Page 43 of Forever Dark
Blethan was quiet for a moment.
The hum of the refrigeration units filled the room.
Then he pulled the sheet back up over the victim’s face with surprising gentleness.
“There’s nothing new,” he said.“No hidden wound.No second toxicology result.No trace evidence I kept from the report for the pleasure of annoying you.What’s there is there.”
Selena held his gaze.
“And next time,” Blethan added, “if there is indeed another murder, bring Connor with you.At least he knows how to talk to people.”
Heat flashed through her chest.
“Go to hell.”
She turned before he could answer.
Her footsteps struck hard against the tile as she left the morgue, crossed the corridor, and pushed through the outer door into the cold.The air outside hit her face.She kept walking until she reached the car.
Only then did she stop.
Her hands were shaking.
Not much.Enough.
She unlocked the car, got in, and shut the door with more force than she needed.The sound cracked through the cabin and vanished.
For a few seconds, she sat gripping the steering wheel.
“That was useful, Selena,” she muttered.
No new evidence.No new insight.No clever question that changed the case.Just another local official insulted, another bridge scorched, another reminder that she could still be hooked if someone found the right place to cut.
She closed her eyes.
Girl from the big city.If only that had been true.She was now pining for Washington more than ever.The big cases, the buzz of city life.Everything was too quiet here.And too many people seemed ready to start a war with her.First Cheryl, now the coroner.Selena started to wonder what Connor had told them about her.
She started the engine.
The dashboard lights came on.Warm air coughed from the vents.
She looked toward the road that would take her back to the sheriff’s department, back to questions she still couldn’t answer.
Then she looked the other way.
An open road leading to who knows where.
She put the car into drive.
At the junction, Selena turned and let the road take her where it may.
CHAPTER NINE
The sky turned pink by degrees.
At first, it was only a wash above the tree line, pale and uncertain.Then the color deepened until the western horizon looked almost painted, bands of rose and orange laid over the darkening fields.Selena drove with one hand on the wheel and the other resting near the gearshift, windows up, the last warmth of the day fading off the glass.The drive had begun to look familiar, and as it did so, she knew where she was going.She was going to see Jessie.Her best friend.At least, before she left Harlan County.Maybe she just needed to confront the problem, get it out of her system, then on with the case.That seemed better than going around half-terrified she might bump into her.It would certainly be good to shut Connor up about it.
Jessie’s place was out past the old feed mill and a few turns south of the county road.
