Page 62 of Lost Kingdom

“On the apps. That place is usually a cesspool of spaghetti-covered trash and unresolved trauma. But I got lucky with this one.”

“Name? Age? Star sign?”

She snorts. “Taylor. Thirty-three. Capricorn.”

I hiss. “You have my condolences. As long as the orgasms are good, I suppose, the Capricorn can be put aside for now. Don’t marry them, though. It’s doomed to fail.”

“Good to know. Suggestions on desirable star signs?”

“Your birthday is August, right? Like mine.”

She sips her coffee, her fire-engine red nails glittering around the cup. “Mmhmm. Leo babies rule the world.”

“Right. So your Taylor is January. Put that ish back and get you a Sagittarius. Fire signs work well together.”

“I’ll be sure to update my app bio. What’s Tim?”

“He’s none of your business.” I show her my smile—feral, unwelcoming, and intolerant—then I glance back at Minka and consider Gemini babies. Tim and I are compatible too. I made sure way back on… around my twenty-second birthday. “You gonna see Taylor again?”

“Probably. Did I mention the six orgasms?”

“Mmhm.” I lift my chin when the boss’ eyes swing this way. And when she doesn’t grab the ruler and slice the mayor’s throat, I stand and take the remaining two coffees. “We’ve been summoned.”

“Goodie.” She bounds from the desk in combat boots and a cute red dress that matches her nails. She would freeze her ass off outside in that outfit, which means she brought a coat that wraps her up from her throat to her ankles. Swinging the door wide and grinning for the sexy mayor, she lopes across to the leather couch while I detour to deliver Minka’s boring coffee.

“Thanks.” She grabs the cup and sips like the liquid inside will save her life. “Jesus. What a morning.”

“I didn’t know you’d be here, Mayor.” I perch on the edge of Minka’s desk, facing the older, salt-and-pepper-haired, devil-may-care former district attorney. “I’d have grabbed you a coffee, too.”

“It’s no problem, Doctor Emeri.” He glances at Minka. “I’d say this about wraps up our meeting. I appreciate your time, Chief.”

Under duress!I know she screams those words in her mind.I didn’t come here today expecting to be ambushed so early on a Monday morning.

“Doctors.” He winks at me, smirking when a warm blush fills my cheeks. Then he turns and does the same to Raquel. “Be careful on scene this week. This city is getting a little out of control. And though I’m working hard with the police to rein things in, we all know it’s easier said than done.”

“I never leave the lab,” she responds easily. “So you have no worries with me.”

“What’s he talking about?” The moment he steps out of the office and the door closes at his back, I spin and drop into the chair he vacated, the cushion still warm from his backside. “Minka?”

“There’s been a mass casualty event over by the bay. Rumor has it someone targeted Nathan Booth’s people. Wiped out a half dozen of his men in a single drive by.”

“Jesus.” I fold one leg over the other and rub my thigh to rid it of the goosebumps that sprint along my skin. “If they were targeting Nathan Booth, then that means it’s, like…” I can’t say too much in front of Raquel. We’re friendly, but we’re notdiscuss the mafiafriendly. “That means it was Booth’s enemies. And his enemies are… ya know?”

“Not them. I have it from Felix himself that they were not involved. The mayor came by to unofficially ask that same question. And since I have the ability to get the answers, and a vested interest in keeping up with the story, I obliged him. I’m not sure who targeted Booth, but they were fast, and their aim was good.”

I sigh and pick at the plastic lid of my coffee, wishing for my phone, though it’s still in my bag, and my bag is under my desk. “Six down?”

“Yeah, and they’re stacked up in our fridges right now, awaiting processing. They came in during the night-shift, so I didn’t pull us in early to get started. Doctor Patten bagged, tagged, signed them in, and photographed them for documentation. She finished just as I walked in. So there was no need for an early start.”

“But she didn’t cut?”

“Nope. These are homicide, so we need to keep it clean, cross our t’s, and present the investigating detectives with a complete report.”

“Archer and Fletch?”

She shakes her head. “Detectives out of Midtown are running lead on this one. Archer has been kept squarely away, which I suppose was probably part of the Mayor’s ‘I’m working to get things under control,’ thing. It’s no secret that Archer is related to certain people. Those certain people are cause for concern for Justin. So he came to me first thing this morning.”

Hmm. So he saidhomicide. Notgobble-de-gook.

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