Murder Feels Deadly by B.T. Alive

Author:B.T. Alive
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, psychic mysteries, humor, comedy, new adult, cozy mystery, amateur sleuths, small town, mountain, series
Publisher: Villette Press
Published: 2023-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Mark: I’d been so ready for a corpse (not that I’d ever seen one), that when Vitale breathed I freaked the hell out. Like a dead spider suddenly skittering across your hand.

I shouted and tumbled back into the damn bear. The lid slammed back shut.

“Who is it?” Zack yelled.

“Vitale! He’s freaking alive!”

“Alive?” Zack said. “In his own freezer?”

“He just breathed!” I yelled.

Zack crept cautiously in, lifted the lid for a peek, and sucked his breath hard. “The dude’s got frostbite,” he muttered. “Look at his fingers.”

I looked. I still wish I hadn’t.

Zack dug out his phone. “I’m calling an ambulance,” he said. “Hold this lid up so he doesn’t croak.”

“What? I don’t want to—”

But he’d already let it slam again and stepped away to make the call. I hoisted up the lid, trying to lock it open, but the damn thing wouldn’t stay, so I had to just stand there holding it, trying not to look at the blue body.

He made the call, and then there was silence, just the zombie hum of the freezer.

Finally, it occurred to me… “Can’t we just turn this stupid thing off?”

Zack leapt into action. “We’ll have to unplug it.” He tugged at the cord, then squatted, then got on his hands and knees. “I can’t even get back to the plug with all this crap!”

“Can’t we take him out?”

“I wouldn’t move him,” Zack said. “He’s lucky he’s such a shrimp, but they still had to cram him in there. We might snap his neck.”

I shivered, and took another look I knew I’d regret.

Except this time, I didn’t. They had crammed him in sideways, and in the pants pocket on his top-facing thigh was a pointy bulge.

“Check it out,” I said. “My keys.”

“What?” Zack said. He was still crashing around down there trying to get to the wire. When he processed what I’d said, he scrambled back up. “Mark! Don’t touch him!”

But outside, the sirens were already wailing close. When the EMTs showed up, I didn’t expect that they’d invite me to empty his pockets.

I pried my free hand into the cold pocket. This was much closer than I’d ever have chosen to get to Vitale Short, or almost anyone else. Through the thin pocket liner, it was impossible not to feel the cold, hard skin.

Then I touched metal.

“Ha ha!” I said. I hoisted up my keys with a victory jangle.

“I don’t believe you,” Zack said. He really looked disgusted. “This guy’s a freaking popsicle, and you’re excited about your keys.”

“What keys?” a new voice barked.

Actually, the voice wasn’t new. It was Officer Bradley Hirst.

He was standing at the ruined door, pointing an industrial-grade flashlight right at my face. “You again,” he snarled.

“What are you doing here?” I blurted.

“Someone heard shouts,” he snapped. “And now there’s sirens…” He stepped forward, pointed his flashlight at the open freezer.

Now he shouted. “What the living hell? What’d you do to this man?”

“We found him!” I said. “He’s still alive. We called the ambulance.”

“What do you mean you found him?” He jabbed his light at the broken gate.

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