Read Online She's Not There by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith - Free Book Online

Tommy have done? That’s what he’s supposed to do if someone’s dead. You declare it. Ain’t that right, Joe?”
    Joe said, “That’s right.” Fitzy rolled his eyes.
    Fred hung his head. He’d overstepped the bounds he was so grudgingly allowed.
    I continued on. “I went for one of the troopers. He had me call Dr. Brisbane. Then I went back to see if I could be of help.”
    They all squinted at me. Willa said, “You a nurse?”
    Joe said, “Poppy is an FBI agent.”
    They pulled back as if he’d told them I was a Martian.
    Mick said, “You are not.”
    Joe confirmed. They looked at Fitzy.
    He said, “That’s what the lady claims.”
    They closed their mouths, which had been hanging open, and smiled at one another. Willa patted her hair and the fellows adjusted their Red Sox caps. I had gained a new respect; Mick confirmed it. “I told you people she wasn’t just another bimbo.”
    I said to Joe, “Who do you usually bring here, chorus girls?”
    Billy said to his friend, “Now see? You went and started a to-do.”
    Ernie said, “Never mind those fellas, Poppy. So when you went for the cops, which trooper did you talk to? The drunk here or the rookie?”
    Fitzy choked on his coffee.
    â€œOfficer Fitzgerald,” I said.
    â€œHe told you to call the doc?”
    â€œYes. While he went to find his rookie.”
    Willa said, “This morning, Carol came in to pick up egg sandwiches for her and the doc. Just before Joe got here. She said—”
    â€œI’m sorry. Carol?” Sounded familiar.
    Joe said, “Doc’s assistant.” Oh, yes. That Carol. The one who takes care of her boss when he shoots himself up with Demerol.
    â€œShe ain’t a nurse either, but never mind that. She told us the doc told her the rookie cop barfed. Did he really?”
    â€œI’m afraid he did.”
    â€œCan’t blame him none there.”
    â€œAnd besides that,” Fitzy told them, “he upped and quit. Boy thought he’d have an exciting career here, wearing those jazzy sunglasses, chasing speeders. Disillusioned.”
    Mick said, “Well, it must have been a very bad sight.”
    I said, “Confirmed.”
    Joe asked them, “Did Carol say what the doc thought?”
    Billy told him she did. “The doc said he couldn’t figure out what the hell happened to that girl, but if you ask me, I’d have to say it sounds like your basic rape case. Raped and strangled. Carol said there wasn’t a drop of blood on her, either. That she was twisted up like some kind of whirling dervish, whatever that means. What does that mean, Poppy?”
    â€œAll her muscles had contracted.”
    â€œOh. Well, raped and strangled is my bet. Thanks to these damned perverted day-trippers.”
    Mick said, “A strangled person would be purple with her tongue stickin’ out.” He demonstrated.
    Billy gave him yet another elbow. “How the hell would you know what a strangled person looks like?”
    â€œI seen strangled people in the war. While you were sittin’ around here with your so-called high blood pressure. I seen ’em in Itlee . In France too. If we took prisoners? Then … well, say, some guy lost a buddy that day? He’d maybe take it out on one of the Jerry prisoners.”
    Fitzy said, “She hadn’t been strangled. Or raped either.”
    Joe took over. “According to the coroner over in Providence, she wasn’t raped. Maybe a party got out of hand, who knows? But if there’s a rumor that a girl was raped and strangled on Block Island, all the overnight tourists will cancel their reservations and the ferries will come in empty.”
    Willa got the point. “Okay, forget what I said.”
    Ernie leaned in and rested his forearms on the table. “Then it had to be drugs that killed her.”
    Mick nodded firmly.