Read Online Act V by Ansley Adams - Free Book Online

her attitude was pure cut-throat. “I just wanted
to…”
    “ Not right now, Ms.
Fitchwell.” He pulled away and both detectives kept
moving.
    “ But Detective, I just want
to know why the police department saw fit to pull in
reinforcements. I mean, after all, there are already two detectives
inside.” She was holding a microphone toward Brice in the vain hope
that he might answer.
    He batted it away and kept
walking. “Ms. B…” He stopped short of using the rhyming euphemism
that Sandra Fitchwell had earned with the department. “We don’t
call it reinforcement when we’re just trying to solve a crime
that’s already been committed. We’re not expecting trouble here.
The trouble has already happened. Look, why don’t you talk to me
when I know something worth talking about.” Maybe by then I can get somebody else to deal with your
nonsense.
    They slipped under the yellow tape and
entered the house. Leslie Handy was already there with her partner,
Court Hawkins. The two of them had been partners for more years
than Leslie wanted to admit. They argued like an old married couple
but any higher-up that thought about splitting the two of them
would have to come in with an army to do it. They were that close
and worked well as a team.
    “ Thanks for coming guys,”
Leslie whispered so the curious onlookers outside couldn’t
overhear. “When we came on duty last night, we heard the gossip
about your visit from the psychic hotline girl, and then this
happened, so…”
    “ Good news sure does travel
fast,” Addison quipped.
    “ What have you got?” asked
Brice.
    They passed through the entrance hall
into a lavishly decorated family room where a fortyish woman sat
with two kids, a boy, ten or eleven, and a girl, a bit older. Her
eyes were swollen and red. She looked very tired. The girl was
curled up in the corner of the couch, her head on her knees. The
boy stared straight ahead, looking like he wanted to be anywhere
but here. Brice didn’t blame him.
    Handy stepped toward them and
introduced both men. “Mrs. Danning, this is Detective Paddix and
this is Detective Gearhart. They’re here for
consultation.”
    Mrs. Danning just nodded. She was
clearly past talking.
    “ If there’s somewhere else
you and the kids want to go to while we…um, finish up, I can call
you later if I have any further questions.”
    “ Thank you, Detective. Maybe
we could go to my sister’s house for a while.” She urged the kids
off the couch and then turned again. “Please, if you…” She couldn’t
finish.
    Leslie jumped in. “We’ll do everything
we possibly can ma’am and we’ll keep you posted.”
    Gloria Danning nodded and left with a
police escort to help her get past the media.
    Walking ahead of the three male
detectives, Leslie Handy opened the door to the study. “Be
prepared,” she said. “This one is bizarre.”
    The smell of decomposition mingled with
the odors of urine and alcohol to form a pungent stench that made
Brice want to gag. It wasn’t the first time he’d smelled it, but he
never got used to it.
    Powder smudges covered almost every
surface where the police services team had lifted prints. The only
thing left to go to the lab was the body, a wine bottle and a wine
glass. “Medical examiner wants this one soon,” Handy told them. “We
requested that they leave the body for a few minutes so you could
see the positioning.”
    Addison and Brice got as close as
possible to the slumped corpse without touching it. “There’s a
definite stab wound just below the ribs, slightly to the vic’s
right side.” Brice commented aloud. “Did he bleed out?”
    “ Possibly…probably,” Leslie
answered. “No murder weapon; something all over the vic’s clothes,
chair, and carpet that looks like it could be red wine. It’s hard
to tell how much is blood and how much is wine because it’s mingled
together, but the medical examiner will be able to
tell.”
    “ Okay,” Addison looked at
the wine