CHAPTER 20
NIYAH
Niyah picked up her desk phone and dialed her colleague's extension.
“Pathology,” the person announced on the other end.
“This is Dr. Reed calling for Dr. Hall.”
“One moment, Dr. Reed.”
After a minute or so, Dr. Hall answered. “Dr. Reed, hello. What can I do for you?”
“Good afternoon, Dr. Hall. I was hoping you could send me a copy of your preliminary examination of the John Doe shooter from upstairs.”
After a pause with no response, Niyah continued. “I know cause of death is obvious. I just wanna run his profile against one of my John Does.”
“Ohh, I see. No problem. I’ll email my results,” the doctor responded.
“Thanks a bunch.”
“No problem, Doctor. Expect an email around four o'clock.”
“Wonderful. Have a good day.”
“All right. You too.”
Niyah hung up and glared down at the file on her missing corpse. A knock on the door made her look up. Niyah smiled and closed the file, shocked to find her sister’s head peeking through the doorway. “Hey! What are you doing here?”
Naomi smiled and pushed through the door. “I was in the neighborhood.”
Niyah’s face twisted in confusion. “You were in the neighborhood?”
“Well, no. But I missed you.” She entered and plopped down in the chair in front of her desk.
“I missed you too. You got time for lunch?”
Naomi grinned. “You treating?”
Niyah rolled her eyes. “Don’t I always?”
“Cool! What you working on?”
Niyah frowned. Naomi had never, not once, taken an interest in her work. She stood and leaned on her desk.
“Somebody dead,” was her sarcastic response.
Naomi made a face and leaned back in the chair. “You ready now?”
“No. I gotta do a quick prelim before my full exam. Can you wait about forty-five minutes?”
Naomi pulled her phone out of her purse. “I’ll wait here.”
Niyah walked around her desk and kissed her sister’s forehead. “I won’t be long.”
Excited about lunch with her sister, she grabbed her hospital coat and hurried to exam room 4, leaving Naomi to entertain herself.