“No stab wounds,” Ethan pointed out. “No injuries that weren’t consistent with a traffic accident.” He stopped though when they got to the tox results. “He had a huge dose of muscle relaxers in his system.”
He had indeed. But according to the ME, Paul’s doctor had prescribed the medication for a back injury. So, maybe Paul had just taken too many and made the mistake of getting behind the wheel. That didn’t feel right though, and Ethan must have decided the same thing.
“I’ll request the files on both the police investigation and the autopsy,” he said, switching away from the report to do just that.
He had barely finished the message when his phone rang, and Livvy sawCounty Crime Labpop up on his screen.
“Deputy Oakley,” Ethan answered with the call on speaker.
“It’s Harris,” the caller said. No need for him to give his surname, Mendoza, since both Ethan and she knew the lab tech. “I just tried to call the sheriff, but it went to voicemail.”
“She’s tied up in an interview. How can I help?” Ethan asked.
“I just examined the knife that was sent over as highest priority,” Harris explained. “No results on the blood yet. That’llbe a while since it’s degraded. But there were fingerprints.” He paused, and it sounded as if he dragged in a long breath. “The prints were small, almost certainly made by a child.”
Livvy felt as if someone had punched her, knocking all of the air out of her. Still, she forced herself to listen to the rest of what the tech had to say.
“We got a match on the prints,” Harris said. “And they belong to Deputy Livvy Walsh.”
Chapter Six
Ethan set the glass of water on the desk next to Livvy and wished like hell there was more he could do for her.
He wanted to soothe the shock he saw on her face. Wanted to do something to ease that tension in every muscle of her body. He wished he could fix this, but at the moment he couldn’t figure out how.
At least this shock and tension were happening in private since Grace had insisted they go to her office and wait for her. Of course, everyone in the bullpen—heck, probably the entire town—would likely soon know about Livvy’s prints being on that knife. But for now, Livvy had these quiet moments to settle.
Or rather try to do that.
“Grace will have to suspend me,” Livvy muttered. With her elbows on the desk, she covered her face with her hands. “There’ll be an investigation, and I’ll lose my badge.”
Sighing, he dropped down into the chair next to her. “There’s already an investigation on the books,” he reminded her. “That happened when you were six and Aileen found you. I’ve read that file. So have you.”
And the bottom line was that Aileen and her team of deputies had done a full-scale search to try to find a body or someone wounded, and they’d come up with nothing.
“You won’t lose your badge for something that happened when you were a kid,” he added.
There was more than a tinge of anger in his voice. He hated that Livvy was beating herself up like this, but he’d be doing the same thing if their situations had been reversed.
“I’ve been thinking about baby names,” Ethan threw out there.
Livvy’s hands dropped from her face, and judging from the look in her eyes, he’d surprised her. Of course he had. That was because he rarely talked about the baby or her pregnancy. It was all tied up with the guilt that still ate away at him like acid. But at the moment he thought both Livvy and he could use a change of subject.
“Baby names?” she questioned. No anger in her voice. Just suspicion. She no doubt knew this was a distraction ploy.
But that wasn’t all it was.
“In four months we’ll be parents,” he went on. “And I figure you’re thinking about names.”
She stared at him. And stared. Then, she nodded. “I’ve jotted down a few options. I thought when the time was right, I’d run them past you.”
What she didn’t say was that she had doubts that the time might never be right, but he saw that in her eyes, too. And he hated himself for it. Hated that he’d gotten his best friend pregnant and then basically done an emotional ghosting. This was a major event in their lives, and he’d left her to handle it solo.
Well, no more.
Maybe it was the jolt of seeing this hell Livvy was going through, but he would do a better job of being there for her. And it started now.
“Neither of us have ties to family names,” he went on, “but if the baby is a girl, maybe we can go with Mellie.”
