Page 83 of Sinful Justice

It’s discreet. Gentle. A not-so-hidden secret.

“Too soon,” I repeat. “Way too soon.”

Amused, Aubree only sniggers. “If you say so. Is it too soon to discuss the hemophilia yet?”

Enraged, I spin on her, then on Archer and Fletcher, the latter of whom raises his hands in surrender.

“Excuseme?”

“He didn’t tell us,” Aubree says quickly as my incensed eyes turn on Archer. “He didn’t say that word. But I’m a doctor and I’m also your friend. I saw the bruises on your legs yesterday morning while you were getting dressed.”

Fletch’s lips curl into a wolfish smirk. “You were undressed together?” He looks to Aubree. “Did either of you hit the other with a pillow?”

“Shut the hell up, Fletcher!” I look to Aubree. “You’re out of line.”

She lifts a careless shoulder. “I do solemnly declare this elevator a place of neutralities. Your office is for work. A crime scene is for work. Your home is for your privacy. But right here,” she points to her feet, “in a steel box suspended a hundred feet from the ground, where the only thing saving us from plummeting to our death is trust in an engineer we don’t know and a pulley system we never personally inspected…” She flashes a wicked grin. “The elevator shall now be known as The Neutral Cube of Truth-Telling and Fantasy-Living.” Looking at Archer, she asks, “Did you sleep over at Mayet’s last night?”

“Yep.”

“Archer!”

Aubree giggles. “Did you have sex?”

“Aubree!”

“Yep.”

I swing around and smack Archer’s solid chest with the back of my hand. “Quit it!”

“Do you have hemophilia?”

Stunning me into submission, I bring my eyes back to Aubree’s. But I clamp my lips shut.

“Yes,” she answers anyway. “You do. If not that, then a similar blood issue. But whatever it is, it will not leave The Neutral Cube of Truth-Telling and Fantasy-Living unless you want it to. I just want you to know I know, I’m here, and if you ever need an extra minute or a little help, I’m here for that too. Whatever you need.”

“What I want…” I meet each set of eyes. Each face of a person I now consider my friend. “What Ineed, is for none of you to bring up my personal life when it doesn’t pertain to work. The only time you can bring it up—”

When the elevator dings and the doors open, I step out, but I turn and walk and continue to study them. “Theonlytime you bring it up is if a paramedic is elbow-deep, and I’m on my way to the hospital for somework-related injury. Only then do you let them know I have severe hemophilia A and I require factor VIII to clot my blood. You let them know I transfuse every second day and almost never forget. Then, once you tell them that, you go the hell away and never bring it up again. Clear?”

Impressed, Aubree drags her bottom lip between her teeth and hits the open-door button when The Neutral Cube of Truth-Telling and Fantasy-Living tries to lock them in.

“Are we clear?” I stop twenty feet from the elevator doors and wait. “I need to know you people understand what I’m asking for here.”

“Privacy.” Nodding, Aubree exits the elevator and walks my way. “Dignity. Respect. You’re asking to go back to normal.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“I can respect that.” She stops by a car and smirks. “Minka.”

“For God’s sake.” Rolling my eyes, I shake my head and look to Fletch and Archer, still in the elevator. “We’ll catch you on scene.”

“Yup.”

Hitting the required button, the guys make their way back up to ground level so they can slide into the cruiser Fletcher parked out front this morning.

“Who do we think is dead?” Closing her door, Aubree fixes her seatbelt while I start the engine and fix the GPS on the screen.

I don’t know my way around this city yet, which means for now, and for the next little while, I’ll need computers to help me.

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