Double Jeopardy (Entangled Select) Read Online Free Page B

her.”
    “I’ll put it in simple terms that even you can understand. At some time in his life, Cal Streeter was castrated, and not by choice,” she explained, settling back in her chair and propping her crossed legs on top of her desk. “Judging from the old scars, he must have been in a freak accident that left him your run-of-the-mill eunuch. The toxicology tests also revealed he had enough barbiturates in his blood that even if he had all his equipment he couldn’t have gotten it up for the sexiest woman in the world. Why he was in her bedroom, I don’t know, but I can’t imagine he would have had rape in mind.”
    She held up her hand to stop his expected protest. “Yes, I’m well aware there was evidence that she’d been sexually assaulted not long before Streeter was killed. But let me play the devil’s advocate.” She waved her hands around to emphasize a point here and there as she talked. “The evidence that some call assault could also mean she was into rough sex. Did anyone check to see if she had a past history of playing around with BDSM?”
    Josh frowned. The police and medical reports he’d read hadn’t brought that up. But now he could see how it could be a logical conclusion. “Let me make this clear to you. I don’t like people telling me how to do my job.”
    He focused on her long legs. Funny, he’d never thought of those ugly green cotton surgical scrubs and hot pink Crocs as sexy. Even if the odd-looking shoes did have tiny rust-colored spots on them that he uneasily figured had to be blood. Even her hair was pulled back in a no-nonsense braid that shouldn’t have looked tempting, but did. He was barely tossed out of a relationship and he was already looking at other women!
    “Neither do I, but I believe in looking at both sides of an issue.” She smirked. “I’d say your so-called, open-and-shut case has a few holes in it, Counselor.”
    Josh hated with a vengeance to have someone tell him there was a good chance he might be wrong. He hated losing, and he hated it even more when he couldn’t argue with such good logic. “I didn’t realize forensic pathologists had such a grasp of the letter of the law. Wait, don’t tell me”—he held up a hand—“you also have a law degree, but for the time being you’re playing with the medical part, right?”
    “It’s a good thing you’re a classic monster-film buff. Otherwise, I’d deck you for that. When you work in forensics, you become used to sometimes discovering surprise information that can blow open a case previously considered open-and-shut.”
    She lifted her legs off the desk and leaned forward. “Yes, I can see you didn’t want to hear that. Too bad, Counselor, because if this case goes to court, I will be stating my qualified medical opinion that there is no way on earth Cal Streeter could have raped Sally Warner. I don’t say it just for the hell of it, either.”
    He also leaned forward. “Tell me something, Doc. Since you didn’t get to meet the man until he was dead, how do you know what he could and couldn’t do when he was alive? Who says all men who’ve been castrated can’t get it up? Maybe he ate a few dozen oysters beforehand.”
    Lauren got to her feet and braced her hands on her desk as she leaned across the cluttered surface until her face was close to his. The faint scent of formaldehyde, disinfectant, varied chemicals, and other odors he didn’t want to think about perfumed her skin. He fought the urge to sneeze.
    “Let’s conduct an experiment, Counselor. Purely for the sake of research, of course,” she said, in a sultry voice that hit him below the belt. “We’ll start the evening out with a special cocktail I’ve whipped up just for you. I’ll pump you so full of downers you’ll be a virtual zombie. Then, I’ll seat you in a very comfortable chair where you can watch me stand in front of you while I slowly strip off my clothing in accompaniment to some bluesy jazz. Then I’ll slip