Burning Justice by Leighann Dobbs

Author:Leighann Dobbs [Dobbs, Leighann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-09-21T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

McGreevy’s Funeral home was an old, antique Victorian house just outside of Brooke Ridge Falls. I’d gone to my office in the morning, and when I pulled my PTV up to our building that afternoon to pick up Lexy, she was waiting on one of the benches outside the front door in a smart navy blue suit. She practically leaped into the vehicle, exhibiting a lot more excitement than anyone going to a wake should have.

“I’ve been to lots of these in my day, you know,” she said as she settled into the squeaky leather seat and pulled the top of her jacket out of the restraint belt so it wouldn’t wrinkle. “On investigations, I mean. They haven’t changed much in sixty years. You follow my lead. I know just what to do to get the scoop.”

I didn’t bother to remind her that I had been a private investigator for several years and also knew what to do to. I didn’t want to spoil her fun and besides, she had been pretty helpful at Nathan’s. Maybe she had some other tricks up her sleeve. I just hoped they didn’t involve bumping into a piece of furniture, especially not the casket.

I parked in the back of the funeral home and followed Lexy to the front of the building where she practically ran up the granite steps. She wrenched the eight-foot tall honey-oak door open, startling the somber, dark-suited doorman who had been poised to push it open for us from the inside. She stood there holding the door and gesturing for me to hurry up.

Inside, snatches of hushed conversation drifted into the foyer. Everything was muted, as if the plush carpeting absorbed most of the sound. I could hear soft weeping coming from the blue room down on the left, the ‘slumber room’ as it was called. I figured that’s where they had Evangeline, or at least what was left of her.

We’d timed our arrival purposely for the middle of the viewing hours so as to be able to overhear as many conversations as possible, and the place was crowded. Lexy made a beeline for the slumber room and I followed, jostling through the crowd in the hall.

The cloying scent of flowers hit me as I turned into the room and I stifled a sneeze. The mahogany casket was set along the wall to the right. Both sections were closed and it was draped with a blanket of white roses. A large picture of Evangeline was propped up on top. Flowers on pedestals and tables crowded all three sides of the room. Two giant arrangements guarded either end of the casket. The somber tones of organ music drifted out of unseen speakers somewhere up in the ceiling.

A line had formed and I took my place at the end, just inside the doorway. To my direct right was the guest book which Lexy was already eagerly signing. Nathan Barrows stood directly across from the door, the first stop after the line filed past the casket.

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.