The Body Thief (15 page)

“Of course,” Deborah replied. “The hospital
will fully cooperate. If someone’s acting illegally, we need to
identify them and remove them, without delay.”

“And charge them,” Bryce added.

“Yes, of course,” the general manager
agreed.

Rohan looked back at Alistair. “Give my best
to your sister the next time you see her,” he said.

Alistair nodded and threw him a quick smile.
Rohan turned away and headed for the door.

* * *

“What do you think?” Bryce asked as he and
Rohan headed back to the squad car.

“I can see why Wolfe’s the poster child for
the hospital. He’s old enough that people will trust
him—charismatic and good-looking to boot. What more could they
want?”

“I agree. If his data is to be believed,
he’s certainly turned things around as far as raising awareness of
organ donation. I had no idea less than one percent of hospital
deaths are eligible for donations.”

“Yeah, it’s made me realize I need to do
something about putting myself on a register. Someone else might as
well have the benefit of what’s left after I’m gone.”

Bryce nodded. “After Chanel and I talked
about it I filled out the form.”

“Alistair Wolfe is certainly devoted to the
cause. We need more people like him.” They continued across the car
park. Rohan pulled the keys out of his pocket and tossed them to
Bryce. “Here. You can drive. I thought I might pay a visit to
Doctor Samantha Wolfe. The morgue’s not far out of our way. I’ll
call ahead and check if she’s there and if she is, I’ll get you to
drop me off. I’ll take a cab back to the station.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No. This is personal.”

Bryce threw him a sly look. “I heard you say
you’d known her since college. If she takes after her brother in
the looks department, I can see why you might want to spend a
little more time with her.”

“Fuck off, Sutcliffe. I’m not trying to get
into her pants. All I want to do is talk with her. About something
that happened in the past.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Bryce grinned.

It was clear Bryce didn’t believe him for a
minute. Rohan bit down on another sharp retort and decided silence
was his best defense. As Bryce pulled out of the parking lot, Rohan
phoned the morgue and asked to speak with Sam.

“I’m afraid Doctor Wolfe’s in the middle of
an autopsy at the moment. May I take a message?”

“No, that’s fine. I’ll catch up with her a
little later.” He ended the call and slid the phone back in his
pocket.

Bryce shot him a quick look. “I take it
she’s not at work.”

“She’s there. She just can’t come to the
phone at the moment. I’ll go and wait there until she’s
available.”

Ten minutes later, Bryce pulled up to the
curb outside the Department of Forensic Medicine and Rohan climbed
out. He leaned in through the open car window.

“Thanks, mate. I’ll see you tomorrow. Until
we get the paperwork from the hospital, there’s not much more we
can do.”

“No problem. I might even try to get home
early for a change.”

“Yeah, just in time to help with dinner and
all the bathing,” Rohan joked.

Bryce grimaced. “Maybe I won’t leave early.
I’m sure there must be some filing I can do around the office… Or
maybe I’ll even put my hand up for a double shift.”

Rohan laughed “See… Now you can understand
why Chanel wanted to get back to work.” He stepped away and threw
Bryce a wave. A moment later, the squad car disappeared into the
traffic.

* * *

Sam stared down at the tiny body on the
steel gurney and braced herself against a surge of emotion. She
hadn’t known the two-year-old who lay so still and cold on the
table beside her, but she couldn’t help feeling distressed and sad
that an innocent young life had been cut short.

The child’s parents claimed the baby was
dead in his cot when they found him. The preliminary findings were
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, but after close examination of the
little boy, it was obvious he hadn’t died from natural causes.

Numerous bruises around his chest and neck
area indicated he’d been held down with a fair degree of pressure.
Tiny petechial hemorrhages in his eyes indicated suffocation. An
X-ray identified several old fractures, now long healed, but the
hospital notes that had come with him indicated no previous history
of broken bones. Sam could only assume the parents had taken him
elsewhere for treatment. She couldn’t bear to think the poor baby
might have had to heal all on his own without proper medical
care.

Sighing quietly, she finished the autopsy
and closed the incision. Anger and helplessness burned inside her
at the thought of how the little boy had suffered. Some people
didn’t deserve to be parents. It was as simple as that.

Here she was, at thirty-four and getting
more and more desperate for a baby and yet this little boy hadn’t
been given a chance. Abused and discarded like unwanted trash, he’d
died a terrifying death. She couldn’t imagine how it felt not to be
able to breathe. It broke her heart that no one had been able to
save him. The only thing she could hope for was that the parents
would suffer in jail.

“Sam, I have a Detective Coleridge out in
the waiting room. He’s asked if he could see you.”

Sam looked up and blinked, focusing on the
young girl who manned the front desk. “I’m sorry, Angie, I was a
million miles away. Could you repeat that?”

“Detective Coleridge is outside. He’d like
to see you.”

Sam’s stomach did a flip-flop and her heart
skipped a beat. The thought of seeing Rohan again, filled her with
nerves. It wasn’t because he was so attractive, or that he looked
at her like her could read her innermost thoughts, it was just…

She shook her head. He might be
good-looking, but that didn’t excuse his despicable treatment of
her friend. Sam didn’t care that it had happened a decade ago.
Children were a gift from God. No one had the right to abandon them
or treat them with so little love and disrespect. The child on the
gurney was a tragic example of that.

“Tell him I’m too busy, Angie. I have
another PM to do after this one and it’s already late.”

“Of course, Sam. I’ll let him know.” She
disappeared the way she’d come and Sam drew her attention back to
the child. With the autopsy finished, all she had to do was return
him to the fridge and complete the paperwork.

With gloved hands, she picked up the baby
and carried him back to the refrigerator. She did her best not to
look at him as she placed him back on the rack. He looked so tiny
among the thirty or so other bodies that lined the shelves. With a
sad sigh, she headed back to her workstation and collected her
notes. Her report to the police would be heavy going. Turning away,
she almost collided with Angie, who gave out a little yelp.

“Oh, Sam, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you
were coming this way.”

“It’s all right, Angie,” Sam replied,
brushing the girl’s apology away. “I should have been watching
where I was going. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be behind me.”

Angie’s face flushed with embarrassment. She
opened her mouth again, but Sam cut her off. “Angie, it’s fine.
Don’t worry about it. Now, what can I do for you this time?”

“It’s the detective. I told him you were too
busy to see him, but he insists it won’t take long. He says he’s
not leaving until he gets a few minutes of your time. What would
you like me to do?”

Sam drew in a deep breath and eased it out
slowly. She’d just carried out a PM on an abused baby. She didn’t
feel like talking to anyone, even if it was someone she knew. Very
few people understood what it was like to deal with death, day
after day. Some days were easier than others. This wasn’t one of
them.

The thought that Rohan had said he was
prepared to wait until she was available, irritated her. He had no
right to turn up at her place of work and demand to see her. He
could have telephoned and left a message, like every other police
officer she dealt with.

Maybe he had?
She’d been in the
autopsy room all morning and most of the afternoon. She’d only
returned to her desk briefly during her lunch break and hadn’t
checked her messages. There was probably a handful of them sent by
the receptionist via email, including a call from him. There was no
way of knowing without returning to her office.

But to do so meant getting out of her scrubs
and cleaning up, only to have to return and get dressed in more
scrubs afterwards. She wasn’t lying when she’d told Angie she still
had another autopsy to do. It would be easier to simply agree to
give Rohan the few minutes he wanted and then be done with it.

She sighed with resignation. “Send him in,
Angie.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. That way you won’t have to put up with
him annoying you out there for what’s left of the day.”

Angie giggled. “Oh, I don’t mind. He’s very
easy on the eye. I could happily gaze at him all night.”

Sam raised an eyebrow and Angie giggled
again and turned away. A short time later, there was a brief knock
on the door to the autopsy suite and Rohan strode in.

Dressed in a charcoal-gray suit and white
business shirt, it wasn’t hard to understand Angie’s reaction.
Rohan looked hot enough to set the pulse rate of any woman under
ninety racing. Sam was no exception and the knowledge she was so
susceptible did nothing to lighten her mood.

“I’m busy, Detective, and I don’t appreciate
you bullying my staff into allowing you in here when I simply don’t
have the time. You have five minutes. What do you want?”

If he was surprised at her abrupt tone, he
didn’t show it. Instead, he closed the door and came over to where
she stood. Most of the other pathologists had left for the day.
Save for Phillip, who worked on a body on the other side of the
room, the area was empty.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Rohan said, his
tone low.

“What about?”

“Daphne.”

Sam’s breath caught in her throat and her
pulse took off at a gallop. Was he finally willing to accept
responsibility for the way he’d treated his former girlfriend and
his unborn child? Sam didn’t know whether she was relieved or
disappointed.

“What about Daphne?” she asked, keeping her
voice even.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said,
what you accused me of. It’s obvious Daphne was the one who told
you. What she didn’t tell you was that the baby wasn’t mine.”

Sam reeled back in shock and her heart
pounded double time. In all the years since college, she hadn’t
once questioned Daphne’s word. Had her former roommate lied when
she’d sobbed all over her, crying about how Rohan had gotten her
pregnant and then dumped her when he found out? The possibility
she’d been misinformed was so enormous, it was too much for Sam to
take in. She stared at Rohan, searching his face for the truth.

“Are you saying you weren’t the father? That
Daphne
cheated
on you?” she said, still aghast.

His face remained impassive. “Yes, that’s
exactly what I’m saying.”

Sam let out a laugh that was tinged with
panic. “No, I don’t believe you. Daphne was in love with you! She
thought you were the moon and the stars! There’s no way she would
have cheated on you! You’re making it up, to justify why you left
her. It can’t be true. It can’t be.”

“Do I look like I’m lying?” he said quietly,
his tone edged with steel.

Sam stared at him again and the panic inside
her increased. If he
was
telling the truth that meant Daphne
had deceived her all those years ago. The possibility filled Sam
with horror.

She’d spent ten years simmering with anger
over Rohan’s appalling treatment. Years ago, she’d resolved if she
ever crossed paths with Rohan Coleridge again, she’d give him a
piece of her mind. He’d be left in no doubt about how she felt
about men who walked away from their responsibilities. And yet, now
she had to consider the possibility it had all been a lie.

Her first impulse was to speak with Daphne.
She wanted to hear it from her old roommate if she’d lied to her
and why. But even as that thought formed, Sam realized she’d
already subconsciously accepted Rohan was telling the truth. It
made so much sense.

It explained why he’d been so shocked when
she’d attacked him about abandoning his unborn child. She should
have known he was too decent and honorable to do such a despicable
thing. A decade ago, they’d been such good friends… Had she wasted
years burning with indignation for a liar, a woman who didn’t
deserve it?

“Why didn’t you say something, that night at
the station?” Sam asked, her voice cracking with emotion.

Rohan shook his head. “I was so stunned by
your accusation, it took me awhile to comprehend. Never in my
wildest dreams did I suspect you, or anyone else, thought I’d
walked out on my unborn child. You knew me almost as well as
Daphne. It cut me to the quick to realize you thought I was capable
of such a thing.”

“I… I…” Sam couldn’t even complete the
thought. Had there really been no justification for her actions?
Despite their friendship, she’d never once asked him if it were
true. She’d believed Daphne’s story and that had been the end of
it.

Over the months of Daphne’s pregnancy, Sam
had been a caring and considerate friend, all the time seething
over what Rohan had done. She’d plotted ways to make him pay, to
bring him to his knees, but by then he was long gone and she hadn’t
seen him again. Until now.

“You never knew she told me the baby was
yours?” she croaked.

“Samantha, I swear I had no idea. When
Daphne told me she was pregnant, I was shocked because she’d told
me she was on the pill. Then she reminded me she’d been on
antibiotics and it can sometimes interfere with the effectiveness
of the pill. I guess I panicked a little because it wasn’t in our
plans, but I assured her I loved her and somehow, we’d work it
out.