You Belong to Me by Karen Rose Read Free Book Online

eventually pass. And of the self-loathing that inevitably followed once he’d pulled the trigger. He’d been alone when he came back home, even though he’d had Maya. He’d gone through the motions, working his job, even participating in sports. He’d been a hell of a shortstop. But he’d still been alone.
    Until the night Paul beaned him with a softball and insisted on driving him to the ER. To this day JD wasn’t certain it had been entirely an accident. Paul became his first real friend. Earned JD’s trust. Welcomed him into his family.
    The night Paul was murdered, JD had found himself alone again. Then Maya had died, taking away even the illusion of having someone. But those days were past. Like Kandahar, they were memories he rarely allowed himself to access.
    He opened the morgue door for them. ‘We’re here.’
    Stevie looked like she wanted to delve deeper, but thankfully she let it go. ‘I didn’t know you’d met Lucy Trask already.’
    Her new topic made him uncomfortable again, but in a different way this time. ‘I hadn’t really. Dr Trask did an autopsy I witnessed when I was in Narcotics. I was with her for maybe thirty minutes. We never actually spoke until today.’
    ‘Really? I never would have guessed that,’ she said shrewdly. ‘Lucy’s a good pathologist. Thorough. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her as shaken as she was today. Thinking that vic was her friend was hard. Lucy doesn’t get close to many people.’
    She pushed the door open to the autopsy suite where Lucy Trask stood behind an exam table. She was covered head to toe – a gown over her scrubs, a mask over her face, and her hair with a surgical cap. She looked just like she had the first time he’d seen her. Except this time the body she stood over was full-sized.
    Her head was bowed, her attention focused on the victim on the table.
    ‘Whatcha got?’ Stevie asked and Trask abruptly looked up, startled. Her eyes met JD’s for an unguarded moment before dropping back to the victim. But in that moment he’d seen surprise – and something else.
    Interest. It had been a long time since he’d spent time with a woman, but not so long that he could no longer recognize interest when he saw it flare. She’d been aware of him before, at the scene. Now she was wondering. He found himself standing a little straighter even as his chest tightened. Because he was wondering, too.
    ‘Quite a lot,’ Trask said, her voice brisk. ‘I was preparing to do the cut.’ She pulled the mask away from her face, leaving it to dangle around her neck. ‘But now that you’re here, you can look at him before I get started. What’s left of him anyway.’
    She wasn’t exaggerating. There was almost too much damage to take in. The two focal points were the victim’s damaged face and the huge hole in his chest. His missing fingers just added to the macabre sight.
    Stevie grimaced. ‘What did they use on him, anyway?’
    ‘All kinds of things. I told you at the scene that his legs were broken. X-rays showed three breaks in his right femur, two in his left. I’m thinking a bat was used. This hole in his chest is post-mortem. The removal of his eyes, tongue, and the finger amputations were not.’
    ‘The tongue was in the handkerchief?’ Fitzpatrick asked and she nodded.
    Stevie sighed. ‘So, what was the cause of death?’
    ‘I don’t know yet. I can tell you this guy had some work done on his face.’
    ‘I kinda figured that one on my own,’ Stevie said dryly. ‘And me, not even a doc.’
    Trask shook her head. ‘I mean, he had plastic surgery.’
    ‘How can you tell?’ JD asked. ‘Looks like every bone in his face is smashed.’
    ‘Every bone is smashed, but he’s got cheek implants. Showed up on the X-ray.’
    ‘We can get serial numbers,’ Stevie said excitedly. ‘And then ID this guy.’
    ‘We can,’ Trask said. ‘I’ll get the implants out when I do the cut. The killer must not have known about them.’
    ‘Could be