Steamed to Death by Peg Cochran

Author:Peg Cochran
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 0425252205
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2013-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Gigi felt the blood drain from her face and rush south toward her feet. For one moment, she thought she might faint, but she took a deep, restorative breath and steadied herself.

Perhaps Anja was mistaken. She had to be mistaken. Maybe Derek had been experimenting with drugs and had taken something that had put him in a coma-like state?

Gigi mounted the stairs slowly, not looking forward to what she was going to find. Anja was uttering little cries of anguish under her breath and twisting a handkerchief around and around in her fingers. Gigi wanted to scream at her to stop.

Derek’s bedroom was that of a young man in transition between childhood and adulthood. A pinup of some scantily clad celebrity jostled for space on a wall crowded with Harry Potter posters. One shelf on the bookcase was given over to model cars while the others were crammed with textbooks, popular magazines and the latest thrillers.

Derek looked as if he were sleeping, but when Gigi dared to get close enough to check, she realized he wasn’t breathing. She stifled the scream that rose in her throat.

“We’d better call nine-one-one.”

Anja didn’t move, and Gigi had to take her by the arm and lead her back into the hallway.

“You stay here.” She shepherded Anja to a padded velvet bench at the top of the stairs. “And make sure no one goes in there.” Gigi already had one foot on the top stair. “I’ll get my cell phone and call the police.”

Gigi gave a doubtful backward glance at Anja as she headed down the stairs. The woman was dreadfully pale, and Gigi prayed she wouldn’t faint. Maybe she should have told her to put her head down?

She nearly fell down the last steps and ran directly into Winchel.

“Oh.”

“In a hurry?”

Gigi took a deep breath. She didn’t want to tell him about Derek until she’d already called the police. “I left something on the stove,” she fibbed, feeling the usual stab of guilt that was a relic from her Catholic school days. Even white lies, told to protect someone’s feelings, caused her a pang of remorse.

Fortunately Winchel merely nodded and continued down the hall toward the library.

Gigi dug her cell phone out of her jacket pocket and, with shaking fingers, punched in 9-1-1. Then she walked down the seemingly endless hall to the library to break the news to Winchel.

• • •

Winchel heard her out, his face etched in stoic lines, only the clenching of his jaw betraying the slightest hint of emotion.

“Can I get you a drink?” Gigi asked.

“Thanks.” Winchel put his head in his hands, and Gigi thought she heard him groan.

She fixed him a scotch and water that was more scotch than water and put it on the desk. He didn’t look up as she tiptoed from the room. Hopefully he would have a few moments of peace before the police arrived.

Five minutes later, Gigi heard the front door open and then Winchel’s deep voice. The police had obviously arrived.

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