Page 12 of The Liar

“Green tea with jasmine,” he said. “You like that herbal shit, right?”

“I do.” I dropped onto my chair and started up my computer without looking at him. “Why?”

Was this some kind of pity gift?

Hanson looked awkward. “Just drink it, Lee. Don’t make this weird.”

“There’s the Hanson I know.”

It seemed the old grouch was capable of cheering me up after all.

He cleared his throat. “The Sloane autopsy is scheduled for nine.”

“Great.” Autopsies were far from my favorite part of the job, but they were an excellent way to get answers.

“Yeah,” he scoffed. “Great. I’m gonna need half-a-dozen Tums to get through this.”

I turned away so he wouldn’t see my smirk. Even though Hanson had been on the force for far longer than me, he still got green at autopsies. He’d tried smearing menthol rub beneath his nose, chewing gum, and even positioning himself so he didn’t have a proper view of the body, but nothing seemed to improve his queasiness.

Not even his beloved Tums.

I checked my watch. “I guess we’d better head down.”

He groaned but followed as I grabbed a notebook andstrode to the elevator. We took it to the second-lowest floor, where the medical examiner’s office was housed. Dr. Kelly was making preparations to begin the autopsy and her assistant, Dr. Leonard, was jotting notes on a tablet.

“Good morning,” I said, coming to a halt a respectful few yards from the table.

“Morning, Detectives,” Dr. Kelly said. She glanced at Hanson and her lip curled. “How’s your stomach today?”

“Fine,” he grunted, even though his usually rosy complexion was already paling.

“Of course it is.”

Dr. Leonard snickered, then immediately covered his mouth and ducked so he wouldn’t have to meet Hanson’s eyes.

“We’re ready to begin,” Dr. Kelly declared, switching on an audio recording device. “The time is 9:02 a.m. This is the autopsy of Miss Sasha Renee Sloane. Present are myself, Dr. Erika Kelly, my assistant Dr. Jeffrey Leonard, and Detectives Joanna Lee and Dennis Hanson of the Homicide Department.”

With the introductory spiel done, Dr. Kelly moved on to the more practical aspects of the autopsy. I watched, trying to maintain a clinical detachment. I almost succeeded until Dr. Kelly made a sound of surprise.

“What is it?” I demanded.

She leveled me with a look that said she didn’t appreciate my impatience. “Miss Sloane was pregnant.”

My heart sank.

“Pregnant?” Hanson was aghast. “Someone murdered a pregnant woman?”

“It would seem so.” She sounded grim. “She was in the early stages of pregnancy—perhaps only ten weeks along. It’s likely that no one would have known unless she toldthem—and that’s assuming she was even aware of it herself. That early, it’s possible she hadn’t realized yet.”

I turned to Hanson, whose back was toward the body. “Did her family mention a boyfriend when you notified them?”

“No.” His voice was tight. “I specifically asked, and her parents said that, as far as they knew, she wasn’t seeing anyone.”

I considered that. “She could have gotten pregnant from a one-night stand, or even have used a sperm bank, but it seems more likely to me that she just didn’t tell her parents about the man in her life. Perhaps they hadn’t been seeing each other for long.”

“Perhaps,” Hanson allowed. “She could also have been… you know.”

I swallowed as my throat constricted. “Any sign of sexual violence?”

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