Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Wet. Why am I suddenly so wet?
I clear my throat, acting as though his words haven’t completely ruined me, before glancing over my shoulder and meeting his heated stare. “We’ll see about that,” I challenge, before making a point of waving him away. “Now, if you don’t mind. I take my work very seriously, and I don’t recall dealing with overly emotional horny SWAT men being in my job description.”
Knight smirks, and the way his dark eyes shimmer with silent laughter tells me that he knows I’m full of shit. He has me right where he wants me. All he’s got to do is say the word, and I’ll give him anything he asks for.
We’re playing one hell of a dangerous game, and he doesn’t seem to care about the risks.
As if playing along, Knight steps around me, positioning himself on the other side of the drawer, his stare holding mine hostage. “Open the locker, Morticia.”
Ha. Dick.
I was going to do it anyway, but now when I do, it looks as though I’m only doing it because his grumpy ass demanded it.
Rolling my eyes, I tighten my hold on the handle and give it a quick twist before opening the small door and grabbing the roller table. I slowly pull it all the way out, and as the bagged body stares back at me, the same unease I felt last night comes back tenfold.
My face scrunches, and I feel Knight’s heavy gaze locked on my face, but I do what I can to swallow the fear before finally reaching for the zipper at the top of the black body bag. “You ready for this?” I ask him, suddenly not feeling so playful. “It’s messed up. Not like the bodies you’re used to seeing.”
“I can handle it, doll.”
My cheeks flush at the way he calls me doll, but I push it aside and let out a breath. Just because he seems to be ready to see hell in human form doesn’t mean I’m ready to see it again. “Okay,” I whisper, clutching the zipper and slowly pulling it down.
Knight’s gaze drops to the body, and as I reluctantly pull it open, my brows crease with confusion. “Wait,” I mutter, hurrying to unzip it the rest of the way before grabbing the sides of the bag and yanking it open. “This isn’t it. This isn’t the body from last night.”
I shake my head as Knight’s gaze comes back to mine. “It’s cool. Maybe you got the wrong unit.”
Unease pounds through my veins, and I grab the side of the body bag, checking over the identification number. “No. I don’t get things wrong. Not at work,” I tell him, knowing damn well this is the very bag I placed the victim into last night. It has my handwriting, the same rushed letters and numbers from where my hands were shaking. “It’s the right bag, but . . . someone has moved the body.”
“Moved the body?” he questions. “Is that normal?”
“No,” I breathe, already knowing that something sinister is at work here. I push the drawer back in, giving myself some space to walk by it before grabbing the next unit and quickly unlocking it. I drag the next drawer out, unzipping the body bag and peeking at the body inside before pushing it back and checking the next. “Never. We can’t risk cross-contamination. It’s a cardinal rule. Nobody in this morgue would ever make such a critical mistake. This was . . . shit.”
One by one, I continue checking, getting frantic in my movements before pointing toward the other end of the refrigeration unit. “Start checking those ones.”
Knight doesn’t hesitate, moving down the other end of the long unit and swiftly opening each locker. He pulls out each drawer, mimicking my movements and carefully pulling down the zipper to check who lies beneath. “What did the victim look like?”
“Dark hair. Olive skin. Five o’clock shadow. He was tall. You’ll be able to identify him by the carvings on his chest. You won’t miss it.”
Knight nods and keeps checking, and I watch with a sinking stomach as each drawer he checks is swiftly pushed back in and relocked. “Nothing down here,” he tells me a minute later.
We meet in the middle, and as I close the final door, I glance up at Knight. The look in his eyes tells me he already knows what I’m about to say. “It’s gone.”
“How is that possible?”
I shake my head again, my heart pounding violently inside my chest. “It’s not possible. Nobody would have touched it. They wouldn’t risk messing with the chain of custody. The only person—”
My words fall away, fearing what we both already know.
“This asshole came back.”
A terrified whimper escapes from my lips, and when Knight steps into me and pulls me into his strong arms, I fall into them as though that’s exactly where I belong. “This situation is becoming too dangerous for you, Harper. Perhaps you need to—”