The Body Thief (25 page)

The phone at her elbow rang and both of them
jumped. Sam pulled away from him and reached over to answer it.
Rohan moved to lean against the door.

“Hi, Richard, thanks for calling me back,”
he heard her say. She listened to what was being said on the other
end of the phone and then replied.

“Yes, that’s right. The autopsy reports on
the donor bodies.” Once again, she fell silent and listened and
then responded again.

“Yes, he’s here now. Okay, I’ll get them
printed out. Thanks, Richard. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She hung up
the phone and looked at Rohan.

“Richard’s given me the go ahead.” She
dragged her keyboard toward her. “It shouldn’t take me long. Do you
have a list of names? It will be easier to search that way.”

“Yes.” Rohan pushed away from the door and
handed her the folded sheets of paper he took from his pocket. Sam
glanced at them and then began typing. A few moments later, she
frowned.

“That’s funny,” she murmured and then began
typing again. Her frown deepened. “This is really weird.”

Rohan moved closer and stood behind her,
leaning over her shoulder. He peered at the screen. “What is
it?”

“I’ve tried the first three names on your
list and I keep coming up with a message that tells me the file
doesn’t exist. It doesn’t make sense. Of course it exists! A file
is created within the hour of a body being received. We have very
strict procedures. With so many cadavers coming through here each
day, it’s important a record is created for each one as soon as
possible.”

She turned in her seat to face him. “Are you
sure your list is correct?”

“I’m certain. The names were taken directly
from the files I received from the Sydney Harbour Hospital.”

Samantha’s brow creased again. “I don’t get
it. How could the database not have their records?” She shook her
head. “I’ll try Natalie Piccoli. I know for sure her name’s in
here. I was the one who entered it.”

Turning back to face the screen, she typed
in the woman’s name. Peering over her shoulder, Rohan saw she came
up with the same result. The name wasn’t known to the database.

A sense of foreboding slid through Rohan’s
veins and his jaw tightened. From the fear and confusion that now
clouded Samantha’s eyes, he could tell that she felt it, too.
Something was very, very wrong.

* * *

Richard swung into the driveway of his
comfortable bachelor pad. Small and compact, but boasting
sensational water views, it was the place he called home. With the
extra money he received from Alistair, he might even upgrade to
something bigger. That is, if he could keep his gambling under
control and if the money kept pouring in.

After climbing out of his tidy Active 5
Hybrid BMW, he leaned back in through the open door and retrieved
his phone from the car kit. He thought of the call he’d taken from
Sam and couldn’t help but smile. It was lucky Alistair had thought
of deleting those records or they’d both be in all sorts of strife.
Now, he didn’t have a thing to worry about.

Sam would no doubt be confused about the
missing computer files, but she’d never suspect foul play. Like
Alistair had suggested, Richard had made sure he deleted a lot more
files than those that mattered. With computer viruses and Trojans
and God knows what else attacking C-drives every day, it should be
easy enough to blame an anonymous hacker for wreaking havoc over
their system.

A satisfied grin stretched his lips wide.
Yes, all in all, it had been a productive day and one that he’d
make sure Alistair compensated him for, over and above his usual
cut. It was only fair, after all.

Sam stared up at Rohan and her heart thumped
double time. Her mouth was so dry, she could hardly swallow, let
alone talk. Time after time, she’d entered names into the Glebe
Morgue database and each time it had come up empty.

The records she searched for had
disappeared.

She didn’t want to jump to wild conclusions,
but dread settled heavily in her stomach. With every name she’d
entered that yielded the same result, her apprehension increased.
She could see the suspicion on Rohan’s face.

“Where are they?” His quiet words spoke
volumes, as much as his grim expression. His jaw was clenched.
Tension filled the air. Sam wanted to turn back to her keyboard and
keep searching, but she knew it would do no good. The records had
simply vanished. She didn’t even want to think about how or
why.

She cleared her throat and answered him. “I…
I don’t know. I can’t find them.”

“What do you mean, you can’t find them? You
just finished telling me about the strict procedures you have in
place to ensure accurate record keeping. They must be in there
somewhere.”

With increasing dread, she shook her head.
“They’ve gone. They must have been deleted. I’m not sure how it
could have happened, but it has. The records aren’t there.”

Rohan stared at her with narrowed eyes.
“That’s convenient. Are there any others missing, or just the ones
I need?”

His voice was full of accusation and her
heart filled with dread. Fear clutched at her insides. “Surely you
don’t think I had anything to do with it?”

His gaze remained hard. “You tell me. I
called two days ago to request the information. You had plenty of
time to erase evidence.”

She shook her head with increasing force.
“You’re kidding me, right? You think I had something to do with
this? That I’d impede a criminal investigation? You must be
insane!”

He stared at her in silence for a long
moment and then his body slumped on a heavy sigh. “Christ,
Samantha. Don’t look at me like that! What am I supposed to think?
I asked you for information. You told me you’ve been too busy to
deal with it. When I turn up here looking for it, it’s suddenly
gone!”

He threw his arms up in the air, his voice
taut with frustration. Sam did her best to hold on to her temper.
With a deep breath, she looked him squarely in the eye.

“I had nothing to do with making those files
disappear. I don’t know how you expect me to prove it to you. As
far as I’m concerned, I shouldn’t need to prove it to you at all.
Surely, after all we’ve been through, you’ve learned you can trust
my word.”

His gaze held hers, intense with conflicting
emotions. Eventually, he looked away and blew out another sigh.

“I believe you, okay? Given that your
brother seems to have a lot to do with my investigation, there
would be plenty who wouldn’t—but they don’t know you like I do.
You’re good and honorable and trustworthy. If you say you didn’t
have anything to do with this, I believe you.”

Once again, his gaze met hers and she could
see he was telling the truth. A little of the tension eased from
her shoulders.

“What about the hard copies you told me are
normally in the files? You said something about a backlog of
filing.”

“Yes, of course, I’ll go and check the box
right now. Even if I can’t find them, I’m sure everything gets
backed up to another server. The only problem right now is that I
don’t have access to it.”

“Let’s check the filing and see what that
turns up. Then we’ll have another think about it.”

“I’m sure they’ll be there.” She made the
statement as confidently as she could manage, but couldn’t help the
doubt that flowed through her veins. Hoping for both their sakes
that the paper reports hadn’t disappeared, she sighed when he
pulled her upright and into his arms. Planting a kiss on her mouth,
he squeezed her tightly before quickly releasing her, as if he
sensed they were on unsteady ground.

“Do you need help?” he asked quietly. “If
not, I’ll wait for you here.”

* * *

Rohan came awake with a start, for a moment,
disorientated. Unfamiliar striped curtains were drawn against a
wide bay window, blocking out most of the morning sunlight. The
room was tastefully furnished with matching white wooden furniture.
Even the soft pillows and other decorative things matched. It
looked like something out of a home decorator’s magazine.

He turned to gaze at the woman who lay
beside him, her eyes still closed. Even in sleep, she was
beautiful. He couldn’t believe that, despite all the time he’d
spent around her while he’d been dating Daphne, he hadn’t once
noticed how extraordinary she was.

Despite the initial consternation over the
vanishing files the previous afternoon, to his relief, Samantha had
managed to locate the paper files and had provided him with copies.
It had been a mutual decision to spend the evening together and
they’d found plenty to keep them occupied. Exploring each other
until there wasn’t an inch of skin on her body that Rohan hadn’t
tasted, she’d been almost as thorough with him. Afterwards, they’d
shared a bottle of wine out on her balcony and enjoyed the balmy
spring night, listening to the hum of the traffic and the
occasional croak of a frog.

They’d talked some more about their families
and he learned she had two older sisters who were identical twins.
Ava and Jessie Wolfe were a year older than Samantha and were both
professionals who appeared to be making an impact in their chosen
careers. Along with their oldest brother, there was no doubt they
were a family of high achievers. Rohan couldn’t help but be
impressed, particularly knowing they’d grown up without a father.
Samantha’s mother must be a remarkable woman. He couldn’t wait to
meet her.

Easing out of bed, so as not to wake
Samantha, he padded into the bathroom and showered and dressed.
Heading into the living room, he found his briefcase and tugged out
the pile of papers she’d given him the day before. Taking a seat at
the modest kitchen table, he began to scan the autopsy reports,
making notes as he went.

The corresponding consent forms were back at
the station and without them, it wasn’t possible to form an
accurate picture, but the more he read, the more he was convinced
something untoward was happening. He couldn’t remember seeing any
consent form that allowed the doctors to remove anything beyond the
usual, yet there were several autopsy reports that documented
nearly every useable organ and considerable amounts of tissue had
been removed.

Most of the reports had been prepared by
Richard Davis. A handful of them had been prepared by other
pathologists. Only a few of the earlier reports had been prepared
by Samantha.

In order to speed the process when he
returned to his office, Rohan put the reports in alphabetical order
by surname and then placed them in his briefcase. He’d just stood,
with the intention of setting about making coffee, when he spied
Samantha standing in the doorway.

“Good morning,” he said with a smile, loving
her sexy I-just-climbed-out-of-bed look.

She pushed the hair out of her eyes and
smiled back at him. “Why are you up so early? It’s not even
seven.”

“I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. I
didn’t want to wake you, so I came out here.”

Her gaze dropped to his briefcase where it
still sat open on the table. “You were working.”

“Yes.” He saw the questions in her eyes, but
headed her off. Until he knew for sure, he wasn’t prepared to
speculate any further. “I was just about to make coffee. Would you
like some?”

“Thanks, it sounds great. Do you know how to
start the machine?”

He glanced over at the espresso machine that
sat on her counter near the sink. “I’m sure I can figure it out.
I’m pretty handy that way.”

“Oh, yes, you’re handy all right. I’ll vouch
for that.”

Her provocative smile reached all the way to
her beautiful brown eyes and he felt its impact deep in his gut.
Before he could respond, she turned away. Her short robe lifted and
he caught a glimpse of naked skin. Instantly hard, he ditched the
coffee and followed her down the hall. She glanced at him over her
shoulder, batted her eyelashes and continued to saunter toward the
bedroom. Lust and anticipation heated his blood.

He caught her just inside the door and drew
her up against him. Spreading the front of her robe wide open, he
palmed her breasts, loving the feel of them in his hands. He rubbed
his thumbs across her nipples and was gratified with her gasp of
need. His cock throbbed.

They’d spent hours the evening before
learning each other’s bodies, but one look at the invitation in her
eyes and Rohan couldn’t get enough. Sliding his hands beneath the
short robe, he cupped her naked bottom and pressed her against his
cock. She threaded her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to
his.

She kissed him with a passion that sent his
blood pulsing through his veins and left him craving far more. His
hands moved over her naked skin, her back, her bottom; her hips.
She moved against him, urging him on, and all the while her sweet
mouth tortured his.

Unable to bear the torment a moment longer,
he bent and swung her up into his arms and cradled her against his
chest. Striding to the bed, he lowered her to the mattress and
followed her down. She shrugged off her robe and reached for his
shirt.

“You have way too many clothes on,
Detective.”

He murmured his agreement against her lips,
content to let her undress him. To his relief, she made short work
of removing his clothing and soon they were once again skin to
skin. Almost simultaneously, they sighed in satisfaction.

“
Mm
, that feels so good,” she
purred.

“I could get used to this.”

She looked up at him a little uncertainly.
“Really?”

He kissed her soundly on the lips. “Really.
I like you, Samantha. I like you a lot. I’d like to spend a lot
more time with you. I want to know everything about you. What do
you think?”

She lowered her lashes and hid her gaze from
his. He felt a momentary alarm until she looked back up at him and
smiled. “I think that’s a great idea. I… I like you, too.”