Murder Comes to Elysium by Daryl Anderson

Author:Daryl Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: female sleuth, private eye, private investigator, florida crime, noir, psychological fiction
Publisher: Mob City Books
Published: 2020-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

At the administration building, I was led to a sumptuous seminar room on the top level, where my tribunal waited. As tribunals went, it was small, only three people: Crevasse, a woman with close-cropped silver hair whom I assumed was Marge Blank, and my old buddy Officer Tyler Andrews. Although decked out in MPPD blue, with his splotchy and bleary eyes, he looked like the bull after the picadors were done with him.

I began to feel slightly better about the meet; I’d expected a gathering of everyone who’d had contact with Adele Gorp lying in wait to unmask me, but the only person here who’d met Adele was Crevasse, who was too busy scowling at Marge to pay me much attention. Either I was wrong about the meeting’s purpose, or my unmasking had already been accomplished, via a photo.

“Thank you for coming, Ms. Gorsky,” Marge Blank’s eyes were hidden behind a pair of glasses with lenses so thick it was hard to read any emotion. Crevasse gave me a quick once-over, his eyes distant and bored, all emotion hidden beneath that professional façade.

Only Tyler glared at me, not trying to hide his anger.

No one told me where to sit, so I took the chair directly opposite Marge, taking care to meet her gaze directly. I’d done a little quick and dirty research on the Mercies administrator, who’d taken over the thankless job of director five years earlier when a scandal ousted her predecessor.

For most of her career she’d been on the front lines of mental health care, with a particular interest in women’s issues. Usually I’d manufacture a little fake outrage for a situation like this, when I was clearly in the wrong, but ultimately decided on a softer approach. The only wild card in my scheming was Crevasse: if he recognized me as Adele, my goose was cooked, no matter what I did. Yet his continued disinterest in me gave me hope. I decided to get things started.

I coughed and fixed my gaze on Marge. “I’m a little confused why I’m here.”

Tyler snorted, which drew a sharp look from the Mercies director.

“We’ll get to that in a moment, Ms. Gorsky,” she said with a nervous smile. “I’m afraid our ACU supervisor was held up. I don’t think we should begin until she arrives. It’ll just be a minute or—oh, here she is now.”

Tammy Gunn took the chair next to Crevasse. When her ass hit the chair, she glanced at me and froze. “You’re that woman!” she said, pointing a finger at yours truly.

Marge reddened. “Ms. Gunn, what are you—”

“She’s that woman—the one with the awful black man.”

“What?” Marge asked, her confusion palpable.

“They came to my office under false pretenses, Marge!”

While Tammy and Marge had an animated sidebar, I assessed the men. Tyler’s tapping fingers revealed a growing impatience to get the real show started. But Crevasse sat tight in his tailored suit, not a hair out of place.

When Tammy finally fell silent, she slumped her shoulders and cast her gaze on the table.

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