Читать книгу The Fifth to Die: A gripping, page-turner of a crime thriller - Джей Ди Баркер, J.D. Barker - Страница 12

5

Porter

Day 2 • 4:18 a.m.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and morgue was off West Harrison in downtown Chicago. At this hour, Porter and Nash ran into little traffic, and they found the parking spaces out front to be relatively deserted. The guard at the front desk looked up at them with groggy eyes and nodded a hello. “Sign in, please.”

Porter scribbled Burt Reynolds on the clipboard and handed it to Nash, who wrote Dolly Parton before returning it to the desk and following him to the bank of elevators at the back of the lobby. Porter wasn’t a fan of elevators but he was even less a fan of several flights of stairs.

The second elevator from the left arrived first, and he followed Nash inside before he could change his mind.

Porter hit the button marked 3. “Dolly was hot back in the day.”

“Still is,” Nash replied. “A true GILF.”

“GILF?”

“I’ll explain when you’re a little older, Sam.”

The doors opened on an empty hallway.

Nash eyed the vending machine, then gave it a pass, heading for the double doors at the end of the hallway.

They found Tom Eisley at his desk. He glanced up at them as they came in before returning to whatever he was reading.

Porter expected him to say something about the time. Instead, he asked, “Have either of you ever seen the ocean?”

Porter and Nash exchanged a look.

Eisley closed the book on his desk and stood. “Never mind. Not sure I’m ready to talk about this yet.”

“I take it you’re working on our girl?” Porter asked.

Eisley sighed. “I’m trying. We’ve been warming up her body since they brought her in here. She wasn’t quite frozen, you understand, just way below normal temperature. It’s going to make time of death difficult to determine.”

“Do you know the cause?”

Eisley opened his mouth, prepared to say something, then thought better of it. “Not yet. I’m going to need a few more hours. You’re welcome to wait, if you’d like.”

Before they could respond, he disappeared through the door leading to the autopsy room.

Nash nodded at Porter. “Sounds like this might be a while.”

Porter fell into a yellow vinyl chair near Eisley’s door, his eyes heavy with lack of sleep.