” he says, and she freezes. He hasn’t said those three words in a very long time.
“That’s ... nice to hear. It’s been a while.”
He doesn’t flinch but stares deep into her eyes through the screen. “I just wanted you to know that. Before you go off on this understandably huge tangent in your life, I just want you to know you have me in your corner. No matter what. I still think we can find a way through all of this, together. So yeah, pressing pause. You do what you need to, take care of your dad, investigate your past, and when you’re done, come home. Charlie and I will be waiting. We’ll tackle the lab situation. And we’ll talk.”
When his face is no longer on her screen, she is surprised to feel bereft by its absence.
It’s just the day,she thinks.It’s just you’re feeling off balance, and he is a steadying presence. Nothing has really changed.
Keep telling yourself that.
Chapter Ten
In the kitchen, pouring a glass of water, Halley has a moment of sheer dislocation—everything is different, and now she has to go chasing demons from the past. She is hooked, though. She’d be hooked if this were a sample case being taught in one of her old classes or a case coming through the lab. That it’s her mother and sister? There is no way she can look away.
She sees another email, from Ivan. It’s sent from his personal account, not the lab. She debates opening it, but her curiosity gets the better of her.
Dear Halley,
I’m sorry everything happened the way it did yesterday. I had no choice. The press release was not appropriate. You have my full support if you plan to file suit against the company for wrongful termination. I will be on your side, I promise. I think you have a case.
IH
A wave of relief flows through her. Well, that’s ... helpful. She wonders if Ivan, too, is being pushed out of the very lab he built, if thereis more going on there than she’s aware of, but the lure of her mother’s murder is stronger right now. She’ll deal with DC once she’s solved this conundrum to her satisfaction.
Bolstered, she opens Theo’s email and downloads the attachment. She writes him back three separate emails, varying degrees of “Thank you for your help, your concern, your love,” then finally decides there is nothing to say that she hasn’t already. She deletes the drafts and opens the document instead. The computer whirs for a while, then images begin to fill the screen.
The text is dry. Formal. Familiar. She’s read plenty of autopsy reports before.
She sees her mother’s name. Her weight.The body is that of a well-nourished adult female. The body is sixty-five inches and one hundred fifteen pounds and appears to be the stated age of thirty-five.
The body.
Her mother was elegant, well proportioned, lithe. A skier, a dancer, a runner. She had great legs, calves the shape of hearts, tight tendons in her ankles—two traits Halley has also inherited. She wasn’t an athlete like her mom, though. She’s softer. Rounder. More lush, as Theo calls it.
Three gaping stab wounds are present on the midsternum, measuring 2.5 inches in length, 2 inches in length, and 3 inches in length, with clean, regular margins. External contusions to the knees and elbows are present. A patch of hair is missing from the skull.
Perforation left ventricle . . .
Pericardial sac 600 ml of clotted blood ...
Previous injury to the abdomen, healing hematoma 13 cm ...
Murder . . .
