Dream Man by Dream Man

Author:Dream Man [Man, Dream]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-12-24T00:45:13.685000+00:00

Evidently Freddie had sensed something unusual all the way around, bless her. Dane wondered if her husband would break his nose if he kissed her. "This one's special," he told Ivan, helping him unload his kits and equipment. "For one thing, the scene's untouched. You're the first person in."

Ivan halted. "You're shitting me." His eyes began to gleam. "That doesn't happen."

"It's happening this time. Don't expect it again in your lifetime."

"What do I look like, an optimist? Okay, what's the second thing?"

Trammell was coolly studying all the murmuring bystanders. "The second thing is, we think it was done by the same guy who did Nadine Vinick."

"Ah, jeez." Ivan sighed and shook his head. "God, I wish you hadn't told me that. That's big trouble, but I guess you already know that."

"We'd thought about it. Is this all your stuff?"

"Yeah, that's it. Okay, let's see what we have."

Dane called Officer Marbach to go in with them. A patrolman who had done that good a job deserved to be included. Marbach was young, not long out of training, and was pale under his tan. But he was steady as he detailed his actions for them, even telling them the body's approximate distance from the front door.

"Can the body be seen from the street when we open the door?" Freddie asked, she and Worley having joined them.

Marbach shook his head. "There's a little entry, with the living room to the right. I had taken one step in before I saw her."

"Okay. Ivan, it's your show."

Ivan opened the door and went in. The rest of them followed, but stopped in the small entry hall and shut the door behind them. The television, tuned to an all-movie channel, was currently showing a Fred-and-Ginger. It was too loud, as if Jacqueline Sheets had been a little hard of hearing. Either that, or the sound had been turned up to drown out her screams. Ivan punched the power button and the screen went to black, filling the room with blessed silence. Dane and Trammell, standing in the entry, looked at the television. It was a thirty-five-incher, very modern and sleek, set on a pedestal.

None of them said anything. Ivan silently began his collection ritual.

From their viewpoint, only the upper half of the body was visible. She was nude, and her torso looked as if it had been savaged by a wild animal. The pattern of blood completely circled the couch, splattering over walls and carpet, and Dane remembered the odd phrase Marlie had used: around and around the mulberry bush. But it hadn't been a bush, it had been the couch. Why had she used those words? Had they been something the killer had said, or thought? Had the bastard been amused by Jacqueline Sheets's fight for her life?

The door opened behind them and Lieutenant Bonness came in. He looked at the gore and turned white. "Oh, Jesus." The first scene had been more gruesome, but they had looked at it as a onetime deal, unconnected to anything else.

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