Page 10 of Ghostly Bother
They all watched as Brayden measured the whole fetus, then measured the foot length, and again the rump to crown of the small baby. He then looked closely at the breast area and the slight formation of nipples. "Um, if I remember right, I'd say she was about twenty weeks." Brayden glanced up at Lance to confirm his findings.
Lance nodded. "That would be my guess as well." He glanced over to Eden, hoping she'd verify their findings, but she looked angry instead of sad that her baby died with her.
"You can't tell anyone I was pregnant. No one can know. You can't put that in some stupid report." Eden started to float back and forth across the room. "Don't tell my husband."
Lance raised a brow.
"You hadn't told your husband you were pregnant?" Jeremy asked.
"No, and I had no plans to. Not right away." Eden paused her floating to stare at Lance. "You can't put that in a report."
Lance just stared at her. He had a ton he wanted to ask but couldn't with others around.
"It has to go into the report," Jeremy told her. "They have to put down everything they find."
"No, not that. I don't want people to know. I don't want Michael to know." Eden frowned. "Don't tell him. It will only hurt him more."
"Lance can't respond to you, but I know what he'd say. He'd tell you that it's the law and he can't keep anything out of the autopsy report." Jeremy looked over at Lance, then down to where Brayden was continuing with the autopsy.
"No," Eden cried, then rushed from the room.
"Should I follow her?" Jeremy asked.
Lance gave a small shake of his head. There was no point in going after her. She'd come back around if she wanted to know what was going on. They still had an hour or more beforethey finished the autopsy. If she wasn't back by the time Lance met Angus for lunch, then he'd give Angus and Franks what information he had. It was the best he could do. If Eden didn't want to be part of the conversation, he couldn't force her.
With Eden gone, Lance focused on the autopsy, finally able to give Brayden his full attention. He hoped Angus might show up to view the autopsy. He couldn't wait to tell him about Eden's pregnancy. Was that possibly why someone killed her? If her husband didn't know, was it his child? He would think that someone around four months pregnant would have told their spouse already.
Watching Brayden work, Lance made mental notes of everything Eden had told them. That information would be just as important to Angus as the autopsy results would be. There wasn't much for him to pass on. Eden hadn't given them much. While he believed she wanted to know who killed her, he got the feeling she was more concerned with covering up her own secrets than finding her killer.
"Did you know her?" Carrie asked Lance.
He shook his head. "Not other than what I'd hear on the news or from Angus. I know Sam met with her several times trying to increase our budget, but she refused. I hate to see anyone die, but getting a new mayor might be good for this city. We've all seen how fast the area is growing. It didn't seem as if the mayor was ready to deal with the financial needs that went along with the growth. It will be interesting to see who ends up replacing her."
"The change will be good, but it's going to be crazy around here for a while. I can't believe the media attention this is getting," Carrie commented as she took a sample that Brayden cut from the body. She labeled it and set it aside with the others to be sent off to the lab.
"I agree." Brayden didn't look up from where he was working. "It must be a slow news week to draw this kind of attention. There had to be a dozen media vans parked by the police station when I drove by this morning."
"The chief gave a brief update this morning. They were probably there for that." Lance shrugged. "I haven't gotten any information from Angus yet but saw on the news this morning that they were doing a briefing at nine and another at four this afternoon."
"They're probably hoping to have the autopsy report by then." Brayden stepped back from the table. "Want me to write it up, then you can review and sign?"
"That would be great." Lance looked down at the body, making a mental list of everything so they were sure nothing was missing. "Get everything to the lab. The sooner we close this case, the better."
"I'll close up the body. Send Kyle in to get the stuff for the lab. He can run them upstairs instead of waiting for them to come collect things." Carrie was already moving into place to return organs to the body and stitch it up.
"We've got two more autopsies to get done today, but let's get this report written up, then break for an early lunch. We can get to the other two this afternoon." Lance wanted to call Angus and let him know Eden had taken off and they could skip lunch if he wanted to.
"Sounds good. I'll get this to you as soon as I finish." Brayden stepped out of the room to take off his protective gear.
"You okay alone?" Lance asked Carrie.
"Yep, I'll be done soon. I'm going to run an errand during lunch, but I'll be back within an hour so we can get through the afternoon." Carrie continued to work as she spoke. "Want me to grab you something to eat on my way back?"
"I'm good, but thanks. Angus and Franks may drop by with something. If not, I've got stuff in the breakroom I can pop into the microwave." He paused at the door, looking back at her. "Thanks for all you do, Carrie. This place couldn't run without you."
"Thanks, that's nice to hear." She glanced his way. "We all do our part."
"We do, but we also tend to take each other for granted. I just wanted you to know that you're noticed and appreciated."
