The Dying Breath: A Forensic Mystery

Deputy. I’ll be in the histology lab. I trust you two won’t be long.”
    “Not too long,” Justin said. He never took his eyes off of Cameryn as Dr. Moore moved quietly out the door. She could hear it click behind him and after that only her breathing. Energy buzzed inside her, heating her skin, but she stood frozen. Justin was the one who moved first. He began to walk toward her, closing the gap, and she found herself moving as well. “Justin, I’m sorry,” she said, her words coming in fits and starts. “I know I’ve got a temper. I guess it’s the Irish in me and I really shouldn’t have—”
    “No, I’m the one,” he said, cutting her off. “I should never have tried to convince you like that. You’re right. And you’re old enough—I should never have said that—”
    “Believe it or not, now I’m glad you talked to Dr. Moore—”
    “You are?”
    “Yes!”
    “Then I’m forgiven.” His eyes grew soft in appeal. “I am forgiven, aren’t I?”
    “Am I ?” she asked.
    She stopped, only inches away from him now. They were smiling at each other, and she noticed once again that he had beautiful teeth, white as pearls in his suntanned face. He took her hands and pressed his thumbs into her palms. “What would you think if I kissed you in the middle of a morgue?”
    “It sounds kind of twisted. And kind of good.”
    “That’s exactly what I thought.” He leaned in closer, but Cameryn pulled back, amazed. “You know what? Lyric was right. We had our very first fight.”
    “It wasn’t so bad. And you know what they say about making up.” His grin was faunlike, his eyebrows arched. And then he was kissing her, and she didn’t think of all the people who had been dissected in this room or of the instruments, shiny and sharp, that were tucked away behind cupboard doors. This was a place where people’s insides were revealed. It was almost poetic that in this unlikeliest of spaces she had opened herself to him, not just physically, but by giving him a bit of her soul. She could feel it, the letting go as she kissed him back. Life in the place of death, made sweeter still because this feeling had withstood the heat of angry words.
    Draping her arms around his neck, she stood on the tips of her toes, pushing into him hard, kissing him in a way she didn’t know she could. For a moment he broke free, surprised and, she could tell, pleased.
    “Wow,” he said. Cupping her face in his hands, he rested his forehead against hers. “I’ll never say you’re too young again.” His voice was husky, low. “If I’d known this would happen I would have bossed you around sooner.”
    “Don’t even think about it!”
    “Man, this making-up thing is good.” His lips pressed into hers again and then moved along the edge of her jaw, barely touching her skin. Her mind whirled, and for a moment she forgot why she had called him here. Focus, she told herself, before she allowed herself one more dizzying kiss.
    Pulling back, she gasped for air. “Okay, wait. I mean, I have to think and I can’t do it when you’re doing that.”
    He ran a finger down the column of her throat. “Thinking is overrated.”
    “Stop!” Although she was laughing, she shoved him away with the tips of her fingers. He didn’t budge.
    “I’m serious, Justin. I called you because I need your help. I need you to help me on the O’Neil case.”
    “Let’s leave him out of this for now,” he answered. The smile went out of his eyes, like a blown-out candle.
    “No, listen to me . Kyle said, ‘You can see my mind in what I left behind.’ Justin, there’s something I’m missing. I feel it.” Her hands rested on his shoulders, which stiffened beneath her touch. “Kyle’s trying to send me a message that I can’t see, and it’s maddening. And when I was with Dr. Moore, I kept thinking about how we all have our jobs. I mean, each of us completes just one piece of the puzzle. I do bodies, you do crime scenes, we all have our little component so that our small cogs turn the great big wheel. But on Leather Ed’s case you’ve had to keep things from me.”
    “That’s because you’re part of the case. If I give you access to the files I’m breaking the law.”
    “I know, but what if we—you and I—forget all that? What if we pool our resources? Share everything we’ve got? Dr. Moore thought my knowing was important. He already bent the rules, so I think you can, too.”
    “So you’re saying two wrongs make