Page 33 of Darkness of Mine

Tears prick at my eyes. “That’s not fair. You can’t be nice to me when I’m mad at you. You’re never nice.”

Eli chuckles, the sound reverberating through my core. He dips his mouth to my ear. “Later, I’ll show you just how nice I can be.” He pulls back and tugs on my hand. “Come on, Eva’s excited to see you.”

Sure enough, as soon as we open the door to the morgue Eva rushes over to hug me. “You’re back!” She pulls out of the hug and grips my shoulders. “Sorry, I’m not usually a hugger but disappearing on a girl will do that to me.”

I’ve only officially met Eva once before, but we hit it off straight away. She’s important to Eli which means she’s important to me. She’s also incredibly good at her job and the most glamourous coroner I’ve ever met. She looks as gorgeous as ever in a maroon blouse with a chic bow across the top. Her braids are pulled back into a ponytail and her lips are painted a deep red and she honestly does look happy to see me.

“No more disappearing,” I say.

“Good.” She releases me and I move farther into the room.

There are no bodies out at the moment, at least not on either of the metal tables in the center of the room. The wall of drawers to my left I can’t be so sure about. I’ve never actually been here before and my lips twitch at the model skeleton wearing a top hat, frozen mid wave.

“That’s Boney,” Eli whispers, following my gaze. “He’s good people.”

I snort.

River watches me, his face unreadable.

I shift, giving him my shoulder, and walk over to Eva. “So did you find anything new?”

Millie’s autopsy was done over a week ago now, but Eli told me Eva sent some samples off for testing.

A bunch of papers are spread out on one of the shiny tables and Eva points to one of them. “I found a bit of a dead leaf in her hair that I sent off to the lab. The results say it’s echinacea laevigata, which is only found in three counties in Virginia. It’s not conclusive and it doesn’t guarantee he didn’t take her out of Virginia, but it might help narrow down the search.”

“Which three counties?” River asks, and Eva hands him a sheet.

“I also took another look at the body.”

I clench my fists, trying not to imagine the smiling photo of Millie. “What was the cause of death?”

“Blunt force trauma to the head.”

“That tracks with what Zach did to Josh,” Eli says. “He’s angry.” Zach had beaten Josh, my old partner’s boyfriend, to the edge of death. It was part of what made me realize we weren’t just dealing with my father. Where my dad was always methodical, Zach has a rage about him.

Eva nods. “If this was any other case, I’d say he didn’t plan to kill her. The trauma was to the back of the head and the impact point is flat. The most likely scenario is that he smashed her head against the floor.”

“That doesn’t feel planned,” Oz says.

“No,” Eva shakes her head. “It doesn’t.”

I sift through the papers, taking in the rest of the information. “He could have wanted to keep her. Maybe she made him angry somehow and he got carried away. That would explain why he’s now taken Harley.”

Jude speaks up from where he’s been leaning against the wall, staring a million miles away. I hadn’t even realized he was listening. “That hypothesis doesn’t fit with the calling cards.” His gaze lands on me. “He wants you to know what he’s doing. He’s putting on a show, drawing you out. He needs bodies to do that.”

“So maybe he did plan to kill her, but not in that way,” Eli adds.

I keep looking at Jude. It’s the longest he’s held eye contact since they found me, and I want to go to him. To slide my hands around his waist and take the blank look off his face. Jude isn’t supposed to be like this. His eyes are dull, his normally fidgeting fingers still, and I want to touch him until he comes back to me but I don’t think he wants me anywhere near him.

So, I break eye contact and stare at the shiny metal table.

Eva starts talking again and we go over the remaining details of the case. I can’t focus though, too worried about Jude, too pissed at River. When my gaze catches on an image of Millie’s corpse guilt surges in my stomach. She was so young, so small, and I’m the reason she’s dead. I spiral down with my thoughts until the guys’ voices fade away and the words on the papers blur into black snaking lines.

Fuck. Adrenaline claws at my skin, pulling me under. My lungs drown as I fight to breathe. I can’t do this here. Not now. Not in front of the guys.

A hand circles my arm, and I look up at Oz. I’m on the edge of a flashback when a sharp ringtone cuts through the room.

I jerk away from Oz, staring at the table and catching my breath as the room comes back into focus.