Chapter 11 Harper-Rayn #2
My cheeks flush at the way he calls me doll, but I push it aside and let out a breath. Just because he seems to be ready to see hell in human form doesn’t mean I’m ready to see it again. “Okay,” I whisper, clutching the zipper and slowly pulling it down.
Knight’s gaze drops to the body, and as I reluctantly pull it open, my brows crease with confusion. “Wait,” I mutter, hurrying to unzip it the rest of the way before grabbing the sides of the bag and yanking it open. “This isn’t it. This isn’t the body from last night.”
I shake my head as Knight’s gaze comes back to mine. “It’s cool. Maybe you got the wrong unit.”
Unease pounds through my veins, and I grab the side of the body bag, checking over the identification number.
“No. I don’t get things wrong. Not at work,” I tell him, knowing damn well this is the very bag I placed the victim into last night.
It has my handwriting, the same rushed letters and numbers from where my hands were shaking.
“It’s the right bag, but . . . someone has moved the body. ”
“Moved the body?” he questions. “Is that normal?”
“No,” I breathe, already knowing that something sinister is at work here.
I push the drawer back in, giving myself some space to walk by it before grabbing the next unit and quickly unlocking it.
I drag the next drawer out, unzipping the body bag and peeking at the body inside before pushing it back and checking the next.
“Never. We can’t risk cross-contamination.
It’s a cardinal rule. Nobody in this morgue would ever make such a critical mistake. This was . . . shit.”
One by one, I continue checking, getting frantic in my movements before pointing toward the other end of the refrigeration unit. “Start checking those ones.”
Knight doesn’t hesitate, moving down the other end of the long unit and swiftly opening each locker. He pulls out each drawer, mimicking my movements and carefully pulling down the zipper to check who lies beneath. “What did the victim look like?”
“Dark hair. Olive skin. Five o’clock shadow. He was tall. You’ll be able to identify him by the carvings on his chest. You won’t miss it.”
Knight nods and keeps checking, and I watch with a sinking stomach as each drawer he checks is swiftly pushed back in and relocked. “Nothing down here,” he tells me a minute later.
We meet in the middle, and as I close the final door, I glance up at Knight. The look in his eyes tells me he already knows what I’m about to say. “It’s gone.”
“How is that possible?”
I shake my head again, my heart pounding violently inside my chest. “It’s not possible. Nobody would have touched it. They wouldn’t risk messing with the chain of custody. The only person—”
My words fall away, fearing what we both already know.
“This asshole came back.”
A terrified whimper escapes from my lips, and when Knight steps into me and pulls me into his strong arms, I fall into them as though that’s exactly where I belong. “This situation is becoming too dangerous for you, Harper. Perhaps you need to—”
“No,” I rush out, pushing back and meeting his haunted stare as panic pulses through my veins.
“I know what you’re going to say, but stepping back from my work is not an option.
This is my career, and I’ve worked too hard to risk losing it now.
Taking time off or messing with my schedule isn’t an option.
We just need to find this guy and lock his ass up. ”
“Finding him isn’t going to happen overnight, Harper. This shit takes time, and now that the body has mysteriously vanished. I . . . I don’t fucking know.”
I press my hands to my temples and start pacing the length of the refrigeration unit. “What am I supposed to do?” I ask, unsure if he even has the answers I desperately need. “This is messing with my head. I’ve never felt fear the way I have the last couple of nights.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” he murmurs.
“Common sense would tell you not to work night shift in a morgue until the threat is gone. But if stepping back from your work for a little while isn’t an option, then you need to speak to your boss and let him know what’s going on.
You know you can always call me if you need anything, but you need to see if hospital security could have someone watching out for you. ”
I nod, knowing he’s right, but I don’t like my options.
The moment I tell Dr. McKullan, I can wave goodbye to my night shifts.
As for asking the hospital security to keep an eye out, that’s not entirely a bad idea.
I can’t fault that. I’m going to have to talk to them anyway.
It’s one thing to not tell Dr. McKullan the finer details of last night’s case, but now that a body has gone missing, a report needs to be filed, and an investigation will be opened.
Knight watches me for a moment, and there’s no denying that he has something to say, only as he reaches for me and goes to open his mouth, a notification comes through on his phone.
“Shit,” he mutters, checking his messages.
“I’m being called out to a scene. I’ve got to run, but I’m going to talk to Detective Gray and see what he knows. ”
“Okay,” I say, nervously crossing my arms over my chest. I was brave before, but now that Knight is leaving me alone here for the night, that courage is slipping away. “Let me know if he has any leads.”
Knight nods, and with that, he turns and stalks out the door, leaving me alone in the morgue with nothing but my own determination and sheer idiocy to keep me safe.