“And here I thought you thrived on multitasking,” Morgan told her with a grin.
“Thank you for everything,” Krys told her, stopping short of hugging the computer expert.
“Don’t thank me until we get whoever’s after you off the street and put away,” Valri replied.
The next moment the woman was completely immersed in her work.
“You look a little shell-shocked,” Morgan said to Krys as they left the computer lab.
She didn’t hear him at first, not until she realized he was talking to her and played back his words in her head. “I am,” she admitted.
“You want to talk about it?” he suggested.
“Not really.” Then, because he was including her in this investigation and she felt she owed him an explanation, Krys said, “You know how you feel when you’ve spent such a long time waiting for something to happen and when it finally does, it doesn’t seem as if it’s actually real?”
“Yes?” Morgan acknowledged, waiting for her to continue.
“Well, that’s how I feel right now. I’ve been waiting for that guy to pay for what he’s done and now that he’s gone, somehow it doesn’t feel like it’s real.” She pressed her lips together and then suddenly, she shook her head as if to shed the thought. “I don’t have the luxury of trying to dwell and wallow in the feeling. Nik is going to be back in less than a week and there’s still this killer out there who has to be found and put away before she gets back.”
She wasn’t worried about herself. She was worried about her sister, he thought. That put her in a class by herself.
“Like I said, don’t worry,” he told her. “Everyone’s on this.”
She realized that he had gotten into the elevator. This wasn’t where he’d said they were going. “Shouldn’t we be going to see your uncle to tell him that Valri located Bluebeard’s body and it would be arriving here by tomorrow morning?” she asked.
“I decided that notifying him and his team would amount to overkill,” Morgan told her. “You’d be surprised at how fast word travels here. Incredibly fast.”
“But Valri said you should tell him,” she reminded Morgan. “So don’t you think—?”
He knew what she was going to ask and he shook his head. “I know Valri. She said that purely for your benefit.” He knew that his cousin probably viewed it as reinforcement, to make Krys feel as if the situation was proceeding the way it should.
For her part, Krys wasn’t sure that she understood. “My benefit?”
He nodded. “So you wouldn’t think that we were dropping the ball now that Bluebeard was dead,” he told her. Pausing, he added, “You did come across as being rather antsy.”
She supposed that he had a point. “Because until I see that monster’s body buried, I’m not going to relax for a second,” she confessed. Krys paused for a moment, then made a decision. “I know you’re going to think I’m pushing too hard, but—”
“You want to go and officially tell Sean about the body coming,” Morgan guessed.
“Yes,” she said with feeling.
He took a breath and then said, “All right. Far be it from me to deny you a simple request,” he told her. “You want to notify Sean, we’ll go notify Sean.”
“Thank you,” she told him.
“Don’t mention it,” he told her.
Dutifully, Morgan went to where the crime scene investigation unit was housed, in the basement next to the computer lab. He notified Sean about the body that would be arriving at the morgue the next morning.
Sean, who for all the world resembled a younger version of Brian, the Chief of Detectives, looked properly impressed. “So they finally have an identity?” he marveled.
“That’s what Valri said,” Morgan told him.
“This is fast, even for us,” Sean couldn’t help commenting. He looked at Krys. “You know, I think that the stars just aligned themselves for our benefit this time.” Sean smiled at the journalist who had been relentlessly pursuing this story from the beginning. “Maybe you turned out to be lucky for all of us.” And then Sean turned toward his nephew. “When’s the body due in?” he asked.
It was Krys who answered his question. “The plane will land first thing tomorrow morning. Valri said someone would call us when it finally arrived.”
Sean nodded. “That would be my department,” he said. “Once the body is delivered, I’ll notify the ME on duty.”
“Toni?” Krys guessed.
Sean nodded. “Toni, or whoever will be on duty tomorrow.”
“Could I make a request that it be Toni?” Krys asked.
Morgan glanced at Krys. “Any special reason you would want her?” he asked.
“Actually, yes,” she answered. “I already know her and I won’t have any qualms about asking Toni questions. If there’s another ME on duty, that ME might have a problem with answering my questions. After all, I’m not part of the department.”
“Getting Toni shouldn’t be a problem,” Sean assured her. “But if it makes you feel better, I’ll put in an official request for Toni to be on duty.”
Her smile, Morgan caught himself thinking as she flashed it at his uncle, was positively sunny.
“I’d really appreciate that,” she told the CSI unit head.
“My pleasure,” Sean said with sincerity.
“Okay,” Morgan declared, slipping his hand against her waist and beginning to guide Krys toward the hallway. “I think we’ve made enough progress for one day,” he told her as well as his uncle. “Time for you to go home.”
Krys began to protest Morgan’s decision, but her body was worn out and completely exhausted. All this had taken a lot out of her.
“You might want to listen to him,” Sean advised her, reading her expression. “Morgan is easygoing, but he’s been known to browbeat people on occasion,” he said, his mouth curving in amusement. “It’s not a pretty sight, trust me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she told the man, taking her leave. As soon as they were alone and heading toward the elevator, she told Morgan, “I like your uncle.”
“Which one?”
