Angel Blood Lines

Chapter 3

Two days later and Eva found herself walking down the old-fashioned, slightly musty corridor of the courthouse reluctantly.

'Don't worry you'll be fine,' Sean smiled at her reassuringly as they walked down the long, polished corridor to the courtroom.

She nodded, but she wasn't so sure. Crowds unsettled her. She had only been summoned once before for a small trial and she had hated every minute of it. Shifting uncomfortably in her suit and thinking of her favourite jeans, she followed Sean as they entered the court. She almost bolted back out when she saw the amount of humanity packed into the room. Steadying her breathing she walked past the audience and sat down a few rows behind the prosecutor's table. Sean left her, and went to sit beside a dark-haired man a few rows in front of her. She couldn't see the man's face but he appeared to be the one in charge of the case. She managed to calm herself as the court filled up and the judge entered.

'The prosecution calls Miss Eva Tanner to the stand.'

Here we go, she thought as she stood stiffly and walked to the front of the court.

Nicholas' eyes narrowed dangerously as the short defending attorney tore into his witness mercilessly. They made it appear as though she hadn't really examined the bodies properly. He could see she was trying to hold her own but was steadily losing ground. His eyes lingered on the stubborn set of her jaw as yet another question was fired at her. It looked as though she was controlling her temper with difficulty. He would have been amused to see the slim brown-haired girl lose her temper at any other time, but he wanted her to control it here, almost tried to will her to do so. Besides, she looked too gentle to have much of a temper.

His eyes flicked over her slightly disarrayed dark hair framing the sweet oval face. Her wide eyes, which at this distance appeared dark blue or violet he couldn't quite decide, staring at the lawyer, reminded him of a deer caught in the headlights, the small delicate nose and the wide mouth that was constantly betraying her nervousness as her tongue flicked out again to lick her dry lips. For some reason she appeared familiar but he couldn't place her. He frowned as she answered the last question and the lawyer sat down, clearly satisfied with what he had achieved. Nicholas glanced at Jack Sharpe's smiling face and looked away quickly. He wouldn't be able to stop himself if he looked at the man again.

'Well we couldn't have done more! He massacred our M.E on the stand!' Sean mumbled as he gathered the papers.

'Yes, we couldn't have done more.' Nicholas' deep voice seemed to echo with an underlying meaning.

Sean glanced at his profile from the corner of his eye. He hadn't known Nicholas long. He had arrived a few months ago and had become one of the lawyers in the D.A's office. Reputed to win more cases than he lost, Nicholas had practiced widely in the northern counties and Canada. Rumour was he was extremely rich and had owned his own practice before having a change of heart and wanting to help the less fortunate. Despite his incredibly stunning good looks, he emanated an air of indefinable danger that seemed to keep most people away from him. In fact he had never seen Nicholas outside of work.

As the thoughts flashed through Sean's mind, he suddenly became aware of Nicholas stopping in his tracks. Turning round he saw him staring at the crowd with narrowed eyes, his nostrils flaring slightly.

'Hey, what's up?'

'Nothing, I just remembered something.' Nicholas smiled with difficulty and willed his feet to move. But he could still smell that scent deep in his lungs. His nose was still questing the air but try as he might he couldn't place the source of that delicious aroma. The crush of bodies leaving the courtroom didn't help matters. He swallowed painfully and followed Sean back to the office, trying to erase the feelings aroused by that mouth-watering scent and failing miserably.

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'So, ready for another crack at the courtroom?'

Eva shook her head vigorously, 'I am never going into a courtroom again, ever!' Matt laughed. It was a week later and they were doing another autopsy.

'Let's not talk about it okay?' Eva cut through more tissue, slicing it cleanly. 'Besides I have enough problems dealing with your terrible taste in music!'

'The Bee Gees are not bad taste!'

'Yeah, whatever grandpa!' she teased glancing at his blonde classic good looks sceptically. Who knew they concealed such an old-fashioned taste?

A few hours later she placed the scalpel back on the tray and sighed.

'Another mystery,' Matt pulled off his gloves and lobbed them at the trashcan. 'Better get her tagged.'

'Wait, let me check something.' Eva lifted the girl's hair, to find the two puncture wounds she had half-expected to see. 'This is weird.'

'Yeah, another bad piercing, what are the chances?' Matt quipped.

'I really don't think that's what they are Matt.'

'What are you thinking?' His expression sobered slightly.

'Murders,' she replied grimly, 'I think we should let the police know.'

'Good luck with that.' He tagged the girl as Eva wondered how she would go about convincing the police detectives that she had a legitimate case. They weren't known for their patience with scientists. She sighed as she watched Matt, she would have to find a way.

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'Nick could you go down to the M.E's office to check out this case?'

'What is it?' Nicholas looked up as the file was dropped on his desk.

'One of the M.Es thinks she has spotted some trend; bodies from different cases or something. Thinks they are murders,' the man rolled his eyes and walked away.

Murders? Nicholas picked up the file and looked through the reports, his eyes widening slightly in surprise, before rising to his feet. They may not be murders but he had to see them to be sure.

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