Page 49 of Unbearable

He shook his head.

“Who has access to the field?” she continued.

“Everyone on staff has keys to the building. There’s a crash door leading out to the fields.”

“Thank you, Dr. Olmstead. That should be all for now. If I have any further questions, I’ll contact you.” Dover set one of her business cards on the desk. “If you remember anything, no matter how insignificant, please contact me.” She stood, and he stood to walk her out. “One of my officers has your security guard’s keys. He’ll return them as soon as the crime scene is released, and we clear out.”

“Yes, okay. Thank you.”

She left him watching after her as she walked out the door. Sean had just stepped out of the tent and was taking his Tyvek suit off. He looked as hot as she had felt emerging from the tent earlier.

Actually taking a better look, she realized it wasn’t just the temperature. The sweat made his T-shirt stick to him highlighting every ripple of his torso.

“Your mouth is hanging open,” Danny said next to her.

“It is not,” she exclaimed, maybe a little too loudly. She heard a rumble of laughter and debated smacking him. That wouldonly draw attention, so she chose to ignore him. She found the medical examiner sexy. Whatever.

“Shut up,” she snarled, making Danny laugh even more. The noise must have traveled because Sean looked up and smiled.

“I was just coming to find you,” he said, walking toward her. “Looks like he died between ten and midnight. I’ll know more this afternoon. He was wearing this.” He handed her an evidence bag. Inside was a medallion she had come to dread. Flipping in over, she held it closer to her face.

“We’ve also got a name,” he continued. “Tony Russo. He was in the system. Got sent up for theft. He was on parole.”

“I’ll head back to the office and see what I can pull up on Mr. Russo,” Danny said.

“Yeah, I’ll see you,” she said distractedly. She barely noticed when her partner disappeared through the far gate. “Is this St. Nicholas?” she finally asked.

“According to Google, yes,” Sean answered. “Santa Claus or in this case patron saint of repentant thieves maybe?” She flipped it over several times as she studied it. Then with a frustrated sigh, she looked up at him.

“What do these mean?”

“I have no idea. I’ll leave the detection up to you.” He gently took it out of her hands. “I can drop this at the lab on the way to the morgue. This guy will get priority when we get him back.” He nodded to the men standing next to a gurney, and they entered the tent. A few minutes later they left, awkwardly rolling a body bag across the turf. “I should be ready to start around two.”

“Thanks, Sean. I’ll see you then.” She walked back to the tent to find the crime scene team finishing up. “Anything?” she asked Jillian, the person in charge of the team.

“Not really. We’ll put a rush on it though. Sean said he’d drop the medal with the techs when he got back. They can start on it immediately,” she answered. Dover liked when the middle-aged woman was assigned to her crime scene. It meant nothing would be missed. She was still model pretty but could also crack a proverbial whip at her team.

“I appreciate it. Something has to break soon. We can’t keep coming up empty-handed.” Jillian nodded her agreement and turned back to her team. Dover watched for several more minutes before deciding there was nothing more to do here. Danny already had a team doing door-to-door interviews, but so far, nothing had turned up.

With no one left to check on, she walked to the gate. There was a young officer standing in front of it with a snarl on his face. It broke into a smile when she approached. Quickly, he unlocked the gate and ushered her through before locking it back up.

“I’ve had to keep it locked to discourage the hangers-on,” he explained.

“Good idea. Make sure the head of school gets the keys back when the scene is clear.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he answered, making her feel years older than she was. Ignoring it, she climbed in her car. The drive back to headquarters gave her a chance to think. This made victim number six. The only things they had in common were the method of death, being last seen in a bar, and the medallion each wore.

If they could just catch a break at one of the bars, it might be the lead they needed. She knew Danny would already be calling around hoping to trace his last known location. He would canvass the area where the victim was last seen while she attended his autopsy. Their boss would be waiting for an update as soon as she arrived. It was turning into another long day, and it had only just begun.

Her partner was hanging his phone up when she walked into the office. She watched from where she perched on the corner ofhis desk as he jotted down several notes. He handed her a file and picked up his notes.

“Anthony Mateo Russo, twenty-five years old. He got in some minor trouble as a juvie. Got sent up for two years for boosting cars as an adult. His parole officer said he was living with his mother while trying to get a job. He thought he had a chance as a mechanic, said he was good with cars,” Danny began.

“Obviously.”

“I was waiting for you to do the death call. I told the boss we’d bring him up to date when we got back.”

“Yeah, I guess we should go.” She stood from his desk. He followed her to the car, and they headed across town. “What else did you find?”