Page 21 of Evidence of Us

Zeke barks out a laugh, and I glare at him. “I do… Why?” I ask as he sets his phone down and goes back to open the door.

“Oh, he frequently works with the city for psychological profiling, so I figured you two could nail something down together. He said he knew you,” Kevin says, opening the door. “Hey, Dawson. Thanks for joining us.”

“Thank you for inviting me to join the party,” Dawson says warmly. “Good morning, Mariska.”

“What are we missing here?” Parker asks.

“Mariska and I are friends, that's all,” Dawson says before looking at the board. “You do this?”

“Yeah,” I say.

“Good to finally meet in person, Zeke,” Dawson says, shaking Zeke’s hand.

“Likewise, man. We will have to take some time to chat and catch up,” Zeke replies.

“You dirty girl,” Parker whispers in my ear. “Both of them?”

“Shh. Asshole,” I laugh.

“Want to share with the class, Parker?” Kevin asks.

“No,” I say quickly before looking at Dawson. “How’d you know I did all that?”

“You are the only person I know who is this freakishly organized,” he laughs. “It looks good. Have you started on a profile?”

“A little,” I say.

“Well, we will let you catch him up on the files so you can work on that. We are going to get some updates from Caleb.”

“I’d like Dawson to see Harper,” I say. “It’s different in person than those pictures explain.”

“Okay. Take Zeke, and you three go down and talk to Levi. Zeke, go see Caleb after. I will work on talking to the families. Geno and Parker, keep working on that timeline.”

I walk out of the conference room and to the elevator. It’s not until the door shuts that I realize I just trapped myself in here with them.

“A little birdy told me you needed to talk to me?” Dawson asks.

“Tell the little birdy I'm going to staple its freaking beak shut,” I say, and Zeke laughs. “I just…”

The doors open, and I run instead. When I walk into the morgue, I grab a mask and walk over to Levi. “Save me. They fucking brought Dawson in to advise,” I say.

“Hell yeah, bitch,” Levi cackles.

“Zeke wants to share me,” I whisper, and he gasps.

“Okay. Okay. Dead body,” I say when Zeke and Dawson come in. “Levi, this is Dawson.”

“It’s good to put a partial face to the name, Doctor,” Levi says, smiling under his mask.

“I hate you,” I deadpan. “Tell us about her.”

“Cause of death is strangulation. Everything presents the exact same way, but there are a few differences,” Levi says. “We knew all of them were raped, but no DNA was found. He left behind some swimmers this time; there are wood shavings under the nails, and on the nails… I’m not sure what it is.”

I grab gloves and pull them on before Levi hands me Harper’s right hand. I stare at it for a moment. I lay the hand down before backing off and pulling my phone out. “What’s up?” Zeke asks.

“Calling Dad,” I say as he answers.

“Hey, kiddo. How is work?” Dad asks as I place the call on speakerphone.