His eyes light right up. “Ooh, tacos. While you do that, I’ll talk to Jesse about snakes. And when you get back, I want to stop at the hospital to see Nadine.”
“Okay, sounds good. I’ll be right back.” I walk out of our office and over to Matthew’s desk where I proceed to push his pencil holder over. “Do you want tacos? No. Okay.”
“I do,” Jesse says. “Yes, please.” He pulls out his wallet and grabs a twenty which he tries to pass to me, but in doing so he pulls out nearly half of his money and more than one receipt in the process.
“Why is your wallet packed so full?” Matthew asks him.
“I don’t know, man. I have a problem where people hand me shit, so I just cram it in there.”
“Your problem is that you think twenty dollars is enough for me go across town and carry your tacos back,” I say.
“The tacos aren’t even twenty bucks!” Jesse protests.
“What are you offering, Matthew?” I ask.
“My heart.”
“Keep it. And keep your sad money. I’ll pay. It’ll be my one good deed for the less fortunate for the year,” I say. “Text me what you want.”
“I love you, Liam,” Matthew calls after me.
“I’m spitting on your taco.”
“It’ll be like a French kiss from you to me,” he says.
He knows I hate it when he’s not riled up by my snippy comments, so I glower at him and head on my way. I walk down the stairs, but instead of going out the door, I head right into the medical examiner’s office, immediately sidetracked by my wandering mind. Tammy—or Bonnie or whatever the hell her name is—is over there drooling on her keyboard, so she pays me no mind as I walk over to the drawer and pull the body out again.I stare at it for a minute while I think about the possibility of venom.
If someone did extract venom from a black mamba or just forced it to bite the man, the bite must have happened on the body. The body in question is mostly gone… consumed by the hyenas. The venom wouldn’t affect their consumption of him… did the killer know this? They almost had to have to ensure there were no suspiciously dead hyenas come morning. Hell, the person had to have been smart enough to extract venom; of course they’d know the effects of it on a body and the consumption of the meat.
I bring up Jesse’s web browser, questioning why he didn’t bother changing his password. Is it because he knows I’d just figure out the new password anyway?
Opening up the tab, I scroll through his computer for a bit before closing it with a sigh. So we know how the man possibly died.
The next question is who… and why.
I wonder if they have any idea that I’m coming for them?
EIGHT
Gabriel
“Is there much else to even get here?” Liam asks when we arrive at the hospital.
“I don’t know. I just… I know we have the report from the doctor. But I want to go over things again. I know she hasn’t woken up, but if there’ssomething… hell, Liam, I’ve seen you deduce an entire murder just by glancing at the way someone’s hair looked.”
He laughs as we get out of the vehicle. “I’m pretty sure it was something more than that.”
“I’m not so sure it was! I’m still convinced you looked at that guy’s hair and just figured it all out.”
“You seem to think I’m spectacular no matter what I do. How sweet of you,” he says with a wink.
“You are pretty spectacular,” I agree as we pass a security officer fumbling with his radio. I nod at him while Liam pretends he doesn’t exist because no one exists in his eyes but me.
He beams at me. “But I will never be as phenomenal as you.”
“Where do you think ass-kissing is going to get you?”
“Somewhere good, hopefully. Maybe somewhere with your clothes off?” Liam suggests.
