He turned to Kena before anyone could respond. “How did I do?”
Kena raised a brow. “You know how you did. Had that woman eating right outta your hand.”
“Practically swooning,” Carlotta added with a chuckle. “I thought she was going to jump in your lap.”
Victor laughed, waving off their comments, but he knew that they were right. Sarah had outright flirted with him on and off air. She’d inched closer and closer to him shamelessly. At one point, he could’ve sworn she’d sniffed him.
“That’s great,” Renee Griffin, Victor’s press secretary interjected. “But these guys…” she said, gesturing toward his team. “... are here because the bright ray of sunshine that is your wife has stolen your thunder.”
Renee pointed a remote toward the television, unveiling an image of Taylor riding a Harley through an excited crowd at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Victor frowned at the sight of her riding without a helmet, which had no doubt been suggested by his campaign to ensure visibility at all times.
Victor’s frown curled into a smile. He couldn’t deny that she looked stunning. Her thick curls were stuffed into a bun at her nape Her beauty was accentuated by a light application of makeup, and her full luscious lips were lightly glossed. When Victor’s eyes roamed her jean-covered curves, he was instantly jealous of the machine she was straddling.
“Mrs. Creed is the rabbit’s foot of this campaign,” Nathan, his campaign manager, noted. “The press loves her, and the crowd interviews have been phenomenal.”
“She doesn’t even ride a Harley,” Kena pointed out through laughter. “She rides a Ducati.”
“She definitely has a presence,” Carlotta added.
Victor smiled. “That she does,” he agreed, feeling nothing but pride.
NIYAH
“What a fucking day!” Niyah fussed as she entered her office.
She dropped her briefcase on the floor next to her desk and plopped down in her office chair. No sooner than kicking off her shoes did the door to her office open.
“How was court?” Helen asked after peeping inside.
“Court was hell,” Niyah grumbled with a huff. “Throw the whole day away!”
Helen made a face that warned her hellish day was not over yet.
Niyah peered at her through narrowed lids. “What is it?”
“You got another gangbanger.”
Helen was referring to the string of sexual-related homicides wherein all the victims were noted gang members. Niyah sighed. “Gimme an hour to coffee up and change.”
“You got it, Doc.”
***
It didn’t take an hour. Less than forty minutes later, Niyah entered the autopsy suite and walked over to her new intern. “What do we have, Dr. Leer?”
Katima cleared her throat and eagerly responded. “Dr. Reed, we have a male, black, age 26.”
She read off the decedent’s height and weight. Then, she continued with recorded tattoos and noted gang affiliations. After Katima’s assessment, Niyah determined that the body on the table was associated with the previous deaths related to members of the same gang. Even before examining the body, she was able to link the similarities between the young man on the table and the other murders that she and Bella had been investigating. But there was only one way to find out. Niyah walked over to the table and got to work.
XANDER
When the automatic doors separated, Xander buttoned his suit jacket and entered the hospital. It was well past eight o’clock, and Niyah was supposed to have been off by four. She’d called twice to say she’d be working late. Xander was known to be a workaholic, but Niyah was making him look like a slacker.
Memory led him down a hall and around a few corners until he reached Niyah’s office. She’d texted saying that she was going to change and grab some things from her office. Xander looked around and frowned when he didn’t see the guard that had been assigned to her. A twist of the knob revealed that the door was not locked. So, he knocked twice and opened the door. To Xander’s surprise, a woman was rummaging through some files on Niyah’s desk. His first thought was maybe she was her assistant. If she was, the crop top and short jean shorts were inappropriate for work. The woman was so preoccupied she hadn’t heard him knock or enter the office.
Xander cleared his throat. “Hello.”
The woman whipped around, startled by his presence. The guilty look in her eye made it obvious that she wasn’t supposed to be there.
