Page 6 of Ghostly Bother
"Yeah. I've started letting them go to voicemail. The media knows it can take days to get a report. She hasn't been dead twelve hours, and they think we're ready to tell them everything." Gretta reached for her coffee. "I'm going through messages as they're left so that I don't miss anything important, but I'm tired of pushy reporters already."
"Let me know if they start showing up here. I'll get some kind of security here to keep them out or we'll lock the doors and let families we may have to deal with make an appointment. I know Sam's done that before." He took the clipboard Gretta had on her desk that kept track of the bodies in need of autopsy. He was glad to see there were only three. "The mayor is first up. I'm guessing the police will want the results as soon as possible. Is Brayden in yet?"
"Not yet, but Carrie and Kyle are both back there already."
"Good, that means someone made coffee in the breakroom." Lance started back, then paused. "If the media starts coming in with questions, lock the doors. We don't need that mess here. And tell Brayden he's with me in autopsy one when he gets here. I also expect someone from the police department to show and watch the autopsy."
"I'll send them up to the viewing room." Gretta saluted him with her coffee cup.
"Thanks." Lance made his way down the hallway, wondering what Angus was up to. He'd expected a text or phone call from him, but he hadn't heard a word from him since he'd left the house to head to the murder scene. He hoped that meant Angus had found a place to catch a nap.
"Morning," Kyle called from the table in the breakroom. "I stopped and got muffins. I figured it might be a long day."
"Thanks. I left home without eating." Lance went over and took the cup of coffee Carrie poured for him. "You two are great."
"So, the mayor, hmm?" Kyle asked.
"That's what I hear. Angus got called out last night on it, but I haven't talked to him since. Anyone read the report yet?" Lance took a muffin and sat down.
"Not yet. I hoped you'd have all the details from Angus." Carrie wiped her mouth.
"We can read through it together when we get in there." Lance sighed. "I'm dreading this case. I'm going to have Carrie and Brayden assist. While we're doing the autopsy, Kyle, I want you to check on Gretta from time to time to make sure the media isn't hounding her. This is going to be a nightmare for a few days."
"Are you going to call Sam?" Carrie asked.
"No. He's been looking forward to this vacation. I'm not going to ruin it for him unless we really need him." As the assistant medical examiner, Lance was trained to handle situations like this. This wasn't the first time they'd had media attention because of the suspicious death of someone important. "This will blow over in a day or two. At least for us. The media will give up on getting anything here and focus on the police department and mayor's office for information." At least he hoped so. Not that he wanted to put all this on Angus and the other officers and detectives, but it was just how things worked.
"Morning." Brayden walked in. "Oh, muffins. Thanks, whoever brought them."
Kyle lifted his coffee cup and nodded.
"Guess I don't have to ask where I'm working today since Sam's on vacation." Brayden poured a cup of coffee and took a muffin before sitting down at the table with the rest of them.
"We've only got three autopsies today, but the mayor is up first. The police haven't started calling for results as of yet, but it won't be long before they do," Kyle told him.
"Then we better get moving." Lance swallowed down the last of his coffee and stood. "I need a few minutes to check my email and listen to messages. If you guys can prepare the body for us while I do that, it would be great. Get photos of everything. Go overboard on this one. It's going to get a lot of attention. I don't want anyone coming back saying we missed something."
"On it." Carrie stood.
Lance took what was left of his muffin and headed to his office. He pushed the door open and paused, seeing Jeremy and the ghost of the mayor standing near his desk. He quickly pushed back his shock at seeing her and stepped into the office and closed his door as if he was completely blind to the fact there were two ghosts in his office with him. He needed a moment to adjust to the fact that the mayor's ghost had stuck around and what that could mean.
"I thought you said he could see me." The mayor glared at Jeremy as she moved through the desk to come stand before Lance. She waved her hand in front of his face.
Lance wanted to slap her hand away, but instead he did something he usually tried to avoid. He stepped through the mayor's ghostly body and went to his desk.
Jeremy laughed.
Lance fought to hold back his own grin. Jeremy had been around long enough to know Lance didn't like rude ghosts.Having died in his early twenties, Jeremy decided to hang around and spend his afterlife at the morgue. He was learning everything he could, and if he'd been alive, would one day make a fantastic medical examiner. Unfortunately, he would never see that dream come true. Lance, being the only one who could see him, tried to include Jeremy as much as possible without alerting the others that there was a ghost living in the Medical Examiner's Office.
"Why did you lie to me?" The mayor turned to Jeremy, her hands appearing to rest on her ghostly hips.
"He didn't lie. I chose to ignore you for a moment." Lance didn't look up as he typed in his password to get into his computer.
"You can see me?" She stepped closer to Lance's desk. "You know who I am?"
"Eden Anderson." Lance nodded. "I'm actually glad you're here. I have no idea where the investigation into your death stands at the moment, but I'm sure the police will love to get any information you have on who killed you and why."
Eden frowned. "How am I supposed to know? They came up behind me and choked me. I never saw the person."
