“Oh, yes. Your intern has it. She was studying it in preparation for your return to work.”
“Yeah?” Niyah questioned with a bit of surprise.
“Yep.” Helen grinned. “The young doctor is eager and enthusiastic.”
“Good to know,” Niyah muttered.
After a knock at the door, her intern poked her head inside. “Dr. Reed, I don’t know if you remembered, but you have court this morning.”
Niyah walked over to her desk and fished her cellular phone from her purse. “I didn’t. Would you happen to know what case?”
“I do,” Katima said as she pushed inside. She handed her a file.
Niyah looked down at the file and frowned. It was the Crawford case, one of the more disturbing cases of her career. Celia Crawford, impoverished mother of four, was in a mall, struggling to afford a pair of shoes for her eldest daughter, 8-year-old Anna, when a stranger seemingly took pity on her and paid for her purchases. After leaving the store, the stranger, who was later identified as Clifton Beeker, offered to buy the family lunch in the food court. But once inside the food court, Anna decided that she’d rather have McDonald’s and asked her mom if she could go to the other end of the mall where McDonald’swas located. Sadly, when Clifton Beeker offered to take her, Celia naively agreed. One hour later, she was making a frantic call to 911, reporting her daughter missing.
Niyah sighed and dropped the file on her desk. She’d had hard cases before, but the Crawford case was one she wasn’t looking forward to reliving.
“I’ll grab the complete chart and your blue skirt suit,” Helen offered. “Black pumps?” she asked.
“Yes, please. But see if my grey suit is in there.”
“Gotcha,” Helen said on her way out.
Niyah looked toward Katima. “Dr. Leer, I need the chart for the hospital John Doe. Helen says you have it.”
“I do. I’ll get it to you right away.”
When Katima left and closed the door behind her, Niyah inhaled a deep breath and sank back into her office chair. She was at the Creeds’ compound for only a short time, but so much of her work had fallen by the wayside.
***
Once Niyah passed the security checkpoint, she waited patiently for the big man that Lincoln had assigned to protect her. As soon as he was cleared, they entered the courtroom. Unsurprisingly, it was packed. All of the major news outlets had been reporting on the case since the very beginning of Anna’s disappearance.
With her bodyguard in tow, Niyah made her way through the courtroom and through a set of doors that led to the witness room. Inside the room was the prosecutor from the state attorney’s office, four uniformed officers, and the two detectives that handled the case.
The prosecutor walked over. “You’re third on the stand. It might be a couple of hours.”
“That’s fine. I’ll use the time to get caught up on the case.”
Niyah waved her bodyguard to a seat at the long conference table. Without a word, he grabbed a chair and moved it to a corner of the room. He sat in a position where he could see everyone entering the room, as if everyone entering the room wasn’t a cop or a prosecutor.
Niyah studied the file. It didn’t take a couple hours. She was called to the stand within forty-five minutes.
After being sworn in on the stand, the prosecutor asked her to state her name.
“I’m Dr. Niyah Lee Reed.”
“And what is your profession?”
“I am a medical doctor, specializing in forensic pathology. I work in the office of the Cook County Medical Examiner.”
“Dr. Reed, did you perform an autopsy on Anna Crawford?”
“I did.”
“And, Dr. Reed, were you able to determine the cause of death?”
Niyah cleared her throat and looked up at the prosecutor. “Manual strangulation.”
