Page 108 of Vanish From Sight

“Save the condescending comments for someone who gives a shit. You’ll get to close this case and bask in the glory; you’ll just do it with a different State investigator.”

“Aye. Will do.”

Callie took off after him.

“And what if he’s wrong?” she said. “If Evans and Sawyer weren’t involved, they need our help. You know there is more to this than just an affair or a pregnancy. You walk away now, there is a chance they will do time and another innocent person will be screwed.”

“They were screwed by association from the moment Isabella was assaulted.”

“So, you believe her?”

“Callie. I don’t know what part of our conversation with Isabella you missed but it doesn’t matter what is believed, only what will hold up in a court,” he said, glancing past her to McKenzie. “And right now, McKenzie thinks he’s holding the golden goose even if it could be the wrong one,” he added, his voice growing louder by the second.

“Which it’s not,” McKenzie said, answering while drawing water into a paper cup. He chugged it back, confident and at peace.

Callie moved around Noah, stopping ahead of him for but a few seconds to say, “After we thought we had those responsible for Luke’s murder, I was ready to walk. I believed you didn’t want to accept the truth. You never passed the buck. You stayed the course. What’s so different now?”

“It was family.”

“And Lena wasn’t?”

She walked away, leaving him chewing it over.

Noah glanced back to see McKenzie lift his cup of water,smirk and amble off in the opposite direction. Several deputies who’d been eavesdropping returned to tapping away on keyboards and answering phones.

He hatedthe thought of seeing her again but he had to know. Thirty minutes later, Noah shivered as he walked through the door to what he liked to refer to as purgatory for the dead. The stainless-steel morgue in the Medical Examiner’s Office was uninviting and cold. The sterile scent of disinfectant and the hum of the fluorescent lights made him queasy.

Dr. Adelaide Chambers was perched on a stool over a body. She had a serious expression. Her white lab coat was pristine, her gloved hands poised as she examined an unknown deceased male.

“Noah Sutherland.”

“Good memory.”

“No. Names I remember, faces not so much,” she said. “I’m not sure if it’s because they all look the same when they come in here or my brain is on the blink with age. I think it’s a little of both,” she said, dropping a tool. It clattered in a steel bowl. “I was told that Lena was your ex. I’m sorry for your loss. I gather you want an update on the autopsy.”

Noah nodded; his throat tight with emotion. He hadn’t just lost his former wife, he’d lost a close friend, a confidant. Despite their separation, that had never stopped them from being open with one another. Lena had earned that right. She had become accustomed to the nuances in his tone. There was little he could hide from her.

“Do you want to see her?”

“Let’s start with the facts.”

Chambers crossed the room and lifted a tablet. She tapped afew times, swiped, then began. “Cause of death was exposure to fentanyl.”

“Fentanyl? She never drowned?”

“No. No water in the lungs. She was dead long before she went in the river.”

His thoughts went back to the car stuck in neutral.

If she had been driving and swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle or — God forbid — tried to take her life, the gear would have been in drive. Had Teresa lied to him? He’d come across numerous liars in his line of work. Teresa never struck him as someone who had a reason to. Though she could have.

“Teresa said she let her go,” Noah muttered.

“Sorry?” Chambers asked.

“Nothing.”

Chambers crossed the room. “We’ve had a number of cases of drug users dying from it. Doesn’t take much. 0.25 milligrams. It can be very lethal in small doses.”