Chapter 1
Newly Minted Medical Examiner Axed! Stole Drugs Off Bodies!
Alexx re-read the article for the third time. She laid the newspaper down on her desk and shook her head in disbelief. She had suspected that something wasn't right with Tara Price. Alexx didn't know much about her but the few times she had seen her, Tara had carried herself with so much pride. Cockiness even. Being coroner of Miami Dade County was no small feat. If anyone knew this, Alexx did. She had lived that life for over ten years. However, in all that time she had never done anything as stupid as stealing from the deceased, especially drugs! And consuming them! What had Tara been thinking? Obviously she hadn't been thinking. In a way, Alexx felt bad for her. Handling dead bodies all day could be enough to push anyone over the edge. At the same time her actions showed that she wasn't mature enough to handle the responsibility. Tara had been in the job for all of a minute and she was strutting around like her you-know-what didn't stink. And she was much too young to be a coroner. Alexx remembered that she had done a double-take when she had first seen Tara. How could they possibly think this young thing with her mama's milk still wet on her lips could possibly replace her? Well it was obvious. Tara couldn't replace her. Alexx knew she wasn't as young or as pretty as Tara Price but she was a lot smarter.
"And so pretty," the writer had gushed. This article, like the stories Alexx had read on the internet and had seen on the news was much more focused on Tara's looks than on her crime. A caller on the radio had even suggested she go into modeling. The owner of a strip club begged her to come work for him. What none of those fools seemed to understand was that fresh-faced Tara Price was looking at hard time. By the time Tara got out of prison folks will have long forgotten that she had ever been a doctor and how pretty she had been.
Alexx startled at the knock on her door.
Her boss, Dr. Henry Romson, came in and sat down. "Are you happy here, Alexx?"
Alexx was surprised but as was her custom, spoke her mind. "Are you unhappy with my work?"
Dr. Romson chuckled. "Quite the opposite. That's what has me worried."
"I don't understand."
"Don't you? I read about the incident with your replacement at the M.E.'s office. Now that she's been fired they may want you to come back."
Alexx had considered this. But no, she had no intention of going back to work in the morgue. "That was me in another lifetime, Dr. Romson. I'm happy here working with the living. Let somebody else take care of the dead."
Dr. Romson smiled as he stood up and walked towards the door. "I'm pleased to hear that."
Alexx smiled too and was still smiling even after he closed the door. Her new job at the hospital paid much more than she was making before. Plus, she had a large corner office (instead of that dungeon in the morgue), a new car leased by the hospital that she could trade in every other year if she was so inclined, and since she no longer mucked through crime scenes or sawed into bodies, she didn't have to worry about her expensive clothes getting messed up.
Alexx sat back and surveyed her plush office. Yeah, life with the living was good.