Page 100 of Mine to Share

Leaving as quickly as I came, focus fully on the tiny baggie in my hand, I smiled as I made my way back to the morgue on memory alone. This could be the key piece of evidence we needed to find the unsub, or at least possibly the incriminating evidence needed once we had her in custody.

Too focused on the major find, I didn’t notice the person hunched in the morgue's corner when I pushed open the doors and stepped inside. It wasn’t until a putrid stench, one that wasn’t filling the room when I left, engulfed my nose, making me gag, that I jerked my head up and scanned the room.

My heart slammed to a halt before jolting back into a frantic rhythm.

“Josh?”

At least Ithoughtit was my ex. If it was, he hadn’t showered in weeks, if not months. A ratty beard covered his face, deep lines etched around his eyes and along his forehead. One thing Josh always had going for him was his good boy-next-door looks, though that ship had sailed from how he appeared now. And that rancid stench that first caught my attention wafted from his direction in nauseating waves.

His hand was frozen in my purse. No doubt I’d caught him stealing my wallet.

“What are you doing here, Josh?” I asked with more force this time. Now that the initial shock had worn off, anger quickly filled its place. “You need to drop my shit and get out of here. Now.”

He blinked and slowly stood to full height, losing the rounded spine and sagging shoulders.

“You.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, yeah, me. This is my place of work, and you need to—”

“You ruined everything,” he hissed and took a menacing step closer.

A sliver of fear wormed through my rising anger. This wasn’t the man I’d married, not that he was ever that great. I had no clue what he was capable of now. Sidestepping a steel table, I put it between us as a barrier.

“We had it good, everything we wanted. Then you went and fucked it all up. You’re a selfish bitch for not caring what happened to me or anyone else. Didn’t care or even try to work things out between us, just fucking left to start this new life.”

My hands tightened into fists at my sides. His accusations, calling me selfish for wanting something for myself, or calling me a bitch for not agreeing with him, weren’t anything new. In fact, calling me self-centered was his go-to, breaking me down so I would give in to whatever he wanted.

“No, you had it good because I supported us. I went to work every day, worked my ass off, and you just sat at the apartment drinking or fucking around on me.”

“I supported you,” he roared and tossed both hands out. The movement parted his heavy coat. With the way it swayed, it seemed one side weighed more than the other. “I gave you everything, even put my career on hold so you could have yours. And this is the thanks I got. A wife who left me when things got tough, just tossed me aside when I gave you everything I could. It might not have been all that you wanted, but I did what I fucking could for someone like you.”

Wait. Is he right? Did I give up after he’d supported me, gave up his own life for—

I shook my head. No. After college, he’d worked a string of short-term jobs and was fired from every single one for outbursts at customers, not showing up, or even one time making the female staff uncomfortable. He didn’t put his career on hold for me. He’d never had one to begin with.

“And now look at me,” he sneered, daring another step closer. “Look at what you did to me. Left me all alone and heartbroken, and I couldn’t recover. You were my everything, and you just tossed me aside when it suited you.”

“No, it wasn’t that way, and you—”

“And now you’re with them.” His eyes narrowed as they swept up and down my body. I wanted to cover myself, hide from his leering observation even though I was fully clothed. “A fucking whore. Just like your mom.”

Unshed tears clogged my throat, burning as I swallowed them down.

“You were wrong. Just admit that and we can forget this whole thing. I’ll take you back because that’s what good husbands do—not that you deserve it.”

“‘This whole thing’ being our divorce that was finalized? Or maybe the fact that you destroyed my home,” I screeched, pressing up to my toes as my anger reached its boiling point.

“You didn’t deserve all that nice new stuff when I’m living like this.” He tossed his arms out wide, propelling another wave of body odor through the room.

I waved a hand in front of my face, which was like jerking a red flag in front of a bull considering the situation. And the next thought that escaped didn’t help.

“Not going to lie. You smell like my floater yesterday that was pulled from the ocean—”

“Stop,” he yelled. “Stop it with the dead body shit. No one gives a flying fuck, Rain. No one. Everyone thinks you're creepy and disgusting, and you know your looks aren’t helping you any. They all put up with your crazy-ass sayings, tolerate you being around, because it’s their job.”

Suddenly the door swung open and the tech from earlier—who now, faced with crazy Josh, didn’t seem nearly as creepy—walked in brandishing….

What the actual fuck is going on in my morgue?

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