Riley was smiling when Greg picked her up the next morning.
"Hey" said Greg.
"Hey" she repeated.
Neither one mentioned this kiss from the night before, but they weren't actually awkward either.
The ride to work was mostly silent. Greg was humming along with the radio.
Nick was sitting at his desk when they entered the office. He looked happy.
"Greggo, we got a break. We found a fingerprint on the body."
Greggo nodded. He and Nick got up and left.
Riley headed down to the morgue. Catherine had given her a new case.
The victim was a Miss Vanessa Parvanna.
She had chocolate brown hair and blue eyes. Not the same eyes as Kya or Katya.
She had two tattoos. One, on her neck, was a black and white skeleton of a butterfly. The second was a blueberry colored butterfly on her lower back. Her skin was slightly olive colored.
Doc. Robbins had just started talking when Greg burst into the morgue.
"Ryles, I have to talk to you."
She turned to him.
"What?"
"The fingerprint on Katya, it was Ari's. He killed her Ryles. They're looking for him now"
Riley said nothing. She just turned and walked out of the morgue.
She half walked, half ran out up to her office.
She slammed the door shut and closed her eyes.
"You know, you really shouldn't slam doors." said a voice from over by Nick's desk. Except it wasn't Nick's voice. It was Ari's.
She opened her eyes and turned to face him.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Just here to talk" he said, playing with the knife in his hand. Riley recognized it as a pocket knife she had given him years ago. Someone had given it to her for some reason or another. She always hated the thing. So she gave it to Ari.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Khajag. And Katya. And maybe Raven too. I suppose you want to know why I killed Katya?"
Riley nodded.
"Well, Riley, She looked like Khajag. She looked just like her too. But the way she acted was so different. Maral read me the letters you wrote, you said that Khajag was always wild and uncontrollable. Smart. She was learning to read when she died. And I expected the same from Katya. I wanted her to be like my sister or like Khajag. But she wasn't, Riley, she was a quiet child. She could be smart when she wanted. But she didn't learn to read until she was almost 5. The only thing that was the same about her and Khajag was their looks and their love of the color blue."
"You barely even met Kya."
"That doesn't mean I didn't love her. And that doesn't mean I didn't love you. Raven looks like you. That's why I chose her. But she is not you. Only in appearance. And not entirely that. She doesn't have to blue butterfly tattooed on her back. And she wouldn't get one."
Riley wasn't sure what she was supposed to say.
She tried to open the door.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I have gotten very good at throwing this thing at people."
Riley swallowed.
A minute passed in silence.
The door knob jiggled. Then it opened.
Greg stood there. He saw Ari and he reacted quickly, knocking Ari out of the chair and on to the floor. He called for someone to get handcuffs.
Riley picked up Ari's knife and put it in her pocket. She knew she wasn't supposed to do that, but right now she didn't really care.
As soon as Ari was handcuffed Riley walked out of there.
She walked strait down to the morgue. She wasn't entirely sure what she was doing until she was opening the body drawer labeled : Kasabian, Yeterina Isabella.
Her lips were still blue. Her skin was even bluer, having been in the cold longer.
Her eyes still looked like blueberries. Pretty. Floating in a sea of white.
Riley fingered the blue streak in her hair. She was so pretty. Such a waste for such a pretty girl to die so young. Like Kya.
She barely registered the morgue door opening.
Wouldn't have noticed Greg's fingers on her cold arm had it not been for the contrasting temperatures.
"Ryles" he whispered, "Are you ok?"
She nodded turning around. One of his hands was on each of her arms.
Greg was wearing a blue shirt and jeans. Blue.
She wasn't thinking when she leaned in and kissed Greg, the second time in twenty four hours.
All she knew was that he was kissing back and that his hands felt warm on her skin.
His warm hand moved to her cheek, wiping away the cold salty tears.
They only broke apart when air became important and then Riley's head rested on Greg's shoulder. His hand that had been on her cheek moved to trace the butterfly tattoo on her lower back.