***
Niyah held the record button and spoke. “Postmortem rigidity suggests that the victim has been dead for less than eight hours. There were sixteen cylindrical puncture wounds; two to the victim’s face, one to the victim’s neck, four defensive wounds to victim’s right hand, two defensive wounds to victim’s left hand, and seven wounds located on the victim’s torso.”
Niyah walked around the table. She sat the recorder down and retrieved a scalpel from the table. The slight squeak of the door opening prompted her to look up. To her utter irritation, Bella entered the exam room.
“Where you at with it, Doc?”
Niyah dropped the scalpel on the table and glared at Bella through narrowed lids. “What are you doing here, Bella?”
Bella closed the door and walked closer to the body on the table. “I’m doing my job.”
Niyah frowned. “Your job? You doing autopsies now?”
Bella shook her head. “Mm-mm. But I do ensure the integrity of evidence by observing the chain of custody.”
Niyah inhaled a breath in an effort to temper her anger -or maybe it was to hide her fear. Bella was no fool. She was a trained observer. She clocked liars and caught killers for a living. But dropping the facade could land Niyah and her murderous sister in prison. So, the choice was made. She needed Viola Davis her way out of a prison sentence. “What the fuck is this? What’s the issue, Bella?”
Bella shrugged. “What issue? There’s no issue. You got an issue?”
Niyah sighed. She had to stop being so defensive. Bella was on her ass. “I’m good. You could've brought coffee.”
Bella grinned. “I’ll run and get some.” She looked down at the victim. “You collect DNA yet?”
“I did.”
“Did you submit it yet?”
“I did,” Niyah assured.
“Good. I need a copy of the log.”
Niyah blew out a frustrated breath. She grabbed the log and checklist from the table and handed it to Bella. “Mistakes happen, Bella. I don’t need you to babysit me. It won’t happen again.”
Bella smiled. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I know mistakes happen. I guess the detective in me got me all up in your shit.” She threw her hands up in surrender. “I’ll back off.”
Niyah felt the tension leave her shoulders. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Am I gonna see you at the Creed’s for the VP debate?”
“If work allows.” Niyah waved toward the body on the table. “They’re dying to get in.”
Bella chuckled. “You’re silly. But I hope you can make it. It’s been a while since we kicked back over some drinks.”
It had been a while. Somehow, along with the Creeds, Niyah’s life had been completely turned upside down. And having an ex-junkie murderous sister was an inconvenient addition to the chaos. A little laughter over drinks with friends was a tempting alternative to the bullshit she’d been dealing with lately.
Niyah peeled the gloves from her hands and walked over to Bella. “I’m really sorry about fucking up the DNA. I’m gonna do everything I can to get your case back up and running.”
Bella sighed. “Shit happens, Niyah. We’ll get what we need off of this guy.”
“Yeah. Let’s hope so.”
In her head, Niyah hoped that Naomi wasn’t lying about her innocence. If not, they were both well and truly fucked.
Bella’s lips curled into grin. She took a few steps to shrink the gap between them. “So, Lucas tells me that Xander has been staying with you. How’s that going?”
Niyah smiled. “It’s cool. He stays out of the way, and he can cook his ass off.”
“I’ll bet,” Bella muttered. “So much for no white boys.”
