The Captain I Married by Chance novel Chapter 409

"Makes perfect sense," the detective muttered, rubbing his chin. "So, this case..."

He was about to suggest kicking the investigation over to the Special Task Force, but catching himself, he remembered how swamped Nathan's team was with the celebrity extortion nightmare. He swallowed the rest of his sentence.

"I'll have Julia forward the finalized autopsy report to your division shortly," Nora said, seamlessly wrapping up her end of the process. Having done all she could, she clocked out and left the Forensics Division.

"Dr. Hayes! Still burning the midnight oil?"

Recognizing the passing officer, Nora offered a polite smile and paused. "Just caught a last-minute drop-in."

"Tough break. It's getting late—get home safe!"

"Will do. Have a good shift."

Stepping out into the cool night air, Nora spotted the gleaming Peyton family sedan idling faithfully by the curb.

She walked over and tapped lightly on the tinted glass.

The Driver unlocked the doors, a flicker of surprise crossing his face as she slid into the back seat. "Wrapped up already?"

Nora took the bottle of water he handed her, took a long sip, and nodded. "It wasn't a particularly complicated case."

Under the law, illegally disposing of a corpse was a severe felony, typically charged as abuse of a corpse. Even though the autopsy confirmed the elderly woman had died of natural causes, ruling out murder entirely, whoever dumped her in the trash was still facing hard prison time once caught.

Nora just couldn't wrap her mind around the motive. Why would someone throw away the body of an old woman who died peacefully of a heart attack?

And more importantly, why intentionally dump her behind the police precinct?

It didn't feel like an arrogant taunt from a serial killer. It felt more like a desperate, calculated move to force the police to look at her.

But why?

"Mr. Peyton called me a few minutes ago," the Driver mentioned, glancing at Nora's intense, unreadable expression in the rearview mirror. He couldn't quite tell if she was just exhausted from the autopsy or weighed down by the grim nature of her job.

"What did he say?"

"He said he's on his way to pick up Mr. Harold Peyton, and wanted me to pass the message along."

"He also said that if you get back to the estate before they do, you should just go ahead and get some sleep."

Nora nodded absently. "Got it."

When she walked back into the Peyton estate, the house was quiet. Nathan and Harold hadn't returned yet.

Valerie immediately threw two thumbs up at the frosted glass door, then realized Nora couldn't even see her and awkwardly dropped her hands.

Ten minutes later, Nora emerged in a fresh robe, towel-drying her hair.

Valerie opened her mouth, ready to grill her for every gruesome detail, when a sharp knock echoed from the bedroom door.

Valerie whipped her head toward it. "Who is it?"

"It's Nathan," his deep baritone bled through the heavy oak door. "Is Nora back?"

"She is! Just got out of the shower."

"Do you need her for something?"

There was a brief, loaded silence from the hallway at the mention of Nora being fresh out of the shower. After a beat, Nathan cleared his throat. "When she's decent, ask her to come down to the living room for a minute."

Valerie happily agreed.

Nora looked at her best friend's practically vibrating excitement and raised an eyebrow. "Why do you look like you just won the lottery?"