Page 88 of Watercolor Skulls

The coroner frowns, deep wrinkles creasing the sides of his mouth. “How very sad.” He steeples his fingers in front of his face. “If you give me a minute I will gather the paperwork for her family. There is a process we must go through to have her moved.”

Raffe nods and the elderly gentlemen rises and begins rifling through file cabinets.

“I need a minute,” Raffe tells me, standing and excusing himself.

I wait for the door to close behind him. “Sir?” I quietly interrupt the man in his search.

He looks at me briefly before focusing once again on the files. “Yes?”

“Was…I mean was she pregnant when she was found?”

He stops, his fingers paused on a bright blue folder. “No.” His brows furrow. “I thought she had been missing. Why would you ask about a pregnancy?”

“She was missing, yes, but not to me. I had met her a few times, here in San Francisco.”

“I see.” He pulls the file from the cabinet and takes a seat, not taking his eyes off me.

“You look familiar. Do I know you?”

“Perhaps. I’m Senator Ramsey’s daughter.”

He taps the folder on the desk.

I need to be smart here so I offer him the best explanation I can. I don’t need him getting suspicious and alerting anyone.

“I met Jenny while I was working with a charity. My hopes were to reunite her with her family. She was pregnant at the time. We lost touch before…” I leave my thoughts there. It takes longer to tell a lie than the truth.

He smiles at me sadly. “No need to explain. I understand. It’s too bad she couldn’t have held on a little longer.”

Raffe walks back into the room. His eyes wandering from the coroner to me. The coroner stretches an arm forward. “If you could get these to her family, we cannot start the process until they are returned to us.”

“Thank you,” Raffe tells him. The coroner rises from his chair to shake Raffe’s hand.

Dan and Dirk are waiting for us outside, leaning against the building. Both are smoking.

“Get it all squared away?” Dirk asks.

Dan stomps his smoke with his boot before wrapping me up in the safety of his arms.

“Yeah, it was a match.” Raffe slaps the papers the coroner gave him against his thigh.

Dirk grabs the back of Raffe’s head and pulls him in for a hug. Not a quick bro hug but a real one. One that tells me they’ve been through a lot together.

“You okay?” Dan asks me.

“Yeah, fine.” I’m not. I’m far from fine. There are so many questions. So many.

Dirk releases Raffe.

Raffe walks over to me and tugs me out of Dan’s embrace, pulling me into his. My arms hang awkwardly at my side. “Thank you,” he whispers against my hair, tucking his face into my neck. I stare at Dirk over his shoulder. He nods his head. Slowly I bring my arms up and wrap around him. When he pulls away he brushes tears from his eyes. “Fuck, I’m ready to go home.” He folds the papers in his hand in half, shoving them in his back pocket.

“Hell, yeah. I miss my girls.” Dirk pats him on the back as they walk towards their bikes.

My eyes drift after them.

“What about you?” Dan asks, spinning me to face him. “You ready to go home?”

I nod shyly.

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