Chapter 44
NIYAH
“What a fucking day!” Niyah fussed as she entered her office.
She dropped her briefcase on the floor next to her desk and plopped down in her office chair. No sooner than kicking off her shoes did the door to her office open.
“How was court?” Helen asked after peeping inside.
“Court was hell,” Niyah grumbled with a huff. “Throw the whole day away!”
Helen made a face that warned her hellish day was not over yet.
Niyah peered at her through narrowed lids. “What is it?”
“You got another gangbanger.”
Helen was referring to the string of sexual-related homicides wherein all the victims were noted gang members. Niyah sighed. “Gimme an hour to coffee up and change.”
“You got it, Doc.”
***
It didn’t take an hour. Less than forty minutes later, Niyah entered the autopsy suite and walked over to her new intern. “What do we have, Dr. Leer?”
Katima cleared her throat and eagerly responded. “Dr. Reed, we have a male, black, age 26.”
She read off the decedent’s height and weight.
Then, she continued with recorded tattoos and noted gang affiliations.
After Katima’s assessment, Niyah determined that the body on the table was associated with the previous deaths related to members of the same gang.
Even before examining the body, she was able to link the similarities between the young man on the table and the other murders that she and Bella had been investigating.
But there was only one way to find out. Niyah walked over to the table and got to work.