Niyah turned to Bella. “Was the ME van out there when you pulled up?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“All right, I’ll finish him up at the morgue. You’ll have my findings as soon as I can get to him.”
“Cool. By the way, are you coming with Xander to watch the vice-presidential debate at the compound?”
Niyah sighed. “I might be working. I’ll let you know later.”
Her conscience wasn’t clean enough to enjoy spending time with Xander and his family. Her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of her murderous sister and her own criminal behavior on her behalf.
Bella slipped into a pair of gloves to collect the victim’s clothing. “All right, I’ll see you later.”
“Later,” Niyah muttered on her way out.
Bella was her friend, but she couldn’t get away from her fast enough. She was a good detective. The more time she spent in her presence, the harder it would be to hide her guilty conscience.
Niyah left the house. She leaned against a fence, stepped out of the shoe covers, and hurried to her car. Once inside, she fished her phone out of her bag and called her sister.
“Hello?”
“Naomi, what the fuck?”
“What the fuck,what?” Naomi snapped.
“I’m at another fucking crime scene! Am I supposed to keep covering this shit up? I’m gonna lose everything because of you! I could go to jail!”
Naomi let out a huff that irritated Niyah to her core. “First of all, I didn’t ask you to cover up shit!”
Niyah’s jaw dropped. Her face ran hot like a furnace. “You got the fucking nerve to say that shit to me?” She nodded, even though her sister couldn’t see her. “You’re on your own now. I don’t give a damn what happens to you from now on.”
“Niyah!” Naomi shouted. “Listen to me. I can promise you that your crime scene has nothing to do with me. The last one was my last. It wasn’t me.”
Niyah closed her eyes and allowed her head to fall back on the headrest.
“Sis, it wasn’t me,” Naomi reiterated. “I swear.”
The scene was similar, yet the wounds were different. She wanted to believe her sister, but she wasn’t above lying. Hell, she was a murderer.
Feeling the onset of a headache, Niyah pulled the ponytail holder from her locs and allowed them to fall free. She touched the screen to call the office.
“ME’s office.”
Niyah recognized her assistant’s voice. “Good morning, Helen. You’re in super early.”
“That’s because I’m taking Thursday and Friday off. Good morning, Doctor Reed.”
Niyah chuckled. “Well, all right, Ms. Helen. You just make sure that I don’t miss you.”
“I’ma have Felix fill in for me, but you're still gonna miss me.”
“Of course, I will. I got a body coming in. Can you prepare room four?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Thanks. See you in a minute.”
Niyah disconnected the call and looked toward the sunrise. She started the car and contemplated going home and locking herself in her condo. Had she been a different person, that’s exactly what she would do. But she wasn’t and she had work to do. So, Niyah shifted into to drive and made her way toward the Cook County Morgue.
