Chapter 1

"Evan, you've already put the department's year-end reviews at risk, and people online are at the station demanding answers," said Harry Langford, the police chief.

His face hardened, and he slammed the table.

Outside the station, crowds held up banners that read, "Unethical medical examiner Evan Mercer", "Violates the deceased's privacy", and "Re-victimizing the deceased".

Online, the calls for me to leave the department kept piling up.

I held my ground. "Chief Langford, I followed protocol that day when I performed the autopsy. The injuries were in the private area, and as the medical examiner, I had to examine that first—"

The police captain, Claire Sutton, entered and cut me off. "Chief Langford, the crowd outside calling for Evan to be kicked out of the department keeps growing. We should issue a notice of disciplinary action against him immediately."

She shot me a sidelong look, her eyes ice-cold. "Do you still think you did nothing wrong? Marrying someone this sanctimonious is my shame."

Pain spiked through my chest like needles. I stuck to the procedure during the autopsy. She was the one who spoke up in front of a crowd that didn't know better.

That was what set the deceased's family off. They raised hell, called me sanctimonious, and said I didn't belong in the department.

Claire handed over a demotion notice, speaking with absolute certainty. "Chief Langford, I believe we should demote Evan now and fine him 2,000 dollars per month for one year to defuse the public outrage. This is the notice I drafted. If it works for you, I'll send it out now."

Harry took the notice, signed it briskly, and handed it back to her.

Claire fixed her eyes on me and let out a mocking laugh. "Anyway, the scrutiny's intense. To protect the privacy of the other decedents, I put in for your reassignment."

She dropped a security guard uniform in front of me. "You're posted outside the medical examiner's office. If anything goes wrong in there, I'm coming to you first."

Claire didn't spare me a look as she told her team to clear out the medical examiner's office. All my stuff was thrown out. Even the autopsy report I'd just finished got chucked into the trash.

I picked it up and cut her a cold look. "Claire, listen. This case won't break without me. Run me into the ground, and you'll leave yourself no way out."

Back during the autopsy, I'd already found trauma to the victim's private area that matched a case from six months ago. This was very likely a serial case.

But the autopsy report had been burned, and the victim's remains were cremated six months earlier. That report lived only in my memory.

Just when I was about to lay it out, someone entered, surrounded by a group from the front of the station.

Claire's eyes lit up. She hurried over and hooked her arm through his. "Jules, you finally made it. Harry and everyone have been waiting for you."

The second I got a clear look at him, the realization slammed into me.

I finally understood why a captain like Claire could make such a basic mistake. She'd publicly smeared me as "desperate" during the autopsy, which resulted in disciplinary action against me.

Julian Carter arched a brow, a smug smile tugging at his lips. "It's been a while, Evan. Thanks for looking after Claire for me. I'm back now. Your medical examiner spot, and Claire, should both come back to me."

Julian was the one Claire never got over. His name was the unspoken taboo of our five-year marriage. I'd thought she'd forgotten him, but she'd been paving the way for him all along.

At the Monday meeting, Harry held a special session for Julian's arrival. "Julian earned his PhD at a prestigious university abroad and has spent 12 years in anatomy. I'm sure his expertise will impress us in the work ahead!

"Unlike Evan, who can't resist showing off half-baked skills in public and sticking the department with bad press."