Page 29 of Shrapnel

“Nothing naturally occurring would do this. Potentially a manufacturing accident, something like Meth or Heroin. They use a lot of unstable chemicals and combining them could create a noxious inhalant.”

“Which chemicals?”

There was a beat. “Any number of chemicals could be combined to create a—”

“That’s medicolegal for she doesn’t have a clue.”

The three turned to see Jamie sauntering into the morgue. He had a wry smile on his face as he took the place in.

Dr. Fergus didn’t take his comment well. She bristled. “Listen, this is an unknown substance. I’ve only had three bodies to examine.”

Jamie scoffed. “Only.”

Elijah put a hand on Jamie’s shoulder, squeezing as a gentle reminder to rein it in. “She’s doing her best, Jamie.”

“Is she?” he asked as his smile widened. “Then let’s hear it.”

Suddenly in the spotlight, the doctor seemed to flounder. “Hear what?”

“Your report,” Jamie clarified. “The one you no doubt already gave the Little Lordling over here.”

Noah flipped Jamie off.

Dr. Fergus looked…confused. Between Noah’s petulant gestures, Jamie’s antagonizing comments, and the pleasant Elijah standing between them, she couldn’t put her finger on the dynamic. As far as she knew, Noah was one of the most powerful men in the state. If Noah was the dangerous one, who were the men beside him?

Clearing her throat, she recited her examination from memory. “Jude Andrews, 43-year-old Caucasian male. Asphyxiated due to the swelling of his trachea and lungs. Severe Petechiae indicates the onset was traumatic. The victim had one broken hand, likely a defensive wound. There were no contents in his stomach and no other obvious acute injuries. From the evidence I have, it’s impossible to say whether this was a homicide or an accidental death. Would you like his medical history?”

Jamie nodded along as she spoke, looking over the body without any of Elijah’s squeamishness. “No, you can leave.”

Dr. Fergus’ mouth fell open. “I can…what?”

Jamie looked over at Noah. “Did she tell you anything new?”

“No,” Noah ground out, no doubt irritated that Jamie was trampling all over his authority.

“Then we don’t need her anymore,” Jamie said dismissively. “She didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.”

“Now listen here, I graduated top of my class from—”

“The name of whatever nepotism-riddled institution you graduated from is irrelevant and it doesn’t matter how many bodies you’ve cut open.” Jamie turned his dark stare to the woman. She visibly recoiled from whatever she saw there.

“Between the two of us, which one do you think has seen more death?”

The vein on Dr. Fergus’ forehead was pulsating against her skin as she stormed out of the morgue.

Noah was staring at Jamie with something malevolent in his eyes. Jamie made a kissy face at him. “Careful. You keep staring at me like that and Elijah might get jealous.”

“I’m trying to decide whyanyonewould think an asshole like you is worth having around.”

Elijah stepped between them, using his body as a makeshift shield. “Jamie, please, we asked you to come because we need your help.”

Jamie lifted his eyes from Noah to meet Elijah’s. There was something unreadable in his expression. Elijah was used to that. To know Jamie was to know that you’d never really understand him. Like the ocean, only a small percentage of Jamie would ever be explored. The rest was depths too cold to ever see the light of day.

The sincere look on Elijah’s face sobered Jamie, and he turned back to the corpse. “Well, for starters, I’m going to guess that Andrews is an explosive expert.”

Noah’s eyes widened. “He was. How did you know?”

Jamie moved the sheet a little farther down, exposing the tips of Andrew’s fingers. Old scarring was barely visible on the inside of his fingers. “See the burns on his hands? Those are old acid burns. Probably from making TNT.”