Closed Casket (A Piper Harris Mystery, Volume 4) by Deany Ray

Author:Deany Ray [Ray, Deany]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

***

We were about two minutes away from the ME’s office. Gran reluctantly sat in the back—since this was her mission, not Edie’s—but she should have gotten used to it by now. Edie was smiling and looking outside the window, still wearing her party outfit. So there we were. Batman, his sidekick, and the Joker.

I told Edie there was no way I was taking responsibility if Ryker found out she came with us. I did feel a teensy bit responsible, though. That was just the thing. I couldn’t say no to her, yet I felt this inner impulse to protect her. I’d never forgive myself if anything went wrong. What was odd was that I usually felt like this for my people back in Oregon. My family members, the Falcons, were the ones I had felt emotional and protective about, not regular civilians who didn’t even know who I was. And I suspected I needed to be extra protective of Edie tonight.

The other hurdle was explaining to Edie where we were going and what we planned on doing. I opted to tell her the truth. Well, almost the truth. We explained to her that we needed to see Lola’s body to understand the nature of her strangulation wounds and to see what other clues we might find. That is how Edie found out how she died and made the sign of the cross again.

We didn’t mention any tattoo.

She gasped when she realized we were going to break into the ME’s office to examine a corpse in the morgue. Her expression turned pale.

“I told you not to come with us,” I said. “Now you have to deal with what we’re up to. If your knees start to buckle, then I’m gonna let you out here and you’re going to take a cab back home.”

I sensed Edie’s nervous gulp, but she quickly recovered. She lifted her chin and adjusted the tiara in her curls and the sash around her body. “No, no, all is good,” she said. “This is what I wanted, to feel like I’m living my life.”

“Because all of your partying at the retirement complex is not enough?” Gran asked from the back.

“Oh, come on, that’s just innocent fun, Dorothy,” Edie said. “The only real danger there is if someone is breaking their hip. But that hardly fazes anyone anymore. We have the ambulance on speed dial. But this, this is real living.”

“With emphasis on living, right?” I asked.

“Of course,” Edie said and smiled at me. “You’re taking care of me.”

“Exactly,” I said. “That’s what I meant. I have one extra worry now.”

We told Edie not to say anything to Leonardi. I scrambled my brain for a reason, and we told her that he just didn’t approve of it but I wanted to go through with it anyhow.

Edie frowned and said, “That guy didn’t approve of this? That’s very peculiar. I’d have thought he’d jump at this opportunity right away. He doesn’t really come off as a scaredy cat or a rule follower.

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