“Good Lord,” Donna’s dad said through a heavy breath.
“Well, who is he? Is he someone she arrested?” her mother asked.
“Mom, we’re looking into that.”
The fear in her mother’s eyes caused Donna to feel helpless.
Lincoln put his arm around her. While massaging her shoulder, he said, “Well, that’s all we know so far.”
Donna shook her head. “No. There’s more.”
Lincoln looked down at her with confusion. “More?”
“Yeah. Niyah was performing and autopsy on the man we shot. But when she stepped out of the room to research his tattoos. Somebody entered the morgue, killed her intern, and stole the shooter’s body.”
“What?” Lincoln blasted.
Donna nodded. “Yeah. And right before it happened, Niyah collided in the hallway with a doctor she’d never seen in the hospital before.”
Donna exhaled a frustrated breath. “So far, all we have to go on is the fact that they were all Asian. According to witnesses, Lucas’ shooter was Asian. The shooters in the van, the mysterious doctor in the morgue, and the attacker in Lucas’ room were all Asian, which suggests an Asian organized-crime syndicate.”
“Yakuza?” Lincoln asked.
“Yes. Well, maybe. I’m not sure.” Donna took a deep breath. “Now, I haven’t come to blows with any Asian gangs in my career. When Bella wakes up, I’ll ask her if she has.”
“That’s encouraging,” Senator Creed offered, lifting a sifter filled with something brown to his lips. “At least, now, we have a place to start.”
CHAPTER 18
NIYAH
Niyah slowly opened the door to her exam room, half expecting to find Mario on the floor bleeding to death. The thought was ridiculous, but in the back of her mind, nonetheless.
“Doctor!”
Niyah turned to the voice. It was a police sergeant, judging from the stripes on his uniform.
“This room is a crime-scene, ma’am.”
“Oh, okay.” Niyah released the door and stepped back. She walked toward her office but turned back. “Sergeant, did anyone check the hospital’s camera footage?”
“I’m only here to secure the scene, ma’am. But I’m sure that’s on the list.”
Niyah nodded and walked into her office. As soon as she entered, she dropped her bag and went to the computer to pull up Mario’s employment file. Other than him being engaged, she didn’t know much about his personal life. But she did remember that he’d once said he was waiting until he could pay down his medical-school debt before he got married.
Niyah grabbed a pen and wrote down his address along with the emergency address listed in his file. She stuffed the sticky note in her purse and headed to the door. Before doing any work whatsoever, Niyah intended to offer her condolences to Mario’s family.
She left the office. And as soon as she entered the hallway, her cell phone vibrated in her purse. After fishing it out, she stared at the screen for a few seconds, debating whether or not to answer. Niyah almost knew why she was calling. India lived across the hall from her and, no doubt, her nosy ass hadseen Xander leave earlier that morning. Yet, she took a chance that her friend just might have something important to discuss.
“Hello?”
“Biiiiiiiiiitch! Who was that man leaving your house this morning?”
Niyah rolled her eyes. She’d rolled the dice and lost.
“He’s just a friend, India,” Niyah muttered.
“He’s a sexy-ass friend, Niyah Lee!”
