Page 68 of Made of Steele
“Let me show you to the stairs.” She kept her suit on and led them to the stairway. “If you need any other help, let me know.”
He shook Maya’s hand. “Glad to meet you and hope to see you again sometime when I’m not asking a favor.”
“That would be great. Now I need to get out of this suit and clean up so I can get at least a few minutes sleep tonight.” She chuckled and turned to go back inside.
On the stairway and after Drew made sure the door had closed, he turned to Teagan. “We got more than we came for.”
She moved closer, likely to keep Pete from overhearing. “Iraq borders Iran so the connection could be big. This could mean the drugs are actually connected to the antiquities.”
“We need to pursue that for sure.”
She nodded and led the way down the stairs. They dropped off their passes with Pete. He escorted them to the door. “Have a good night.”
Teagan smiled at the older man. “Thanks, Pete, for taking good care of us.”
He waved a hand. “Hey, glad to have someone come by this late at night. Keeps things interesting in a good way instead of a problem.”
Drew stepped outside first, holding out his hand to keep Teagan behind him. He searched the area, confirming they were alone. Once certain, he walked her to her car, dropping the brick of drugs in his vehicle on the way. He wanted his hands free so he could go for his sidearm if needed.
He didn’t like the thought of limiting his interactions with her in the future, and what he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and kiss her again, but that could be dangerous. The sooner he got Teagan in her car and on her way home the better.
She unlocked her silver Toyota Prius, a practical car, which fit her. “Call as soon as you’re safely behind locked doors in your house.”
“Will do.” She hesitated for a minute as if she thought about kissing him, but then slid in and put on her seatbelt.
Maybe he was just hoping she was thinking of kissing him. He stood watching until she got on the road, and her car disappeared from his sight. His gut cramped. He didn’t like the increased risk he was putting her in. Especially going to meet with Oliver tomorrow.
Drew couldn’t do a thing to stop the meeting. She would go with or without his approval. And if Oliver turned violent, Drew might not be able to stop him from hurting her before he could intervene.
He hated to face facts here, but the fact was, only God could keep her safe now.
18
Teagan raced down the hallway toward the autopsy suite, silencing her phone on the way. She’d gotten caught in traffic as she crossed town to the medical examiner’s office located in the Portland suburb of Clackamas. It was housed in a large building with one of the state’s regional forensic labs. She’d been to this building many times in her career but much preferred going to the lab side over the morgue.
She donned the last protective suit, mask, and face shield left in the outer area by the staff. Meant Drew must already have arrived and was waiting inside with the badly decomposed bodies.
Her stomach gnawed on her breakfast of eggs and toast. Why had she eaten? She’d been to a total of nine autopsies and had always gotten nauseous during the procedure. Thankfully, she’d never embarrassed herself by upchucking as some of her associates had done. Still, none of the autopsies were easy. Too bad she’d forgotten that a full stomach didn’t help.
She sat to put on the paper booties. She’d believed she was done with these horrific events. How had she found herself here again?
Unbelievable.
She shook her head. The cuts today truly had to be the last ones she would attend. Surely, she would never be called back into action again.
She put on the mask and face shield and pushed through the swinging doors. The protective gear did nothing to stop the horrific smell of decomposition, and she had to force each foot in front of the other to head toward Dr. Albertson. The doctor was dressed much like Teagan and stood at the closest table with what Teagan hoped was the most decomposed body of the pair as she couldn’t imagine seeing anything worse. Her assistant, Arthur, a thin guy Teagan had met before, strode to the table behind the doctor. A sheet still covered the body in front of him.
Teagan swallowed hard and shifted her focus to Drew, who stood stoically between both tables.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said, swallowing again but couldn’t seem to find any moisture in her mouth. “Traffic. Did I miss anything?”
“Arthur and I just finished the preliminary screen.” Dr. Albertson looked up. “We’re starting on the cut on this male you all have been calling victim three.”
Teagan concentrated on Dr. Albertson to keep her gaze off the man. “Do we have a time of death for him?”
“Not exact,” Dr. Albertson said. “But I know how you law enforcement types want an estimate. State of decomp puts him around April of this year. I’ll need to research local temperatures to give you a more precise answer.”
Teagan nodded. “What about an ID?”
