Page 19 of Ghostly Bother
Lance smiled, thankful he had such a good group working with him. They'd been through a lot together. They were as close as family and he wouldn't want it any other way. Even Gretta, who had just started, seemed to fit in easily and adapt to their ways.
"You need to call your boyfriend and tell him to let Lucas go." Eden rushed through the wall, screaming at him.
Lance swallowed hard, forcing himself not to react. He couldn't talk to her here in the open. He quickly made his way to his office and closed the door, knowing she would follow.
"I didn't give you Lucas's name so you could arrest him." Eden was in his face as soon as he shut the door. "I have a reputation. I can't have all my contacts arrested."
"You're dead, Eden." Lance kept his voice low so no one in the hall would hear him. "You have no contacts to protect anymore. You're dead. No one can blame you now."
"Screw you. I told you Lucas didn't kill me. Why did I just see him being led in handcuffs to a police car?" Eden was all but screaming, and Lance was thankful no one but him could hear her.
"I don't know. Maybe because he was bribing the Mayor's Office or the City Council? I haven't talked to anyone today, so I have no clue what is going on with your case." Lance went around his desk and took a seat to put distance between them.
"Call your boyfriend now and find out."
"I'm not calling anyone. I have an autopsy to do. If Angus has any updates I need to know about, he'll message me or call. Unless you have important information about who killed you, I don't need to bother him." Lance set his cell phone in the top drawer of his desk where it always stayed while he was doing an autopsy.
"It's not my job to find out who killed me. It's yours." Eden pointed at him.
"Whoa, it's not mine at all. I did your autopsy. My part in this is done. It's up to the police to find your killer, not me. Listen, why don't you just move on into the light and see what comes next for you? There's nothing more for you to do here."
"My kids are here," Eden argued.
"And I'm sorry they lost their mother. It won't be easy on them, but they'll be okay. Trust me. I lost my parents when I was younger. They'll find a way to get through this. It's only going to hurt you more if you hang around. They have no idea you're here."
"You could tell them," Eden suggested.
"Absolutely not." Lance held up a hand. "I don't give messages from the dead to the living. It's one sure way for people to think I've lost my mind. Besides, aren't your kids young? Would you really want to freak them out and confuse them with talk of ghosts? 'Sure, kids, your mom's dead, but I can still see her. Sorry you can't.' That would go over well."
Eden glared. "What about my husband, or maybe my sister?"
"Not sure your husband is going to want to hear about you hanging around after he found out you were cheating on him." Lance managed to move past Eden without going through her. "I have an autopsy to get done. We can talk later."
"Wait. What about Lucas? You have to find out why he was arrested." Eden tried to put her hand on his office door to keep him from opening it, but her hand just went through it.
"I'll find out when I see Angus. Until then, go see for yourself. I'm sure if you hang around Lucas, you'll learn what's going on." Lance pulled the door open and headed down the hallway. He smiled at Brayden as they both walked into the scrub room.
"Can I take the lead on this one?" Brayden asked.
"Sure. Any reason why?" Lance reached for a gown. "I thought it was a probable suicide."
"It is, but the guy's wife said he has situs inversus. Mac made a note about it when he brought him in last night." Brayden smiled as he washed his hands. "I've never seen that before."
"Either have I." Lance was surprised. Of course, he knew about situs inversus, but he'd never had a case come through for autopsy. It was a condition that affected about one in every ten thousand people where their organs were reversed. Usually, it didn't have any side effects and people went on with their lives as normal, but it would be interesting to see someone with it. "I think everyone will want to be in the room for this one." Lance glanced through the small window, seeing Carrie and Kyle both getting the body ready for the main autopsy. "I'm glad you warned me. I would have been shocked if we had cut him open and found that."
"Do you want to do it? I figured you'd seen it before." Brayden paused at the door to the autopsy room.
"No, I'm happy to watch and let you do the work. Just seeing it is enough. If I have any questions, I can jump in and assist." Lance was actually glad that Brayden was doing the autopsy because Eden still stood beside him, and he couldn't be sure she wouldn't try to interrupt his work again if she was angry. At least for now she was being quiet.
"I don't want to see it." Eden held up her hands. "But when you are done, I want you to find out why Lucas was arrested. I feel like it's all because of me."
Lance wanted to laugh. Of course, it was all because of her. If she hadn't been taking bribes, Lucas Jenkin wouldn't be deeply involved in the investigation. Eden probably wouldn't be dead since she wouldn't have been sneaking around in the dark to take a payment. Lance had to wonder how that even worked. The bribe had to be huge. He guessed at least in the tens of thousands of dollars. How did someone even get that much cash to pay off someone? In the day and age of digital banking, any withdrawal or deposit of that amount would be noticed. It was something he would ask her about later. He didn't react or give Eden any sign that he would do anything once he was done. It wasn't his investigation, and he wasn't one to bother Angus for answers. Especially when a ghost wasn't being considerate or decent to those who could see her.
Following Brayden into the autopsy room, Lance glanced at the body of the middle-aged man with a thick section of rope still around his neck. Lance took a deep breath. No matter how many times he'd seen it, and there had been many, he never got used to it.
"Thanks for getting things ready." Brayden stepped into position, then glanced up at Kyle. "You may want to stick around for this one." He went on to explain the man's condition to Kyle and Carrie.
"Oh, I've heard about this. Pete treats a dog with the condition. He says she's as healthy as any other dog and it doesn't seem to cause any issues." Carrie shook her head. "It's so strange to imagine having your heart on the opposite side of your body.
