At Witt's End by J.V. Caggiano

Author:J.V. Caggiano [Caggiano, J.V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J.V. Caggiano

Sixteen

The flurry of activity that followed made the fuss over Mary Paul’s discovery appear insignificant. It was obvious that the chance to revive Ms. Hawkner had long since been lost. The ambulance bundled her off in short order. Cerridwen had a fairly good idea where to, but she didn’t want to think about it.

They were all questioned briefly and then herded into Felix’s house. There they were separated and questioned in greater detail. Thorn turned over the memory card to his camera with a sigh, communicating his belief that he would never see it again. By dinner time they had been through three rounds of questioning, first with two uniformed officers, then by another officer that seemed to be of a higher rank. Finally Jane and Jesús arrived and it started all over again.

Felix had decided to treat the whole incident as yet another opportunity to entertain. Take out was delivered at about six p.m. There was quite the fuss involved in getting the delivery driver around the crime scene. Felix took the officers’ refusal of food as a personal insult and was incensed that they flatly refused to let him serve anyone alcohol. When the mass of police cleared, he took it as a challenge to provide everyone still left with as much as alcohol as they could hold.

Thomas retreated to a darkened hallway with the drink that Felix had pressed on him. He wasn’t even sure what it was. He braced his feet and slid down the wall to the floor. He downed his glass. Whatever it had been, it tasted terrible. He eyed the empty glass distrustfully and then flung it against the opposite wall. It made a satisfying crash and tinkle as it shattered.

“Do you feel better now?” Jane’s voice came out of the darkness above him. He took a moment to think about the question as the music in his head changed to the full and sexy brass of classical jazz that always followed her. Not that modern crap—real jazz from the 20s.

“No,” he said finally. “It doesn’t.”

“Well, we’ll see how you feel when Felix realizes you just broke one of his eighty-dollar Swedish crystal glasses.”

“I do not intend to tell him,” he informed her with dignity. “How long was Hawkner in that snowman?”

“I don’t know yet. Judging by the color she was, I would say a while.”

“Like, hours? Or since last night?” Thomas eyed the shards of his glass. He should have kept it. Now he couldn’t put anymore booze in it. Not that he was going to get drunk. It took a depressing amount of anything to put him under.

“Several hours at least. I can’t give you an exact number. Time of death isn’t exact. It’s not like on TV where they can tell you to the minute. The best we’ll ever get is a ballpark,” Jane said. She dropped on to the floor besides him.

“What I need to know—” God, his hands were shaking. He took a deep breath and started over.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.