Hollywood Notorious: A Hollywood Alphabet Thriller Series (A Hollywood Alphabet Series Thriller Book 14) by M.Z. Kelly

Author:M.Z. Kelly [Kelly, M.Z.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kingston Roads Press, L.L.C.
Published: 2016-02-19T23:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SEVEN

“The body should be…” Leo slowed down and pointed toward the brush-covered hillside above Hollywood. “There, you can see the fire at the top of the ridge.”

Leo had picked me up about ten minutes after his phone call. We heard sirens in the distance, probably the fire department responding to the scene, as we parked on the side of the road behind a couple of marked patrol cars. I got Bernie out of the back seat and we began making our way through the heavy cover of brush.

As we got closer to the fire, I understood why the responding officers thought the crime might be connected to what happened to Sylvia Lacroix. The crime scene was just a few miles from Park Hills Cemetery. A body had been trussed up on a raised wooden platform and set on fire. An oil lamp was on the ground nearby, along with a photograph of a beautiful young girl.

As I examined the photo, I said to Leo, “She looks like she was about the same age as our first victim. Her physical characteristics are also similar.”

He looked over my shoulder at the photograph, then at the fire. “Are you thinking what I am?”

My eyes now held on the burning body. It looked like it had been draped in a white cloth before being set ablaze, with most of the cloth now gone. The victim’s arms and legs appeared to have been tied with wire.

I glanced at Leo, giving voice to the horror of what we both thought had happened. “I think she was burned alive.”

Darby and Buck arrived at the scene as we were doing a cursory examination of the area around the burning body. After examining the scene, Darby displayed his usual insensitivity, turning up his nose and telling us, “It smells like a bad barbecue. After this, picnics will never be the same for me.”

I looked at Buck and did an eye roll, but decided I was too exhausted to get into an argument with his partner.

The fire department arrived a few minutes later and managed to put out the fire and the nearby brush that had been set ablaze. When they were finished, there were only charred remains for Brie and the SID staff to examine. My friend spent an hour with the body and then came over to us with her preliminary findings.

“This looks to me like a re-creation of a traditional funeral pyre that you might see in India and a few other countries. The process is called Sutee.”

I met Brie’s eyes, trying to find words to express what we had feared. “The victim, was she…”

Brie nodded. “Yes, I believe she was alive when the fire started.”

“How can you be sure of that?” Darby asked, listening in on our conversation.

Brie stared at him. “I can’t be sure of anything until I get her on the table. But, superficially, it appears there are soot particles in what’s left of the nasal passages, an indication that she breathed in the particulate matter associated with the fire.

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