She Who Watches by Patricia H. Rushford

seeing has a little boy. How about you?”
    â€œBeen married for four years now, and we have one in the oven. I’ll be a daddy in about two months. A little girl.”
    â€œCongratulations.” Mac shook Daniel’s hand again. “So are you and the team hitting that biker house this afternoon?”
    Daniel nodded. “We’re waiting on the paperwork and the detective briefing.”
    â€œOK, people, let’s get started,” the barrel-chested SWAT sergeant barked from the front of the room. “Get your weapons and equipment check going.”
    â€œWe already checked, Sarge,” a trooper yelled from the back of the room.
    â€œThen check it again!” the sergeant yelled back.
    Daniel gave Mac a nod and fell in line with his squad. Mac handed him a business card. “Give me a call when you get a chance so we can catch up.”
    â€œWill do.” Daniel placed the card in his breast pocket while keeping a close eye on the sergeant.
    By the time Mac got to the door, Dana had pulled her car around which was now back in service, and Nate was sitting in the backseat.
    â€œYou don’t have to sit in back, Nate,” Mac offered. “I could have jumped back there.”
    â€œNo, I’m good. Besides, you’re taller. I fit back here just fine.” Nate smiled. “And I wouldn’t want to break up the team.”
    Mac folded himself in and snapped on the seat belt. “Sorry I kept you waiting. Ran into an old friend I went through the academy with. We ended up working a few hundred miles apart, and I lost track of him. He’s on the tactical team now, has a baby on the way.”
    â€œThat’s nice.” Dana feigned interest. She didn’t have much to do with the guys on the SWAT team. Those guys were the jet pilots of the outfit, enjoying the fast pace of their assignment. Dana found them to be a little too fast for her liking, having been the object of taunts and inappropriate jokes while she was in their company. They were pretty good one-on-one, but together they could be a little over the edge with their frat house antics.
    When they arrived at the M.E.’s office, Dana grabbed her plastic evidence tub from the back of the car and handed her camera equipment to Mac.
    Nate offered to carry the evidence kit for Dana.
    â€œFinally, a gentleman in the bunch.” Dana grinned at both men, softening her insult.
    â€œDon’t get used to it,” Mac teased.
    He turned toward the brick building and noticed Kristen’s silver Volvo in the parking lot. Had she come home, or had she just left her car there? The thought of seeing Kristen brought a measure of excitement pulsing through his veins. The idea of seeing her shouldn’t have him reacting like a teenager with raging hormones.
    Careful, he told himself. She just went to Florida to see her ex. She might not even be interested anymore. Besides, she’s not your type. Mac had been telling himself that for months, but it didn’t wash.
    Appearances aside, she was very much his type. He just hoped she hadn’t opted out of their tenuous relationship.
    The three signed in at the back of the morgue, setting their supplies on the exam room floor and evidence shelf. The two-table autopsy room was warm and humid—probably from all the hot water running through the exam tables to wash the stainless steel equipment. Condensation clung to the small outside windows, evidence the room had been used earlier this morning for autopsies.
    â€œYou ready for Doc Thorpe?” Henry asked, poking his head inside the room. Henry, a medical assistant at the morgue, had worked there for years and was one of the best.
    â€œYou bet, Henry. We’re the only ones coming,” Dana answered.
    Mac wanted to ask Henry about Kristen, but he didn’t trust himself to speak just yet. Too many emotions had his heart rate doing double-time.
    â€œAll right, then; I’ll get our