Page 14 of Close Quarters

As she stepped outside, her assistant, Devin, walked up. “Katie? Do you really want us all to leave? There’s still a lot of work left.”

She shook her head. “No. It was just a misunderstanding. Let’s finish up.”

He nodded and motioned to the rest of the team. They followed her back to the evidence van. She climbed back inside with Amanda, who stood with one of the bodies, bent over it and peering inside the body bag.

“What are you doing?” Katie asked.

The other woman straightened and turned. “Nothing. Just waiting for some help.”

Katie narrowed her eyes. “And you just decided to look inside the body bag while you waited?”

Amanda fidgeted with the zipper, pulling it closed, her eyes looking everywhere but at Katie. “Just getting a head start on my exam. Can we get back to work, please?”

Katie stared at her for a moment. Something about her explanation felt fishy. She made a mental note to talk to Seb about the pretty doctor, but let it go for now. “Sure. You going to stop treating me like a felon?”

Amanda’s spine straightened and her eyes turned flinty. “Fine.”

“Good. Glad we have an understanding. Grab that end.” She pointed to the body bag, then reached for the end closest to her. With Amanda’s help, they slid the body off the shelf and backed out of the van to place it on a gurney one of Katie’s team members brought out. Alex and Devin climbed in after them to get the next one, placing it on a second gurney. They wheeled them all inside where Alex stowed them in the morgue fridge. Her techs followed with the carts full of evidence from the scene. When everything was in the lab, there was little room to move.

“We’re going to have to do something about this,” Alex muttered to her.

“Yeah. Tomorrow. We’ll do something about it tomorrow. Or the next day, since we have to be back out at the property first thing in the morning.” She rubbed her face and smoothed her hair back with a sigh. “I think that’s everything. Let’s go home.”

“I like that idea.” Alex rolled his head. “Thanks for all your hard work, everyone,” he said, raising his voice. “Go home and get some rest.”

Katie’s team waved and filtered out, leaving them with Amanda and her crew.

“Are you driving back to Denver?” Alex asked them.

Amanda shook her head. “No. We’re staying at that bed-and-breakfast just outside of town. The Lilac Inn.”

“The sheriff’s wife runs that place. You’ll like it,” Katie said.

“So long as it has a bed and a hot shower, I don’t care,” Chelsea quipped. “Are we ready to go, Dr. Pressley?”

Amanda’s eyes drifted to the fridge for a split second, but she nodded. “Yeah. Let’s get some rest.”

“We’ll walk you out,” Alex said, taking a step toward the door.

Katie’s hand shot out to touch his arm. He glanced at her. “Actually, could I talk to you for a minute?”

His brow creased, but he nodded before looking at Amanda. “We’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

She smiled at them, but Katie wasn’t fooled. It was forced. There was something hinky going on.

“Goodnight,” Amanda murmured and followed her team out the door.

Katie whirled to look up at Alex as soon as the door swished shut. “We need to keep a close eye on her when she’s with the bodies and evidence.”

He frowned down at her. “What? Why?”

“After I agreed to stay and went back to the van, I caught her looking inside one of the body bags.”

His frown deepened. “Why would she be looking in one of the bags while they were still in the van?”

“That’s a good question. I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was just getting a head start on her examination.”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense.”

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