Read Online Gone to Ground by Brandilyn Collins - Free Book Online
Authors: Brandilyn Collins
Tags: Christian - Suspense
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to Zeke, askin him where you were. He said you and he had been up all night Tuesday followin leads on your story, and then you had to run to a court session for all day Wednesday."
"Yeah, that's a crazy case. But the minute I heard about Erika I begged off to come here. Just had to stop by home first for some extra clothes."
He'd probably broken every speed limit gettin to Amaryllis. "You write another article for tomorrow?"
"Yup. Barely made my deadline after the autopsy."
"The chief'll love it." If anybody in this town hated Trent, it was Chief Cotter. "What's it gonna say?"
Trent slid a forefinger up and down his glass. "I talked to my contact at the facility in Jackson after Erika's autopsy. Of course toxicology will take awhile, but like the other murders, I doubt they'll matter. Erika's pending cause of death is from the same kind of woundâa stab to the neck that cut the carotid artery. In fact he said the single stab was done exactly like the other victimsâsame precision, same placement. Which means it had to be the same perpetrator."
Which also meant, like the others, she bled out in just a minute or two. Must have been an awful lot of blood.
I stirred the sauce, keeping my eyes averted. "Did he tell you what time she died?"
Trent set down his glass. "How much do you want to know? It gets kind of technical. And . . . gory."
I shivered. We were talkin about a person I knew. As much as I'd disliked Erika, I wouldn't have wished this on her. I steeled myself. "Tell me."
A shadow dropped down Trent's face. "They can never tell time of death exactly. But I did learn the condition of the body when the coroner got to the scene around 10:00 a.m. She was nearly in full rigor mortis, which normally takes about twelve hoursâbut there are all kinds of variances to that."
Hope lifted its head. Could Erika have been killed as early as 10:00 p.m.? Stevie was still at work.
"But the pathologist said Erika had one kind of partially digested food in her stomachâbrownies. Food normally goes through the stomach in four to six hours. I'd gotten a tip that a woman had been eating brownies with Erika, maybe as late as 10:00â"
"Who?"
Trent shook his head. "Anonymous source."
"Oh, come on, Trent."
"I can't. Maybe later."
My heart kicked around. "So she was killed sometime between 10:00 and 4:00 in the morning?"
"Well, based just on stomach contents. But when they put it together with everything else like rigor mortis and body temperature, they narrowed it to between 11:00 and 2:00."
No.
The sauce started to bubble. So red. Why hadn't I cooked somethin else? I turned off the burner, fightin to look calm. "You sure she ate a brownie at 10:00?"
"That's what I heard. But that doesn't mean she didn't eat one after that. The visitor left at 10:00, so who's to say what happened later. Still, when you look at all the factors, the timeline looks pretty good."
No it didn't. It looked horrible.
I threw a glance at Trent and nodded. The expression on his face snapped my eyes back to him.
He surveyed me. "Why are you so curious? You never asked me this about any of the other murders."
"No reason."
"You sure?" He tilted his head.
I couldn't relax around Trent, not tonight. He was too keen on gettin his story. "Of course."
The noodles looked nearly done. I busied myself with pluckin one out to sample. Al dente. I turned off the burner and lifted the pan to the sink to drain. I could feel Trent's eyes borin through my back.
"If you know something, Deena"âTrent's voice had gone quietâ"I need to hear it."
"What could I possibly know?"
"You tell me."
I set down the drained pan of noodles none too lightly and turned around. "Is this the only reason you're here, to find out what I know? I thought we were friends."
He flicked a look at the ceilin. "We are friends. And there's no need to be dramatic."
"Fine then. Let's eat."
"Fine then."
If I hadn't perfected my motor mouth I don't know how I'd
"Yeah, that's a crazy case. But the minute I heard about Erika I begged off to come here. Just had to stop by home first for some extra clothes."
He'd probably broken every speed limit gettin to Amaryllis. "You write another article for tomorrow?"
"Yup. Barely made my deadline after the autopsy."
"The chief'll love it." If anybody in this town hated Trent, it was Chief Cotter. "What's it gonna say?"
Trent slid a forefinger up and down his glass. "I talked to my contact at the facility in Jackson after Erika's autopsy. Of course toxicology will take awhile, but like the other murders, I doubt they'll matter. Erika's pending cause of death is from the same kind of woundâa stab to the neck that cut the carotid artery. In fact he said the single stab was done exactly like the other victimsâsame precision, same placement. Which means it had to be the same perpetrator."
Which also meant, like the others, she bled out in just a minute or two. Must have been an awful lot of blood.
I stirred the sauce, keeping my eyes averted. "Did he tell you what time she died?"
Trent set down his glass. "How much do you want to know? It gets kind of technical. And . . . gory."
I shivered. We were talkin about a person I knew. As much as I'd disliked Erika, I wouldn't have wished this on her. I steeled myself. "Tell me."
A shadow dropped down Trent's face. "They can never tell time of death exactly. But I did learn the condition of the body when the coroner got to the scene around 10:00 a.m. She was nearly in full rigor mortis, which normally takes about twelve hoursâbut there are all kinds of variances to that."
Hope lifted its head. Could Erika have been killed as early as 10:00 p.m.? Stevie was still at work.
"But the pathologist said Erika had one kind of partially digested food in her stomachâbrownies. Food normally goes through the stomach in four to six hours. I'd gotten a tip that a woman had been eating brownies with Erika, maybe as late as 10:00â"
"Who?"
Trent shook his head. "Anonymous source."
"Oh, come on, Trent."
"I can't. Maybe later."
My heart kicked around. "So she was killed sometime between 10:00 and 4:00 in the morning?"
"Well, based just on stomach contents. But when they put it together with everything else like rigor mortis and body temperature, they narrowed it to between 11:00 and 2:00."
No.
The sauce started to bubble. So red. Why hadn't I cooked somethin else? I turned off the burner, fightin to look calm. "You sure she ate a brownie at 10:00?"
"That's what I heard. But that doesn't mean she didn't eat one after that. The visitor left at 10:00, so who's to say what happened later. Still, when you look at all the factors, the timeline looks pretty good."
No it didn't. It looked horrible.
I threw a glance at Trent and nodded. The expression on his face snapped my eyes back to him.
He surveyed me. "Why are you so curious? You never asked me this about any of the other murders."
"No reason."
"You sure?" He tilted his head.
I couldn't relax around Trent, not tonight. He was too keen on gettin his story. "Of course."
The noodles looked nearly done. I busied myself with pluckin one out to sample. Al dente. I turned off the burner and lifted the pan to the sink to drain. I could feel Trent's eyes borin through my back.
"If you know something, Deena"âTrent's voice had gone quietâ"I need to hear it."
"What could I possibly know?"
"You tell me."
I set down the drained pan of noodles none too lightly and turned around. "Is this the only reason you're here, to find out what I know? I thought we were friends."
He flicked a look at the ceilin. "We are friends. And there's no need to be dramatic."
"Fine then. Let's eat."
"Fine then."
If I hadn't perfected my motor mouth I don't know how I'd
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