Claire took Julian's hand, her eyes bright with a smile. "Chief Langford, Jules isn't the type who smiles on the outside and rots on the inside. Everyone vouches for his character."

Hand in hand, they looked more like a long-married couple. And me, her supposed husband, stood in a security guard uniform outside the medical examiner's office.

Julian shot me a taunting look and flung a closed-case file at me. "Take me to the body. I'll show you what real professionals do. I can tell you what happened without even doing an autopsy."

His swagger made my skin crawl.

Under Claire's threatening glare, I forced a smile and gestured for him to go ahead. "Sure, show me the miracle."

Inside the medical examiner's office, Julian circled the body twice. Off two scratch marks, he detailed how the crime was done.

The other two medical examiners and I broke into laughter.

While Claire poured on the praise, my assistant, Ruth Greenwood, couldn't help but say, "Captain Sutton, don't you think this is nonsense? How could Julian determine that without an autopsy?

"Plus, Dr. Mercer said this case matches the one from six months back—"

Claire shot her an impatient look and said, dead certain, "Jules studied at a prestigious university abroad. What school is Evan even from? Some diploma mill? If Chief Langford and I hadn't gone to bat for him back then, he'd have been fired over his credentials."

It was true. My credentials didn't stack up to Julian's.

That was because I joined the police department right out of college as a medical examiner. I had more hands-on experience than any PhD graduate. My credentials were my weakest link, but it hardly mattered.

I laughed it off. "All those degrees just mean he has no real hands-on forensic experience. Everything he threw out today isn't grounded in reality. Claire, if you're set on vouching for him, then we should divorce."

We'd talked about divorce more than once over the years, but every time I saw how seriously Claire worked at the department, I fell for her all over again.

I'd loved her thoroughness and sense of duty on every case. But now, I was just done.

With all the cases she'd handled, she knew better than I did how unreliable it was to infer how the crime went down from a few wounds. Still, she bought Julian's wild guesswork.

She frowned, displeased. "Are you threatening me? Evan, what makes you think our marriage gives you any leverage over me?"

Julian gave a cocky grin and needled me. "What, you're acting out because I took your medical examiner slot, and you need the attention? Evan, why not just own it instead of taking shots from the sidelines?

"Whether my call holds up is for Chief Langford to decide."

Claire didn't offer a single rebuttal. She kept that dismissive look, as if convinced I was the petty, jealous lightweight Julian painted me to be.

I gave a faint smile, finally seeing Claire's stance. "Here's my line. If you're going to cover for him, then let's get a divorce."

"Fine! Divorce it is! Jules is back anyway. I don't need you anymore!"

Claire was busy chasing arrests to pad Julian's record, day and night.

I took the divorce papers over. She signed them on the spot.

After finalizing the divorce, I went to tender my resignation to Harry. I hadn't even stepped into his office when another family showed up with a body to file a report.

The victim's condition matched the last case, which set off alarms. I was about to call for an autopsy when Julian yanked my hand and wrenched it down rudely.

"Hands off. Someone like you would disrespect the deceased. Everyone, this is the medical examiner from that recent scandal, the one who took advantage of a body. He's been demoted to a guard!"

At Julian's smug nudge, the family who'd been begging me to examine the body turned on me in disgust. "So it was you! How dare you play the saint, saying you'd perform an autopsy on my daughter?

"You targeted her and tried to take advantage because she was pretty, didn't you? That's sick! Don't you dare lay a finger on her, not even now that she's gone!"

Julian scoffed and started holding court. "Don't worry. I'll handle your daughter. I'm nothing like him. I'll make sure her privacy is fully respected!"

Seeing the family's cold stares, I was done. I was resigning anyway. The case was no longer my concern.

I turned to leave when Claire arrived with her squad and barked, "Evan, Julian's about to start the autopsy. Go assist him at the table. I didn't demote you so you could loaf on the department's dime!"

Hearing that, Julian stuck out his left leg and ordered, "Clean my shoes, Evan. And fetch two basins of water for handwashing. You know the rules about keeping the autopsy room sterile, right?"

I snorted. "Happy to."

I grabbed the floor rag, shoved it into his mouth, and punched him a couple of times until I heard his jaw pop.

"You lunatic! Evan Mercer! Stop!"

Claire leveled her gun at my head and said coldly, "Jules put you on as his assistant, and you attack him? You must have a death wish."

A chill shot down my back. I couldn't believe she'd go this far for Julian. She'd always kept her cool in the department. She wasn't the type to use her badge for personal favors.

Even a year ago, when I was taken, she simply told the abductor, "Go on, pull the trigger. A medical examiner is nothing to this department. But once you fire, there's no taking it back."

This was the first time I'd seen her draw a gun, and it was for Julian.

To save my skin, I dropped into a crouch and cleaned Julian's shoes. He let out a derisive snort and drove the heel of his dress shoe onto the back of my hand. The scrape split my skin.

But Claire didn't even blink. "You need to be taught a lesson. You think you can stack up to Jules? Keep dreaming."

It wasn't until the crack of bone was heard that Julian finally lifted his foot.

To prove his chops, he brazenly ran the autopsy in the hallway outside the medical examiner's office. Anyone with half a brain could tell those wounds came from a violent tear. Still, he wrote it up as a suicide.

Ruth asked, "Dr. Mercer, did you also notice the cases from the last few days are connected to the one from six months ago?"

"Yes, but it's no longer my concern," I answered calmly and headed for the chief's office.

…

The day the chief signed off on my resignation, Julian flashed a brand-new watch at me. "Evan, no offense, but it's been days, and you still can't crack a simple case. I walked in and finished it all.

"The body they brought in yesterday was the richest man's daughter. They asked for you by name for the autopsy, but Claire passed it to me instead. They've just wired a hefty sum over."

Claire looped her arm through his and gave me a mocking look. "If he'd done the autopsy, we might've gotten the whole department written up. Sanctimonious hypocrite!"

I went still for a second, remembering the family who begged me yesterday. So they were the richest family. Too bad.

Claire and Julian didn't steal my spot on the autopsy. I passed it on.

I carried my stuff and kept moving. "Well, congratulations to you."

Outside the station, I brushed past the task force from HQ. The lead official hurried over to Harry, who'd come out to greet him.

"This is the fourth rape case. And your department labeled it a suicide? Where's Evan, the one who did the autopsy on the first victim? Get him to work with us on this serial case. Now!"

I got in the car, calm as ever, and headed for the airport. I was done cleaning up that mess.