Heart Stop

by Radclyffe

  Jay hurried in her direction. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” Olivia heard the breathlessness in her voice and swallowed hard. She’d thought of Jay the instant she was contacted about the crisis, but she’d hesitated to call. First, Jay wasn’t technically on call, second, it was a Saturday night and she was probably enjoying her personal life, and third, because she really wanted to see her. Maintaining professional distance hadn’t been as easy as she’d expected. She hadn’t had any trouble working with her. They both had plenty of practice separating the personal from the professional, but every time they weren’t actually working together, she was thinking about her. Despite her resolve, and Jay’s apparent willingness to accept the distance between them, the very palpable barrier between them hadn’t gotten any easier to tolerate as time had passed. Being in the same space with her was a mixture of pleasure and frustration, although at just that moment the pleasure was definitely winning.

  Jay looked great in dark tapered pants, a V-neck sweater, and an expression that said she was very glad to see Olivia. As Jay drew closer, Olivia read excitement and undisguised desire in her eyes. For a brief instant, she feasted on the sight of her.

  “Hi,” Olivia repeated. She really had to get ahold of herself.

  Jay grinned. “Hi. You look great.”

  “Thanks. Ah…so do you.” Olivia hesitated and lost the inner battle. “Date?”

  Jay laughed. “No way. I had dinner with Ali Torveau and her wife.”

  “Oh. Good. I mean, that’s nice.” Olivia shook her head and started to walk. She had stopped to change out of her shapeless sit-around-the-house pants and pullover into tailored pants and a linen shirt, but that was just work attire. This wasn’t a date. Why did she almost feel as if it were?

  “Where are we headed?” Jay asked.

  “A place called Galaxy,” Olivia said.

  “How many victims?”

  “Not sure. First reports were three, then five. We may be looking at a lot more.” Olivia glanced at Jay. “Do you know the place?”

  “I’ve never heard of it, but I don’t have much experience with nightclubs.”

  “That surprises me a little.”

  “When would I have time for nightlife?” Jay laughed.

  “It’s just that…” Olivia clamped her teeth together before she could finish the thought. You’re so attractive, you must have plenty of dates.

  “Sorry?” Jay said.

  “Nothing. My car’s down here.” Olivia led Jay down the narrow alley that opened into a gated parking lot behind a closed business establishment.

  Jay looked around. “You come down here alone at night?”

  “It’s well lit, and I’ve never had any problems.”

  Jay gritted her teeth. “Still, it’s not a very good idea.”

  Olivia unlocked the doors. “I’m always careful. I learned to maneuver through some pretty treacherous territory growing up, geographically speaking.”

  Jay stopped, her door partly open. “I don’t doubt you can take care of yourself, but I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”

  “I’ll exercise extreme caution,” Olivia said, her throat tightening. One of the things she found most attractive about Jay was her willingness to expose her feelings. She was terrible at that herself, had learned to hide her fears or her desires or her needs. All of them sooner or later brought her pain. She slid into the driver’s seat and looked over at Jay. “I don’t want you to worry, but I…appreciate that you do.”

  “Fair enough,” Jay said as Olivia backed out and headed north across Market. “So what’s the plan when we get there?”

  Comfortable now that they were back on safe ground, Olivia sped through the mostly empty streets. The area was still mostly residential until north of Market, when the landscape changed abruptly to warehouses, gas stations, seedy-looking bars, and clubs that tried for trendy but mostly looked trashy. “As the senior member on scene, I’ll be the incident commander. First task is to find the police officer in charge and get a report so we know what we’re dealing with. Then I’ll make assignments.”

  “How many of us?” Jay asked.

  “Right now, me, you, Darrell, and Archie. If we need more hands, we’ll call in Bobbi and one of the other MEs.”

  “I noticed the other MEs don’t go out much.”

  Olivia laughed, not really bothered by the other MEs’ preference for waiting for the dead to come to them. “Strictly speaking, the investigators can handle almost every scene, but I find that teaching in the field is invaluable for the fellows, and when one of you is going out, we should too if at all possible.”

  “Well, I appreciate the attention.”

  “You’re welcome. I enjoy it, really.” She enjoyed the time she spent in the field with all the trainees, although she had a special fondness for working with Jay. Not favoritism as much as indulgence, if she was being honest, and she hoped she could be at least that if not cautious.

  When she turned onto Arch, the street was clogged by at least a dozen fire rescue rigs, fire trucks, and police cruisers, parked haphazardly with competing light bars flashing. Beyond the swirling cloud of emergency lights, the rest of the block looked dark and abandoned. She pulled up as close as she could and flipped down the visor with its reflective Medical Examiner sign.

  “Nice neighborhood,” Jay said as Olivia opened the trunk.

  “Now I’m not surprised you’ve never heard of this place.” Olivia pulled on her ME jacket, handed her backup jacket to Jay, and extracted her field kit.

  Jay shrugged into the jacket and held out her hand. “I’ll carry that kit for you.”

  Olivia hesitated for a second and then handed it over. “Thanks.”

  “Can I keep this jacket until I get one for myself?”

  Olivia laughed. “Sure. Ask Jodi in the office to order you one. Tell her I cleared it.”

  Jay grinned. “Thanks. It’s like getting your white coat, you know? Makes you official.”

  “You’re on my team. You’re already official.”

  Jay’s expression in the flickering light turned suddenly serious. “I like that.”

  “Yes. Well.” Olivia eyed her, searching for a lighter tone. “Plus that’s way too small for you.”

  “It works,” Jay said as they skirted between the haphazardly parked emergency vehicles.

  First responders from multiple agencies milled about, police, paramedics, firefighters in turnout gear. A uniformed officer stopped them at a hastily constructed barricade of yellow tape. Olivia held out her identification. “Olivia Price, assistant medical examiner.”

  The officer nodded. “Go ahead, Docs.”

  “Who’s in charge?”

  “Right now, Detective Mitchell. She’s…” He turned, looked around, and shrugged. “Last time I saw her, she was inside the club somewhere. Skinny, dark hair, leather jacket and jeans.”

  “Thank you.” Olivia led the way under the tape and down the sidewalk to the club. No marquee, just a battered neon sign above the door marked the entrance. As they walked, she said, “The most important thing is for us to get as much accurate firsthand information as we can. That means witness statements if possible. Witnesses forget very quickly, and they’ll often speak more candidly to those of us who aren’t police. Doctors are much less threatening.”

  Jay laughed. “I’ve never thought of myself as being threatening when dealing with patients or anyone else. Course, I didn’t have to do a lot of talking in an emergency. My role was a lot narrower then, in a way. Somehow I’ve become a detective as well as a doctor.”

  “That’s one way of thinking of it.” Olivia paused at the club entrance. Posters of seminude women who she supposed were meant to be dancers but looked like porn stars flanked the windowless double doors. “Are you enjoying yourself?”

  “I am, in more ways than I imagined.”

  “Good. Let’s get to work.” Olivia reached for the door but Jay beat her to it, pushing it open and holding it for
her to pass inside. Olivia stepped into a long, narrow room that smelled of alcohol and mold, grateful Jay wouldn’t see the blush she felt coloring her cheeks in the semidarkness. She rarely took anything as innocent as Jay’s statement personally, but she couldn’t help but hope she was part of the reason for Jay’s pleasure. Fortunately, she had work to do and could push aside the quick surge of desire Jay seemed to stir effortlessly. She recognized the feelings, knew where they led. She’d spent nearly ten years training herself to ignore them. Jay was the first one to challenge that control.

  “That might be our detective.” Jay pointed to a woman with a gold shield hanging on a lanyard around her neck.

  The young woman in tight dark jeans, motorcycle boots, and a black T-shirt was the least likely candidate for lead detective Olivia had yet dealt with, but she headed in that direction. “Detective Mitchell?”

  “That’s right,” the handsome young woman said.

  “Olivia Price, assistant chief medical examiner. Have a minute to fill me in?”

  “Sure. Dellon Mitchell,” the young woman said, holding out her hand. “Dell.”

  “Good to meet you. This is Jay Reynolds, one of our fellows.”

  “Doc,” Dell said, inclining her head at Jay. “I’ll tell you what we know, which isn’t much right now. The 9-1-1 came in about twenty-three minutes ago, anonymous, reporting an unconscious man in the men’s room. Paramedics rolled on it and called us as soon as they ascertained we were dealing with a death. While they were in transit, another call came in, another victim, this one in the alley right outside the door.”

  “Same caller?” Jay asked.

  “Unknown at the moment,” Dell said. “I was in the area, caught the call, and headed over right away. By the time I got here, we had another victim inside the club. People were panicking. We weren’t sure what we were dealing with—gas leak, carbon monoxide, something in the water or even the liquor. Could be almost anything.”

  “Were you able to contain the customers?” Olivia asked.

  Dell grimaced. “We moved everyone outside as soon as we could. By the time we had uniforms for crowd control, I’d say at least half the place disappeared before we had any kind of scene management.”

  Olivia nodded. “I’m surprised you were able to keep that many. Where are they?”

  “We moved them to the lobby of the Starlight Hotel—which is kind of being generous since it’s a flophouse—across the street. Uniforms are interviewing them now along with some other members of my team.”

  “How far along is CSU?” Olivia asked.

  “They cleared the men’s room. They’re still working the other two scenes, but it shouldn’t be long.”

  “Good.” Olivia waved to Darrell and Archie, who had just walked in together. “I’ll get our people on the first scene and assisting with interviews.”

  “Anything you can tell us would be a help,” Dell said. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”

  Jay glanced at the bar, at the dozens of bottles behind it and the half-empty glasses covering its surface—many tipped over, probably in the rush for customers to get out once the panic started. Other upended glasses and bottles littered the tables and floor. “Is the CSU planning to wrap up everything that’s open?”

  Dell nodded. “Yeah, glasses and alcohol all have to be checked.”

  Jay grimaced. “It’s gonna be a big job to analyze.”

  “That’s what makes it fun,” a woman with a distinct Irish accent said as she walked up to them.

  Olivia recognized the voice and smiled. “You would be chief CSI Flanagan.”

  “The very one.”

  “Hi, Dee. We spoke on the phone recently.” Olivia held out her hand and introduced herself.

  Dee shook it vigorously. “Good to meet you, Doc.”

  “And you. Anything you can tell me right now?” Olivia asked.

  “The gas company’s on scene. They’re going through the building with the fire department and checking the street outside. So far no sign of a leak. We’re not registering any other kind of airborne chemical contaminant. Carbon monoxide levels are normal. They’ve got a furnace in the basement, and the air down there checks out.”

  “I would expect many more affected if it was something like that,” Olivia said.

  “Absolutely,” Dee said.

  “Any evidence of external trauma on the victims?” Olivia asked.

  “Not that we can see.” Dee grinned. “Course, we don’t touch the bodies.”

  Olivia smiled. “Of course.”

  Dell chimed in. “No one heard gunshots or noted any kind of altercation, and we’ve got no evidence of weapons on scene. Looks like it could be bad drugs.”

  “We’ll see.” Olivia was used to other departments speculating on cause and saw no reason to correct them. In the end, the ME’s conclusions were all that mattered.

  “We’re sampling everything we can find,” Dee said.

  “Good. Are we free to look at the bodies now?” Olivia asked.

  “Start in the men’s room,” Dee said. “We’ll have the alley and the third victim—he’s over by the bar—ready for you within the hour.”

  “Thanks, we’ll do that.”

  Someone called to Dell, and she nodded and disappeared into the crowd with Dee.

  Olivia turned to Jay. “Why don’t you process the scene with me, unless you’d rather interview.”

  Jay laughed. “Just try to get rid of me.”

  “I wouldn’t think of it,” Olivia murmured.

  Jay gave her a long look. “Glad to hear it.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jay followed Olivia down a narrow hallway at the back of the club to the restrooms. The main part of the club was probably almost as crowded as during a regular night, although now all the people crowding around wore a uniform of one type or another, and most carried cameras or instrument cases or had phones pressed to their ears. Over in one corner, Dellon Mitchell and a tall, striking blonde in an expensive-looking suit were talking to a harried-looking man who waved his arms while shaking his head vigorously. The owner or possibly a bartender, disavowing all knowledge maybe. The men’s room door stood open on a slant, and bright light spilled out from a halogen work light clamped to the frame and pointed down onto dirty subway tiles and the body sprawled halfway beneath one of the naked sinks clamped to one side wall. The opposite wall held a trio of urinals she didn’t examine too closely, although the smell let her know the place hadn’t been scrubbed down recently. Two toilet stalls next to them completed the facilities. The illumination from a single hanging fluorescent fixture with two flickering bulbs lost the competition to the bright halogens, the pale light fading into the background as if trying to go unnoticed. A mesh grate on the ten-inch-high transom window at the far end of the room had to be a fire code violation. Not her job, but she’d include it in her report.

  Olivia set her case down by the door and stopped a few feet from the body, stillness surrounding her as if the very air had stopped moving. Jay halted abruptly just behind her, keeping her eyes wide despite the bright light, letting her mind empty while her vision accommodated.

  He lay on his side, back to the wall, his face turned outward toward the urinals. A thin trickle of greenish fluid smeared the angle of his mouth and pooled on the floor beneath his cheek. A dusting of beard darkened the tight angle of his jaw. His chalky cheeks contrasted sharply with the gray tinge beginning in his lids and lips. His hair looked professionally barbered and clean. His shirttails were out, the shirt itself drawn up to expose his flat, flaccid abdomen. Washed denim jeans and loafers without socks completed the ensemble. Something tickled the back of her mind but she kept silent, waiting for a cue from Olivia. Observation ruled now.

  The natural tendency of the untrained in any kind of emergency was to rush to action, to do something: stop the blood flow, get the heart beating, repair the damage. She imagined it was similar for firefighters—find the victims, rescue the inj
ured, douse the flames. But action without direction often led to further trauma. Missing the big bleeder hidden deep in a wound because a small pumper near the surface caught your attention first was a lethal mistake. Suturing the wrong tendons together because they were obvious at first glance was a newbie error. How many times had she told her residents, Look, don’t touch. Identify, don’t disturb. See the whole picture, identify the border between the healthy and the dying. Now she had to learn the border between the living and the dead.

  Jay’s gaze narrowed and her focus sharpened, the sensation of hyperawareness familiar and automatic, even though circumstances had changed.

  “What do you see?” Olivia asked the familiar question.

  Jay had been expecting it, had answered the same question at least a dozen times before, and every time her stomach tightened just a little. A test. She liked being tested. She liked being right even more, but mostly she liked honing the sharp edge of her abilities, especially this one. This was her new domain, or would be one day. Olivia ruled here right now, and Jay was earning a place in Olivia’s domain. She was familiar with the routine, the hierarchy, and the eventual outcome. She would pay her dues and one day be in charge. She’d almost been there once and would be again. She knew the game and the rules, but now there was a new and different challenge. Now there was a woman she wanted to impress. There had been others before Olivia—first her sister, then Ali, then mentors she’d respected—but none like Olivia. This was personal. Every time Olivia smiled at her for something she’d answered correctly, something she’d done right, rewarded her with a pulse of animal pleasure, was a small victory.

  “I’m going to break all the rules,” Jay said.

  Olivia turned her head, arched a brow. “That’s probably not the best way to start.”