Since that night, the two had embarked on a casual, no-strings-attached arrangement. They’d occasionally meet up after work, have mind-blowing sex at either his apartment or hers, and go their separate ways.
Sometimes, not often, they spent the entire night together. And on really rare occasions, they’d even share breakfast before heading into work.
But one thing they’d both agreed to early on—upon Riley’s insistence—was that they never,everact as anything other than professional partners while they were on the job or around their captain or colleagues.
“She looks to be in her late teens,” Riley said of the unfortunate woman lying before them.
“Yeah.” Eric nodded, bringing his focus back to where it needed to be. “Just a baby.”
A few strands of his partner’s long, dark hair blew loose from the elastic band holding it all back. The tips of her thick ponytail whipped around, smacking the delicate skin near her mouth.
Skin he’d spent the better part of last night kissing.
Focus, West.
The tiny voice was right. Hedidneed to focus on the job and not how badly he wanted to strip his partner down and ravish her.
Something he was finding harder and harder to do whenever she was around.
I’m never going to get enough of her.
“Damn wind,” Riley muttered beneath her breath as she squatted down beside their victim.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, Eric centered his mind on the case and watched her get to work.
With her sunglasses now on the top of her head, Riley rested her forearms on her thighs. Letting her assessing gaze run slowly from the top of their young victim’s head to the girl’s worn and tattered shoes, Riley took in all the parts of the body they could see.
Eric did the same.
Their victim was dressed in a black, long-sleeved turtleneck. From its baggy appearance and the way the frayed cuffs covered half of the girl’s hands, the garment appeared to be at least two sizes too big.
Unlike the shirt, her jeans seemed almost too small. The denim was dirty and worn, and not in the stylish way people purposely bought theirs, nowadays.
“No blood.” Riley uttered the obvious. “Overdose, maybe?”
“Possibly.” Eric shrugged. “’Course we won’t know for sure until Maggie does her exam.”
Dr. Maggie Cartwright was the department’s chief medical examiner. She was also a board-certified forensic pathologist.
When it came to finding answers from the dead, Mags was definitely the one to call.
Looking at the immediate area through his dark lenses, Eric said, “I don’t see any signs of a struggle. Other than the tire marks in the dirt over there, the ground around her doesn’t appear to have been disturbed.”
“Because this isn’t our primary crime scene.” Riley pushed against her knees to stand. “Whoever did this killed her someplace else and then dumped her here.”
Eric agreed. Their victim had been laid out carefully along the road’s shoulder. Flat on her back. Arms at her sides.
Eyes closed.
Turning around in a slow, methodical circle, Riley held her hand over her browbone to shield the sun as she took in the area surrounding them. Eric followed her gaze.
There were no houses or businesses nearby. Only miles of field and wooded acreage divided by the road where the young girl had been left.
He looked back down at their victim, his chest tightening with the sadness of it all. “Let’s hope Maggie can get something from the body.”
“Don’t I always?”
Both he and Riley turned to see the woman in question dipping below the yellow barrier marking off a wide perimeter around the body. She was hands-down, the most brilliant medical examiner Eric had ever worked with.
