CHAPTER 38
NIYAH
Niyah jumped at the obnoxious shrill of her cellular phone. Without lifting her head from the pillow, she grabbed her phone from the nightstand. Through blurry vision, she saw that it was her job. “Ughh! Hello.” The hoarse greeting was more masculine than she’d intended.
“Good morning, Dr. Reed. It’s Katima Leer.”
“I’m so sorry to wake you. You’re needed in Englewood. Looks like another victim of those serial killings.”
Niyah’s eyes flew open. She said a silent prayer that her sister hadn’t struck again. Revenge was one thing because those men had viciously assaulted Naomi. But what did it say about a person who could kill so many people? It was like a bad rendition of I Spit on Your Grave.
“Send over the address,” Niyah responded with a sigh.
She ended the call and yanked the cover off her body. Getting calls in the middle of the night from the ME’s office was par for the course. But the possibility of investigating another murder committed by her sister was heart-wrenching.
Niyah got out of bed and took the fastest shower ever. She brushed her teeth, slapped some rosemary-coconut oil on her locs, and twisted them into a top bun. In lieu of clothing, she opted for scrubs. Eyeliner, lip-gloss, and a big pair of shades had her ready to face the morning.
Niyah left her room and tiptoed past Xander’s door.
He was an early bird, but at 5 AM nobody wanted the worm.
Normally, she’d make coffee before leaving, but she didn’t wanna risk waking him.
Xander would insist on driving, but Niyah was in no mood for company.
She didn’t want to explain or hide her anxiety.
So, she grabbed her bag from the closet by the door and left.
Since it was so early in the morning, it only took fifteen minutes to get to the Englewood bungalow. Cops and crime-scene tape told her she was at the right place.
Niyah parked and walked up the street. After showing her ME’s badge, an officer lifted the yellow crime scene tape.
“Thank you.” She took the steps up the porch and said a silent prayer the victim was shot and not stabbed. Before entering, she performed the routine of pulling out gloves and covering her shoes.
“Oh, good,” a police sergeant commented when she entered the living room.
There was nobody in the living room, so Niyah walked over to the sergeant. “What do we have?”
He pointed toward the back of the house. “Male, black, 30 maybe 35...”
“Okay. So, only one victim?”
“Yeah. Looks like multiple stab wounds.”
Fuck!
Niyah looked down at the sergeant’s shoes and noticed that they weren't covered. She was willing to bet that none of the other officers on scene were properly preserving the crime scene, especially if the supervisor wasn’t.
She walked toward the back of the house, saying a silent prayer that Bella hadn’t beaten her to the crime scene.
When she entered the bedroom, it seemed her prayers had been answered. Other than the decedent, there was only the evidence tech in the room. “Good morning,” Niyah greeted.
She walked over to the body. Like the others, the victim was naked.
It looked like he had either been killed during or directly after sex.
However, unlike the others, his puncture wounds were different.
Whereas the others had been smaller and cylindrical, this victim’s wounds were more like slash marks.
“Puncture wounds are different.”
“Shit!” Niyah jumped at the sound of Bella’s voice. She hadn’t heard her come in. Not to mention, she was close enough to be standing right over her shoulder. “Put a bell on!” Niyah fussed. “You scared the shit outta me.”
Bella chuckled. “My bad. Where you at with this?”
Niyah shook her head. “Nowhere. I just got here.”
She started by checking the rigidity of the deceased’s limps. “He’s been dead a little under eight hours.”
Bella kneeled by the bed to get a closer look. “What do you think made these?” she asked, referring to the puncture wounds.
“Something sharp,” Niyah chided. “Could you move so I can do my job?”
Bella smacked her lips. “I ain’t in your way.”
Over her shoulder, Niyah asked, “Don’t you need to canvass the neighborhood and question people. You know, something detective-like?”
“Nope. I got a beat team handling that. I’m focused on…” Bella raised an identification card to her eyes. “Mr. Butler.”
Niyah rolled her eyes and turned back to the victim.
The last thing she needed was Bella breathing down her neck, especially if Mr. Butler was another one of Naomi’s victims. There wasn’t a lot she could do at the scene.
She’d already estimated time of death and concluded the manner of death to be exsanguination resulting from stabbing.
Niyah turned to Bella. “Was the ME van out there when you pulled up?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“All right, I’ll finish him up at the morgue. You’ll have my findings as soon as I can get to him.”
“Cool. By the way, are you coming with Xander to watch the vice-presidential debate at the compound?”
Niyah sighed. “I might be working. I’ll let you know later.”
Her conscience wasn’t clean enough to enjoy spending time with Xander and his family. Her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of her murderous sister and her own criminal behavior on her behalf.
Bella slipped into a pair of gloves to collect the victim’s clothing. “All right, I’ll see you later.”
“Later,” Niyah muttered on her way out.
Bella was her friend, but she couldn’t get away from her fast enough. She was a good detective. The more time she spent in her presence, the harder it would be to hide her guilty conscience.
Niyah left the house. She leaned against a fence, stepped out of the shoe covers, and hurried to her car. Once inside, she fished her phone out of her bag and called her sister.
“Hello?”
“Naomi, what the fuck?”
“What the fuck, what?” Naomi snapped.
“I’m at another fucking crime scene! Am I supposed to keep covering this shit up? I’m gonna lose everything because of you! I could go to jail!”
Naomi let out a huff that irritated Niyah to her core. “First of all, I didn’t ask you to cover up shit!”
Niyah’s jaw dropped. Her face ran hot like a furnace. “You got the fucking nerve to say that shit to me?” She nodded, even though her sister couldn’t see her. “You’re on your own now. I don’t give a damn what happens to you from now on.”
“Niyah!” Naomi shouted. “Listen to me. I can promise you that your crime scene has nothing to do with me. The last one was my last. It wasn’t me.”
Niyah closed her eyes and allowed her head to fall back on the headrest.
“Sis, it wasn’t me,” Naomi reiterated. “I swear.”
The scene was similar, yet the wounds were different. She wanted to believe her sister, but she wasn’t above lying. Hell, she was a murderer.
Feeling the onset of a headache, Niyah pulled the ponytail holder from her locs and allowed them to fall free. She touched the screen to call the office.
“ME’s office.”
Niyah recognized her assistant’s voice. “Good morning, Helen. You’re in super early.”
“That’s because I’m taking Thursday and Friday off. Good morning, Doctor Reed.”
Niyah chuckled. “Well, all right, Ms. Helen. You just make sure that I don’t miss you.”
“I’ma have Felix fill in for me, but you're still gonna miss me.”
“Of course, I will. I got a body coming in. Can you prepare room four?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Thanks. See you in a minute.”
Niyah disconnected the call and looked toward the sunrise.
She started the car and contemplated going home and locking herself in her condo.
Had she been a different person, that’s exactly what she would do.
But she wasn’t and she had work to do. So, Niyah shifted into to drive and made her way toward the Cook County Morgue.
***
Niyah held the record button and spoke. “Postmortem rigidity suggests that the victim has been dead for less than eight hours. There were sixteen cylindrical puncture wounds; two to the victim’s face, one to the victim’s neck, four defensive wounds to victim’s right hand, two defensive wounds to victim’s left hand, and seven wounds located on the victim’s torso. ”
Niyah walked around the table. She sat the recorder down and retrieved a scalpel from the table. The slight squeak of the door opening prompted her to look up. To her utter irritation, Bella entered the exam room.
“Where you at with it, Doc?”
Niyah dropped the scalpel on the table and glared at Bella through narrowed lids. “What are you doing here, Bella?”
Bella closed the door and walked closer to the body on the table. “I’m doing my job.”
Niyah frowned. “Your job? You doing autopsies now?”
Bella shook her head. “Mm-mm. But I do ensure the integrity of evidence by observing the chain of custody.”
Niyah inhaled a breath in an effort to temper her anger -or maybe it was to hide her fear.
Bella was no fool. She was a trained observer.
She clocked liars and caught killers for a living.
But dropping the facade could land Niyah and her murderous sister in prison.
So, the choice was made. She needed Viola Davis her way out of a prison sentence.
“What the fuck is this? What’s the issue, Bella? ”
Bella shrugged. “What issue? There’s no issue. You got an issue?”
Niyah sighed. She had to stop being so defensive. Bella was on her ass. “I’m good. You could've brought coffee.”
Bella grinned. “I’ll run and get some.” She looked down at the victim. “You collect DNA yet?”
“I did.”
“Did you submit it yet?”
“I did,” Niyah assured.
“Good. I need a copy of the log.”
Niyah blew out a frustrated breath. She grabbed the log and checklist from the table and handed it to Bella. “Mistakes happen, Bella. I don’t need you to babysit me. It won’t happen again.”
Bella smiled. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I know mistakes happen. I guess the detective in me got me all up in your shit.” She threw her hands up in surrender. “I’ll back off.”
Niyah felt the tension leave her shoulders. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Am I gonna see you at the Creed’s for the VP debate?”
“If work allows.” Niyah waved toward the body on the table. “They’re dying to get in.”
Bella chuckled. “You’re silly. But I hope you can make it. It’s been a while since we kicked back over some drinks.”
It had been a while. Somehow, along with the Creeds, Niyah’s life had been completely turned upside down.
And having an ex-junkie murderous sister was an inconvenient addition to the chaos.
A little laughter over drinks with friends was a tempting alternative to the bullshit she’d been dealing with lately.
Niyah peeled the gloves from her hands and walked over to Bella. “I’m really sorry about fucking up the DNA. I’m gonna do everything I can to get your case back up and running.”
Bella sighed. “Shit happens, Niyah. We’ll get what we need off of this guy.”
“Yeah. Let’s hope so.”
In her head, Niyah hoped that Naomi wasn’t lying about her innocence. If not, they were both well and truly fucked.
Bella’s lips curled into grin. She took a few steps to shrink the gap between them. “So, Lucas tells me that Xander has been staying with you. How’s that going?”
Niyah smiled. “It’s cool. He stays out of the way, and he can cook his ass off.”
“I’ll bet,” Bella muttered. “So much for no white boys.”
Niyah laughed. She’d almost forgotten that Xander was white.
After a while, it just didn’t seem to matter.
Truth be told, she liked having him around.
But it had taken every bit of self-control for her not to creep into his room and finish what he’d started the night he gave her the tongue-lashing of a lifetime.
“Sooo, did you fu-.”
“Dr. Reed?” the interruption came from the doorway. Dr. Katima Leer had peeped inside. “A Jane Doe just arrived. She’s in exam room 2.”
“Thank you, Dr. Leer.”
“Do you want me to get her prepped?” asked the intern.
“Yes, please. And, when you’re done, come back and tuck this guy in.
With an eager smile, the new doctor nodded. “Will do, Dr. Reed.”
“Thank you. I’ll be right in.” Niyah walked over to the sink and washed her hands. “Duty calls, Detective. You’ll have to go mind somebody else's business now.”
“Um-hm. I’ll see you later.”
The sound of the door closing ushered the release of a ton of weight off her shoulders. Niyah wasn’t a good liar, and constantly performing was beginning to take its toll. She pulled her phone from the back pocket of her scrubs and dialed.
Niyah smiled when the rich baritone that could only come from a black man answered the call with a sexy, “Hello.”
“Leo, hello.”
“Dr. Reed.” he responded melodiously.
Niyah chuckled and cleared her voice. “I know it’s short notice, but are you free tonight?”
“If I need to be free, for you, I’ll be free.”
“How about dinner? Would seven work?”
“Sure.”
Niyah sighed. “Great. We can meet downtown. Maple a level, of course, that she did not covet.
So, she shook off the bullshit and resolved to get her life back on track.