Second, Death by Rylie Dark

Author:Rylie Dark [Dark, Rylie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-25T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“I was just getting him coiled around my finger,” Lexi fumed as she burst through the door into the observation theater. “Whoever called me out, you better have a damn good…”

She cut herself short as, upon entering the observation theatre, she found herself facing not only Casler and Hawker but the entire Cathedral Killer Task Force, including Deputy Director LaPaglia.

“Pardon me,” she said, reining in her temper with an effort, “what’s going on?”

“The Paris Coroner’s office is finished with the autopsy,” Casler spoke up quickly, straight to the point. “The results are…not what we expected.” He shot Lexi an unexpectedly loaded look, raising his thick eyebrows a fraction of an inch. Lexi’s eyes slid around the group. There was something going on here.

“What do you…” Lexi started to ask, but was cut off by the shrill voice of the Undersecretary of Tourism.

“She wasn’t murdered,” Rolle announced with sharp, spiteful assurance, as if defying anyone to contradict her.

“What?” Lexi looked to Casler for an explanation, but it was the task force’s forensic expert, Dr. Gilde, that spoke up.

“The latest information from the coroner’s autopsy suggests that Amalie Constantine’s expiration was the result of a narcotic overdose. The wounds that she was found with were inflicted posthumously.”

“So the cause of death is overdose,” Lexi said. “That doesn’t mean it wasn’t murder. She could have been fed the lethal dose. Even if it was a self-administered overdose, the mutilation of the corpse is too close a match with the other victims in our case files for us to overlook it.”

“There’s more,” Casler said, “I went through Constantine’s phone. There were a ton of missed calls – most of them from the same number. Guess who.”

“Marcel,” Lexi looked back through the glass.

“That’s right.”

“Did he leave any messages?” she asked.

“A few, at first. He seemed pretty upset. He said he knew what she was up to, that he wasn’t going to let her get away with it – he sounded paranoid, frantic even. He stopped leaving messages after a while, just kept calling and calling.”

“Hmm,” Lexi mused out loud. “So, was it about drugs, jealousy, or both?”

“I’m afraid I missed your deduction. Did he say something before I came into the theater?” the Deputy Director asked.

“Not quite,” Lexi replied, “but I’ve investigated enough to cases to know that obsessive phone calls are typically the result of greed and possessive thinking. Money, drugs, and sex are the most common obsession points and are usually at the center of situations like this. Factor into the equation that the latest victim died of an overdose, and it stands to reason that the obsessive caller was concerned either about drugs, payment for drugs, or actions taken in pursuit of drugs. It isn’t bulletproof, but it’s good enough for government work.”

“I wish you’d use another turn of phrase,” the Undersecretary piped up snappishly.

“Sorry,” Lexi said, moving on quickly, “Still, using this additional information, I think I can get him to tell us what we need to know.”

“Do what you do, Dr.

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