“Joke’s on you,” she growls. “I might marry the first Doctor Campbell, take his last name, and screw you over with the confusion. Then adding a third won’t seem so disorienting.”
“Uh-huh. You do that. Alright.” I settle back in my seat and study my team with fresh energy. My stomach whooshes with happy nerves, and my pulse thunders with anticipation. I’ll have a body to cut soon. A mystery to solve. A routine to revisit. “I’d like to run through everyone’s caseload and get an update on where you’re all up to. But first, I want to acknowledge not only that I wasn’t in the office yesterday, but that my performance last week was less than my best. I was distracted, irritable, and not all that approachable.” I meet Doctor Patten’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Less than your best?” She snickers. Forgiveness comes so easily to her. “Chief, you processed bodies like you were huffing Schedule II controlled substances. Your attention to detail was even more neurotic than typical, and I didn’t wanna tell you earlier and jinx it,” she leans just a little closer, “but there was one night last week, I think it was Wednesday night, where you’d cleared out so much of the backlog during your shift that I actually took a dinner break as per my contract. I sat.On a chair!”
“Woah,” Doctor Torres whistles. “That’s pretty amazing.”
“For twenty-three entire minutes!”
Like this is a friggin’ comedy act, my entire teamoohandahhas one.
“I don’t expect the stars to align like that again for at least three or four years,” Patten teases. “But I was smart enough to appreciate the moment.” She settles onto her heels and exhales a happy sigh. “I certainly did.”
“Good. Let’s all applaud Doctor Patten’s twenty-three minutes of peace.”
They clap.
Smartasses.
“And now that that’s done, let’s focus on me again.”
“Attention seeker,” Aubree coughs. But as my brow comes up, she straightens her posture. “I mean, everybody shut up! The boss is trying to speak.”
“Ooooh… what’s going on out there?” Doctor Flynn meanders to my office door, opening it like moving the clear sheet of glass out of her way will somehow help her see, then she folds her arms and watches, rapt, as a swarm of familiar faces burst from the elevator. “Are we hosting a Copeland’s Sexiest Men in Black contest you didn’t tell us about, Chief?” She tilts her head to the side and hums her appreciation as Jay Bishop follows an entirely confident Sophia Solomon through my building. “Yowza.”
“He’s married.” I push to my feet and cross to my office door, stopping on the threshold and meeting Soph’s eyes as she does the same on the other side.
Is she my friend here? Do I mention how she’s kind of a New York mob boss nowadays? What about our sometimes-weekend habit of killing shitty old men?
I nod my hello and ignore Jay and the rest of her too-large team, then I exhale a noisy sigh and spin back to my crew. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you yet, since Doctor Patten monopolized our time gloating about her lazy Wednesday night, but the next three days will be a little chaotic at the George Stanley. This is Sophia Solomon.” I wander back to my desk, but I gesture toward her. “Jay Bishop is the guy behind her. They’re married to each other.”
“Figures.” Flynn’s shoulders drop with defeat. “I bet they make beautiful babies.”
“Two time champs.” Jay’s lips twitch, ruining the hard exterior I think he was aiming for. “Two extremely beautiful little trophies to show for it.”
“These people are from a highly regarded technology and security company who specialize in computers and…” I roll my wrist. “I dunno. Smart stuff. Sophia and her team have generously donated an entire building tech system to the George Stanley, including supply and installation.”
Stunned, my team swings their gazes back to me.
“I believe this gift is worth an easy hundred g’s, so since we’re all applauding anyway…” I start the clap and thrill in Soph’s grinding jaw as the rest of my staff follow suit. “Things will be kinda crazy here for the next few days while they get themselves set up and wired in or whatever. At some point, you’ll each need to report for ID photos, because once this is done, we’re not signing in with our emails and passwords anymore. We’ll be using…”God. I’m so uneducated about this stuff.“I don’t know. Pass cards and maybe a sacrificial goat or something.”
Aubree shoots an eager hand into the air. “Sophia, hi. My name is Aubree. Where do you suggest we source ethically raised, and not-very-expensive goats? We’re paid by the city, and this city is notoriously bad for stocking quality goats. Or, ya know, paying enough to keep the lights on.”
“I suggest you contact your local representative,” Soph drawls. “Mayor Lawrence, no? I heard he was an approachable kinda guy. Or marry rich. It’s what smart women do.” She brings tormenting eyes back to me. “Let me introduce my team, then we can all get on with our work. Also, unless you have any objections, I suggest you allocate the fifteenth floor as your technology hub.”
I mean… I’d like to ask how she knew the fifteenth floor was available, but this is Soph, so… “The fifteenth floor is acceptable.”
“Great.” She steps to the right and gestures to her squad. “Jay Bishop. Kane Bishop. Theo Griffin.”
“Wait!” Doctor Kirk, my youngest, quietest, never-shouts-evermedical examiner, bolts through the huddle of his coworkers and tears a phone from his back pocket. “Theo Griffin? As in,” he waves the device for everyone to see. “Griffin Technologies?TheTheo Griffin?”
Curious, everyone looks my way. “I…” I shake my head. “I have no clue.”
“Yes,” Soph murmurs.“TheTheo Griffin. Your entire building will operate on Griffin tech once we’re done.”
“Shew,” Patten whistles. “That’s the good stuff right there. If our computers stop freezing and the freezer stops trying to kill us, our contractually promised meal breaks may actually become the norm.”
Oooooh.