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“You’ve got to be famous for something, I guess,” Livia said.

“Good timing for ride-alongs. Looks like I’m your savior.”

“That’s for sure. Get me out of here before Dr. Colt sees me.”

They walked through the back door of the morgue and out into the sunny fall morning. Kent opened the sliding door to the morgue van and Livia climbed into the backseat. She wasn’t sure what she expected, but the intimate quarters she found inside the van were not it. Although the past three months saw her face-to-face with corpses, she expected some separation from them here, a partition of some sort, but there was none. Directly behind the two captain’s seats, the rear of the van held an empty gurney waiting to be filled with a body that would ride next to her for as long as it took to get back to the office.

“Good morning, Dr. Cutty,” Sanj Rashi said from the driver’s seat as Livia climbed into the van. Another investigator, Sanj was of Indian decent with dark skin, black hair, thick eyebrows, and a perfectly Brooklyn accent. He was born and raised in New York, and came to the North Carolina OCME after college at Rutgers—New Brunswick.

“Morning, Sanj,” Livia said as Kent slid closed the door and climbed into the passenger seat.

“You’re late,” Sanj said to Kent.

“Yes, I am. And here’s your coffee as my punishment.” Kent placed a Starbucks coffee into the cup holder of the console.

“Sugar, no cream?”

Kent gave his partner an ugly look. “It’s not the first time I’m late.”

“Let me guess. A fight with the wife sent you to Tinder Valley for the night?”

“Traffic sucks when you’re coming from the sticks.”

“When the shit hits the fan at home, you can always stay at my place.”

“Thanks, partner. But when I need to get away, I want my solitude.”

Kent punched information into the GPS and shuffled papers on a metal clipboard. “First stop this week, Anthony Davis. Fifty-five-year-old male found dead by his landlord after NCFO.”

Sanj started the van and the investigators buckled their seat belts.

Livia pulled the belt across her chest. “NCFO?” she asked.

Sanj put the van into gear and turned to Livia. “Neighbors Complained of Foul Odor. You didn’t think we’d break you in with anything fresh, did you?”

The van lurched forward as Sanj and Kent laughed. It was going to be an interesting week, but at least she’d be away from Dr. Colt and the cage.

* * *

The apartment complex was on the border of Montgomery County. They parked in the lot and surveyed the three-story brown brick building that held twelve units. A small crowd had gathered near the front entrance and all eyes were trained on the morgue van as they pulled up. Kent and Sanj climbed out and openedthe back doors to retrieve the gurney, on top of which rested a canvas bag containing everything they might need once inside. Livia followed them as they pushed the gurney past the police cars, whose lights were flashing, and climbed the stairs to enter the building.

An officer from the sheriff’s department met them just inside the doors.

“This is the owner of the building,” the officer said. “He’ll escort you.”

The man introduced himself. Sanj shook hands.

“Sanj Rashi.” He pointed at Kent and Livia. “Kent Chapple, investigator with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. And Dr. Livia Cutty, Medical Examiner.” He pointed down the hallway. “Where’re we at?”

“Second floor,” the owner said, and everyone packed into the elevator with the ominously empty stretcher.

When the elevator doors opened a moment later, Sanj inhaled deeply as if walking into a fresh spring morning. “And, there it is,” he said.

The owner pulled out his handkerchief and put it over his nose. “Yeah. Neighbors called two days ago to report the smell. I was finally able to get over here this morning. Opened the door and nearly lost it. Entire complex stinks now.”

The owner led them down the hallway to unit 204, pushed open the door, and shook his head. “You need me for anything? Otherwise, I’m outta here.”

“Go,” Sanj said. “If we need anything, we’ll come down.”