Chapter Twelve #2
“I see you beat me here, Chrissy. Thank you for MOVING TO THIS SIDE OF THE COUNTRY permanently, and meeting us at this location,” he stated, making sure EVERYONE there knew this wasn’t a temporary thing.
It.
Was.
Longterm.
She didn’t miss a beat.
“Oh, well, it’s my pleasure, Doc. I was just about to address Mr. Longfellow’s questioning that I am actually their boss.”
Chris helped her out.
“I can confirm. She was hired to MANAGE the morgue, and the teams when we’re out of the main lab.
Not only is she my head tech, and sharing the job with you, Ben, but she’s now the morgue manager.
That’s a little position I created to make sure when I leave, the music isn’t on, there’s not a spider running amok to annoy my wife, and food isn’t dropping into the very expensive equipment. ”
Tony sighed.
“Drats. Foiled again,” he muttered.
Yes, yes, he was.
“Checkmate, Anthony,” Chris said. “It’s like you think I haven’t learned over the years.
Chrissy now has the exact same power I have.
She answers directly to Elizabeth, and she can hire and fire—emphasis on the end part.
I no longer am your boss. She is, and I’m HER boss. Welcome to a whole new world.”
She smiled.
Then, she went there.
“I’ll be rechecking everything you do, and anyone who is not performing at the level needed to sustain this team will be removed and replaced.
Autopsy One, and this team, has a reputation, and going forward, we’re going to ensure that it stays that way.
I worked fifteen years to make sure our lab ran at the highest level, and we’re staying there.
Plus, we are not embarrassing ourselves when we borrow a facility! ”
Ben couldn’t believe this.
“Is this real?” he asked, knowing that it sounded like that was going to suck.
Where was the fun?
Certainly, not here.
Chrissy smiled.
“Yes, Benjamin Lucifer Longfellow, it is. I know all about all of you. I have a photographic memory, and I’ve memorized your files.
Now that we’ve been acquainted, let’s get to work.
By morning, I want all the DNA done on the eyes, cross-referenced to the database, and checked for burial location.
If we get called out, half will stay, and half will go.
We’re running all night. I hope you brought snacks, which again, won’t be eaten in here, and are ready to show this side of the country how forensics is done. AGAIN.”
There were groans of discontent, and that made Chris giddy. So much so, that he gave her a fist bump.
Ahhhh, sanity was about to be restored.
He stared at Tony.
“You fucked around, and now, you’re about to find out. It’s back to the original protocols. Chrissy, welcome back. Run it like you stole it. Where’s the ME who owns this lab?” he asked.
They all pointed to the supply room.
“He’s wrapping paperwork before he heads out for the night,” Tony said. “He mentioned leaving the paperwork with you so you could review it before he submits it to the homicide captain.”
Chris was good with that.
Now, he could avoid asking him to omit information, and just hold onto the reports for twenty-four hours to help Elizabeth out.
Plus, he could keep running the man to vet him, and he wanted to do that when he wasn’t around.
“Good. The fact that you behaved like this in a stranger’s morgue is not what I expect from my team,” he said. “Anthony, you know better. I’ll be discussing this with Elizabeth tomorrow. Someone might be going back to Damascus.”
He gasped again.
“You’d send me back with skulls here?”
Chris went to say something, but Chrissy said it first.
“Yes, I will. Tony, you know better. Elizabeth’s life is on the line when she runs a case. What were you thinking?”
He actually looked remorseful.
“You’re right,” he said. “My bad. I got carried away.”
Yes, yes, he did.
Chris could see that this was handled, and he was leaving it in good hands.
FINALLY.
This runaway train of petulant employees was back under control.
It was the best money he’d ever spent.
For.
Real.
Chrissy Redwolf was a lifesaver.
* * * The Blackhawk Family * * *
The Restaurant
In The Hotel
Monday
Early Evening
When Tora and Mac got there, they were escorted to a table in the steakhouse, and they sat down. Already, there was one of the agents there waiting for Elizabeth. He had his notebook out, and he was looking around.
“Lose something?” Mac asked.
Alex shook his head.
“No, but maybe. My partner isn’t here yet. He’d better get here. When Elizabeth sends out a text, she’s not playing,” Alex admitted, worried.
Only, he wasn’t freaked out about that. Corbin had walked out of their shared hotel room, and he couldn’t find him. He wasn’t answering his phone, and his calls were going directly to voicemail.
He was worried.
“I’m sure he’ll get here,” Mac said, making a note to himself to never be late.
There was awkward silence for the next few minutes, until the agent was focused on something behind them.
Tora turned, and saw Elizabeth and her entourage.
She sat, and her security did the same thing, making sure she was safely placed where they could watch her back.
“Hey, team,” she said, ready to start.
Everyone was here, with the exception of Corbin, but she knew he wouldn’t be showing.
“Thank you for meeting with us. We’re going to go over everything we found out, and piece this together. As soon as we get forensics in the morning, the race is on. So, after this, get some rest because it’s likely going to be a long day tomorrow.”
Alex knew what that meant.
The race was about to begin.
Only, he was worried.
“Uh, where’s Corbin?” he asked, checking his phone to see if he texted him back. “Did he get the text?”
Well, this was going to be fun.
Elizabeth dreaded this whole mess, but as the boss, it was her cross to bear.
Unfortunately.
“I spoke to Corbin, and he’s taking a break. You’re up to bat, Mr. Bartlett. Dazzle me with what you’ve found out, like you both normally do,” she said, distracting him.
Well, that sucked.
Alex was getting that twitchy feeling, and he didn’t like it. He’d been hoping to find out if Corbin was okay. He was worried about him.
That was a problem.
His intent was to speak to him before they had dinner, to reassure him that everything was good between them.
There was no reason to be upset about what had happened.
They had a good partnership, and there was trust there. To Alex, that was the most important thing.
“Well, here goes everything,” he joked. “No pressure,” he said, trying to keep it light.
As soon as he was done, since she’d mentioned downtime after dinner, he was going to go find his partner.
When he went to speak, the waitress arrived.
And he had to stop.
Elizabeth went there.
“Everyone order dinner. It’s on me,” she said. “Get anything you want. I suggest you fuel up. Again, long day tomorrow.”
They all went, and she ordered a steak as did her partners. Uriel got a big plate of pasta, no cheese, and Alex got shrimp alfredo. When Tora and Mac ordered, they opted to share a charcuterie board, and got bowls of baked potato soup.
When the waitress left, Elizabeth pointed at Alex to clue him in that he was still up to bat.
He began.
“We hit the city council, and spoke to Trenton Balkin, Elizabeth. He was a piece of work.”
Both detectives laughed as if there was some private joke that only they were in on.
“What?” Elizabeth asked.
Tora was to the point.
“He’s a dick. The man is like that annoying HOA president that drives around trying to find things wrong with your property. He shows up at the office to annoy the hell out of us all the time. We call him building code Jesus. He’s always fixated on everyone’s mission in life.”
Elizabeth listened, already knowing some of the information from reports Corbin had sent in.
“Yeah, I can confirm,” Alex said. “The man literally only cared about a few things—the rules and meeting you. We didn’t give him your number because he just came across like he’d be someone to text you in the middle of the night to tell you that you were snoring too loud from miles away. He was too douchey.”
She appreciated that.
The fewer people with her number, the better.
“What did you find?”
Alex updated her with the report that he’d worked on when Corbin had been sleeping.
“Well, our impression, well, mine, since Corbin isn’t here, is that he’s not thrilled with the building, but he wants it to stay how it is—minus the dead bodies. He’s got a boner over historical things. He’s riding roughshod over the owner.”
That was an understatement.
It also explained why he was cockblocking the new owner from tearing the building down.
Apparently, Devon Slater hadn’t been exaggerating. His hands were legitimately tied.
“We tried to get anything out of him, but he was fixated on that one issue. When he insisted on seeing you to discuss this ‘travesty’, we bounced.”
Elizabeth sipped her coffee that the waitress had brought out.
“Okay, good work. He sounds protective of the building, and that’s weird in itself.”
Yeah, it was.
This wasn’t Alex’s first day at the rodeo, so he gave her the rest of what he’d found out.
“Then, Corbin and I wanted to be proactive. We headed to the homeless encampment where the victim, Jonathan Miller lived.”
Tora and Mac were watching how he gave his information to Elizabeth. They wanted to be able to learn how she ran her team, so they could assimilate seamlessly.
“Good plan,” she said. “What did you find?”
He laughed.
“Oh, well, you’re going to enjoy this. I don’t think that Jonathan Miller’s death was coincidental.
We asked if he saw anyone there, and apparently, a while back—no timeline since they were sketchy about that—Jonathan headed there to camp out due to a heavy storm.
They all scatter when the weather is terrible.
He went to the building. That was his ‘safe space’. ”
Ironically.
That didn’t end well for him.