devour the ribs.
“Did I mention how good it is to have you back? Even if it’s only for a little while.” Emily had her eyes fixed on him—the crop of dark hair, his smoky hazel eyes, his strong angular jaw. She would enjoy what little time they had together, hoping that in the midst of the murder investigation and comforting Maggie, she and Colin would have a little time for themselves before he dashed back to San Francisco.
“I think you may have mentioned it.” He grinned and licked his fingers. “Once or twice.”
“I was very surprised to see you this morning. It made me so happy when you took me in your arms. I miss that—you holding me.”
She reached across the small round table to wipe a little drop of barbecue sauce from his lower lip and he caught her hand in his. He provocatively licked the sauce off her finger and kissed the top of her hand, bringing it in close to his chest.
“Do you feel that?” he asked.
“Feel what?”
“My heart. When I’m not here, that’s where I hold you.”
CHAPTER 16
After lunch, Colin received a phone call from Ernie, asking him to meet down at the county coroner’s office. The medical examiner had some news and Ernie said he figured Colin might want to hear it. Colin didn’t ask if Emily could come, but he knew she’d be miffed if he failed to take her with him.
Ernie seemed a little surprised to see Emily when they showed up, but he put on a smile, hiked up his pants by the belt, and offered his hand. “It’s good to see you again, Emily. I wish it was under happier circumstances.”
“Good to see you, too, Ernie.”
“Doc’s expecting us, so let’s not keep him waiting.” Ernie ushered them into the autopsy room.
“Dr. Walters, you know Colin Andrews,” Ernie introduced.
The doctor was an older man with a thick head of snow-white hair and wire-rimmed glasses. His hunched back was evident under his standard white medical coat that he wore over his street clothes.
Colin politely extended his hand, but the doctor had latex gloves on and raised his hands to show him.
“And this is Emily Parker. She’s a private investigator working on this case for the suspect who’s been arrested, Josh Sullivan.”
“Ms. Parker,” the doctor said as he nodded in her direction.
“What do you have for us, Doc?” Ernie asked.
The medical examiner walked over to the sheet-covered body lying on the examination table. “As you know, my initial observation stated that the victim had been beaten to death—” Dr. Walters pulled the sheet back to expose Lucas Wakefield’s head.
“But he wasn’t?” Emily interrupted, averting her eyes.
“Now hold on, ma’am, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” the old doctor warned. “He was beaten pretty badly, but when I examined him more fully, I found that he had actually been hit in the upper rear quadrant of his head with some sort of sharp jagged object.”
“A jagged object?” Ernie questioned, scratching his head. “Like what?”
“I can’t say for sure. We’ll have to figure that one out.” He took a couple of steps over to the computer on his desk. “I made a digital mold of the wound. Here, let me bring it up on the screen.” Dr. Walters hit a few keys on the keyboard and turned his computer screen toward the others. “Have you any idea what would make a deep gaping wound like that?”
The screen showed a digital outline in 3-D of an object approximately four inches wide with several rough, pointy areas about three inches high.
“Maybe a big rock or something hard that broke and left a jagged edge?” Colin suggested.
“Perhaps,” Doc Walters replied with a nod.
“Could he have hit his head on the corner of his desk when he fell?” Ernie asked.
“Not likely. It would need to be more uneven, more jagged,” the doctor answered. “It could be the size of what’s on the screen, or that mold may be the tip of a larger implement.”
“Emily? What do you think?” Colin glanced at her, but she remained silent. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”
Without a word, she reached into her large leather handbag and held out the mountain-shaped crystal paperweight, still in the plastic zip-lock bag.
The three men stood silent, gazing with quizzical looks at the sharply-peaked paperweight.
“Could this be it?” she asked.
Their collective gazes moved from her hand to her eyes.
“Let’s see,” Dr. Walters said, taking the mountain of crystal from her. He held it up