Examining the Dead Got Me Branded a Cheater

Claire took Julian's hand, her eyes bright with a smile. "Chief Langford, Jules isn't the type who smiles on the outside and rots on the inside. Everyone vouches for his character."

Hand in hand, they looked more like a long-married couple. And me, her supposed husband, stood in a security guard uniform outside the medical examiner's office.

Julian shot me a taunting look and flung a closed-case file at me. "Take me to the body. I'll show you what real professionals do. I can tell you what happened without even doing an autopsy."

His swagger made my skin crawl.

Under Claire's threatening glare, I forced a smile and gestured for him to go ahead. "Sure, show me the miracle."

Inside the medical examiner's office, Julian circled the body twice. Off two scratch marks, he detailed how the crime was done.

The other two medical examiners and I broke into laughter.

While Claire poured on the praise, my assistant, Ruth Greenwood, couldn't help but say, "Captain Sutton, don't you think this is nonsense? How could Julian determine that without an autopsy?

"Plus, Dr. Mercer said this case matches the one from six months back—"

Claire shot her an impatient look and said, dead certain, "Jules studied at a prestigious university abroad. What school is Evan even from? Some diploma mill? If Chief Langford and I hadn't gone to bat for him back then, he'd have been fired over his credentials."

It was true. My credentials didn't stack up to Julian's.

That was because I joined the police department right out of college as a medical examiner. I had more hands-on experience than any PhD graduate. My credentials were my weakest link, but it hardly mattered.

I laughed it off. "All those degrees just mean he has no real hands-on forensic experience. Everything he threw out today isn't grounded in reality. Claire, if you're set on vouching for him, then we should divorce."

We'd talked about divorce more than once over the years, but every time I saw how seriously Claire worked at the department, I fell for her all over again.

I'd loved her thoroughness and sense of duty on every case. But now, I was just done.

With all the cases she'd handled, she knew better than I did how unreliable it was to infer how the crime went down from a few wounds. Still, she bought Julian's wild guesswork.

She frowned, displeased. "Are you threatening me? Evan, what makes you think our marriage gives you any leverage over me?"

Julian gave a cocky grin and needled me. "What, you're acting out because I took your medical examiner slot, and you need the attention? Evan, why not just own it instead of taking shots from the sidelines?

"Whether my call holds up is for Chief Langford to decide."

Claire didn't offer a single rebuttal. She kept that dismissive look, as if convinced I was the petty, jealous lightweight Julian painted me to be.

I gave a faint smile, finally seeing Claire's stance. "Here's my line. If you're going to cover for him, then let's get a divorce."

"Fine! Divorce it is! Jules is back anyway. I don't need you anymore!"

Claire was busy chasing arrests to pad Julian's record, day and night.

I took the divorce papers over. She signed them on the spot.

After finalizing the divorce, I went to tender my resignation to Harry. I hadn't even stepped into his office when another family showed up with a body to file a report.

The victim's condition matched the last case, which set off alarms. I was about to call for an autopsy when Julian yanked my hand and wrenched it down rudely.

"Hands off. Someone like you would disrespect the deceased. Everyone, this is the medical examiner from that recent scandal, the one who took advantage of a body. He's been demoted to a guard!"

At Julian's smug nudge, the family who'd been begging me to examine the body turned on me in disgust. "So it was you! How dare you play the saint, saying you'd perform an autopsy on my daughter?

"You targeted her and tried to take advantage because she was pretty, didn't you? That's sick! Don't you dare lay a finger on her, not even now that she's gone!"