Infernal Affairs Read Online Free PDF Page A

apparent. “They’re used to seeing cops here, so Derrick and I lend you an aura of legitimacy. Do you remember the backstory?”
    “We’re replacing Timmons and O’Hara,” I said. “They’re on sick leave. Miles and I are both finishing a death-investigation internship at Carleton. I doubt they’re going to ask us about our alma mater, though. They’re more interested in whether we brought them coffee and doughnuts.”
    We continued down the passageway, which terminated at a heavy door with another card reader. Lucian swiped the key card again, and I was hit with a blast of subzero air. I could smell what lay beneath the layers of disinfectant, and it wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was the opposite of all good things. If evil had a smell, decomposition was probably the only thing that came close.
    Another door at the far end of the chamber opened, and an autopsy tech emerged. He was still wearing latex gloves and a face mask, and he stared at us in surprise.
    “We’re taking over for Timmons and O’Hara,” I said.
    He frowned for a second, then shrugged. “Fine. I’m taking my fifteen. Dr. Rashid just started working on the kid.”
    The kid?
    Was that the body we were after? Selena hadn’t said anything about it being a child’s body. But demonic physiology could also be deceptive. It might look like a child and actually be several hundred years old.
    The tech passed us and exited through the first door. I led the way, opening the door at the far end of the hall, which led to the autopsy suite. It was heavy and had a glass window, through which I could see the familiar tiled floor and steel tables with drains underneath them.
    There were three autopsy tables in total, and the left side of the suite was taken up by a long steel counter. Sterile pads covered the counter, with freshly washed instruments laid atop them. Only one of the tables was occupied. A figure dressed in scrubs and a plastic apron, whom I assumed to be Dr. Rashid, had his back to us. He was leaning over the table, his body obscuring whoever or whatever lay on top of it.
    The room was silent, save for the gentle shuffling of the doctor’s feet as he positioned himself over the body. I noticed that he was wearing running shoes. For some reason, the small detail made me want to smile. But I didn’t.
    “Dr. Rashid?”
    He turned, still holding a pair of shears in his right hand. “Who are you?”
    “We’re here to replace Timmons and O’Hara. They are on—”
    “—sick leave. Yes, I know.” All I could see behind the mask was his dark eyes, which fixed on me. “I didn’t ask who you were replacing. I asked who you were.”
    Selena had given us the names of two grad students at Carleton University, who were enrolled in a death-investigation program but currently away doing fieldwork. It would be far too much trouble to track them down.
    “My name’s Christina Ross, and this is Bob Silver. I think our supervisor e-mailed you last week. Professor Ian Talbot.”
    Rashid frowned. “I don’t know anyone by that name, and I received no e-mail. But as long as you’re here, you can help me take notes.” He glanced at Lucian and Derrick. “The two of you can leave. Thank you.”
    “We’ll be right outside,” Lucian murmured to me. Then he and Derrick left the autopsy suite. Now it was up to Miles and me to get rid of the doctor, and we didn’t exactly have a lot of time.
    I approached the autopsy table. Miles hung back a bit. He wasn’t quite as accustomed yet to seeing dead bodies.
    The body in question was surprisingly small. He couldn’t have been more than eight or nine years old. His blond hair was matted in blood, and there was detritus on his face. He must have been lying facedown in the sand when the police found him. But if that were the case, there should have been blanching due to lividity on his face as well. It was untouched, aside from the streaks of dirt.
    Dr. Rashid hadn’t begun the autopsy yet, but he was about