Any of the women I’d told about it before now had immediately launched into the television show CSI, and it took the importance out of what forensic scientists did in real life when all people wanted was the drama and unrealistic forensics.
Sasha wasn’t like that, though, and I could see that in how closely she was watching me and the questions that she asked first.
“It’s hard, I’m not going to bullshit about that, but it’s a vital piece of our criminal justice system. Murder and assault victims aren’t shown any mercy, so I owe it to them to suck it up and do the job.”
The expression on her face softened. “I think that’s cool. It doesn’t fix the problem for the family, but it’s a vital way for them to find a modicum of peace.”
“That’s exactly it. What about you, why environmental science?”
“I’m from Florida.” She said those three words like they explained everything, making me burst out laughing.
“Fair point.”
Once I’d settled back down again, I waited for her to explain it further. It didn’t take her long.
“I’ve always been interested in the environment, our oceans, ecosystems, climate change,”—she held a hand up to silence me, even though I wasn’t going to say anything— “and don’t say you don’t believe in it. Climate change is a scientifically proven issue, and anyone who says otherwise can sit on a cactus and watch the tides rise.”
“Didn’t you do a few beach cleanups?”
“I did. We traveled to different popular beaches around the state and cleaned up the garbage on them. You’d be amazed at the kind of stuff that gets brought in with the waves. We also spent some time guarding the beaches turtles came up on to lay their eggs, and helped the babies into the water afterward.”
“Is that why you’ve got the tattoo on your foot?” I’d been itching to ask her about it, so the question just burst out of me.
The tattoo in question looked like a Hawaiian shirt, but it had large dark pink flowers, with a turtle and a hummingbird. I’d spent hours examining it discreetly over the last couple of days, and I kept finding new details each time.
“That’s right. I didn’t mean for it to cover my whole foot, but once we started, I couldn’t stop.”
“It’s like a unique Hawaiian shirt print.”
Beaming at me, she nodded excitedly. “That’s where I got the idea. Dad had this ugly shirt with large leaves and red Macaws on it, so I took the leaves, added the hibiscus and frangipani flowers, then got a turtle and a hummingbird added in. At the last minute, I asked for an orange blossom to be put at the top for Florida, and that’s where it snowballed.”
I couldn’t picture the tattoo precisely because there was just so much of it, but it covered the top of her foot, from her toes to about three inches above her ankle.
“If you look closely, I’ve added in sun rays, water, and wind to it, but there are also other animals mixed in with the details of the leaves and flowers. On one I’ve got a shark, on another there’s a dolphin. Near the top there’s a leopard’s face, too. I lucked out with the tattoo artist.”
Eyeballing how she was lying, I held back my disappointment when I realized she’d have to get out of her comfortable position to show me the bits of the tattoo she was talking about.
“I won’t ask you to move now you’re comfortable, but will you point it all out to me tomorrow?”
“Absolutely. I’m surprised you didn’t notice it all. You’ve been moisturizing it for long enough.”
I was distracted when I was doing that for her, so it was unlikely I’d be able to ever focus on a tattoo.
That’s not the excuse I gave her, though.
“It didn’t seem appropriate, but now that I know I can, I will.” I winked, making her laugh.
Both of us turned back to watch the criminal investigation show for a while, but it felt like there was something different between us now.
I just didn’t know what it was.
I couldn’t say for sure if it was the big honking cast twatting me across the face or the yelling that woke me up, but either way, I was rudely pulled out of my dream by at least one of them.
Then the light turned on, and through the eye that I wasn’t holding, I saw my parents and Marcus standing just inside the doorway, looking at the bed with concern.
“I probably should have warned you, Sasha talks in her sleep,” I rasped, hissing when my hand touched a particularly raw spot on my cheek.
“Because I was inverted,” Sasha yelled, her face scrunched up in a furious frown.
Watching the top half of her body twitch around for a moment, I opened my mouth to ask something when she squealed, “Yee-hah, Jester’s dead.”