Piggybacking off his question, Riley added, “Can you at least tell us how long she’s been dead?”
Maggie blew out a breath and stood. Looking down at the body once more, she hesitated to answer.
Not surprising. The woman hated guessing at these things. But they neededsomethingto go on until a full examination could be completed.
“I won’t know more until I get her back to the lab, of course.”
“Of course.” Riley gave their colleague a small smile.
Maggie bit her bottom lip—a habit he’d noticed she had when she was either nervous or deep in thought. “She’s cold and rigor has come and gone. The victim has very little body fat, which would cause the process to be faster than a person who was heavier. If she died while putting up a struggle, or shortly thereafter, that would also accelerate things.”
“Best guess?” Eric prodded her.
The intelligent woman sighed. “Taking all of that into consideration, along with the bruising and the mottling, I’d say she’s been dead at least sixteen hours. Possibly twenty-four. But again—”
“You won’t know until you can take a closer look,” Riley finished for her. “We know.”
The corners of Maggie’s rosy lips curved. “We’ll get her loaded up and back to the lab ASAP. I have one more guy to do before her, so it’ll probably be morning before I can get started on her. But I can at least have Daniel run her prints through the system as soon as we get back. I’ll call you as soon as I have those results.”
Daniel Kaufman was Maggie’s lead lab technician. The guy was a little quiet, but good at his job.
“Thanks, Mags.” Eric offered her a kind smile. “In the meantime, if you find anything useful or out of the ordinary—”
“I’ll call you sooner.” Maggie nodded.
The three of them had shared the same conversation at nearly every crime scene they’d worked together.
He and Riley turned to walk back to their department issued car.
“Now what?” she asked.
“I’m starving.” He patted his flat stomach. “Wanna grab some lunch on our way back to the station?”
She rolled those gorgeous eyes of hers. “Only you can be feet away from a dead body and still want food.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault we skipped breakfast.”
Riley glanced around to make sure no one overheard before turning her heated gaze toward his.
“Actually, it’s one hundred percent your fault.”
“You could’ve said no.” He smirked.
She gave him a playful glare. “You knew I wouldn’t.”
As he made his way around to the driver’s door, Eric couldn’t help but remember every detail about what they’d been doing instead of eating breakfast.
Or, more accurately, what he’d been doing to her.
“Fine.” She opened the passenger door with a knowing grin. “We’ll stop and get something to eat. But this time,Iget to pick where we go. None of that greasy, cheeseburgers and fries crap.”
“Fine.” Eric grinned.
He’d drink a damn protein shake if it meant spending more time with her.
Putting the car in drive they pulled away, leaving the scene—and the dead girl—behind. He tuned the radio to Riley’s favorite station and, as expected, she began humming along to the music.
Badly.
