Emerson set the other cans beside the first set. “We collected these samples from the apartment fire south of the Highlands. What’s the protocol for turning these over to you?”
The little lab rat scurried behind the counter and pulled out a clipboard with a long chain and an attached pen. “Harry usually has them all marked for me by the time he arrives.” He looked over the lids. “And looks like that’s done. Give me a minute.”
Oakley logged each one, showing Emerson what he wrote. When he’d finished, he re-counted the cans and the entries. “Looks like I’ve got them all. I just need your signature beside each one.”
Emerson scanned the list, confirmed the numbers Harrison had labeled each can, and signed off. No way was he not ensuring everything had been turned over correctly. He’d neverhear the end of it if he fucked up a simple task like that. “How long before we can expect results?”
“We’reincrediblybacklogged,” Oakley said, taking the clipboard from Emerson. “But we’ve been doing our best to bump Harrison’s stuff to the top of the list. Do you have email yet?”
“I assume my same old email works fine,” Emerson said.
“Not aninvestigationsaddress, though? Your old one might not be secure enough,” Oakley said. He pushed his glasses higher on his nose again. “I’ll send the results to Harrison’s email, just in case.” He collected all the paint cans, somehow managing the lot better than Emerson had, and ambled closer to the door closing off the lab. “Shouldn’t be more than a couple of days, I hope.”
Emerson marched over and helped Oakley with the lab door.
Oakley’s face grew pink, and he pulled away from Emerson.“Thanks.”
Emerson backed off, terrified he’d made the omega think he was coming onto him. The door hit Oakley in the shoulder, and he let out an audible,“Ooof.”
“Sorry,” Emerson said, pushing the door open again and shaking his head. “I didn’t want to get in your space.”
“It’s okay,” Oakley said, frowning slightly. He slipped inside, and Emerson gave him a short wave through the glass before heading out. When he returned to the truck, Harrison was standing in the back of the truck rifling through the storage chest. As soon as he saw Emerson sauntering his way, he jumped down from the bed in a wicked temper.
“Where the hell did you go? Where’s our evidence?”
“I just dropped it off at the crime lab,” Emerson said, holding his hands up in surrender.
Harrison’s brow furrowed. “You can’t just drop it off. It has to be logged in. You have to sign it over. There areprocedureswe must follow, Em.”
“Oakley walked me through the procedures,” Emerson said, lowering his hands. “Each can was logged. I confirmed they were all there, too—and signed them in. Oakley says they’ll email you the results as soon as possible.”
Harrison eyed him silently for a couple of seconds. “He knows they’re from the most recent fire?”
“Yessss,”Emerson hissed.
“I need them bumped,” Harrison said. He turned toward the doors that led to the lab. “They need to be done ASAP.”
“Oakley said they’ve been moving your stuff to the top of the list and plans to do so again. He hopes to have something for you in a day or two.”
Harrison’s frown deepened for a second before he shook his head, expression softening a little. “I should’ve been there.”
“I figured I could handle the menial task of escorting the evidence in while you got a few extra minutes of sleep.” Emerson dangled the keys in front of his brother. “Sorry for being considerate. I’ll try not to let it happen again.”
Harrison blinked a few times before he scrubbed his face. “Sorry. I don’t mean to bark. I woke up… and freaked.” He reached for the keys. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Harrison eyed Emerson. “This thing with Raimy… it’s still really new.”
Emerson frowned. Why was Harrison bringing their omega up again? “So you’ve already said.”
“I just wanted to make sure you knewthat’swhy I’m not inviting you to dinner. Not because I don’t want you to meet our omega.”
Our omega.For something new, Harrison sounded all in. He wondered if Cassidy felt the same. It still blew his mind they were adding an omega to their mix. “It’s cool.”
“I’ll introduce him to you and the rest of the family soon,” Harrison said. “We just need some time to get our heads straight in all this and figure out how we move forward.”
“It’s okay, Harry. I get it. I won’t say anything.”
