Crossroads Magic (Witchtown Crossing Book 1) by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Author:Tracy Cooper-Posey [Cooper-Posey, Tracy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stories Rule Press
Published: 2024-03-20T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

I leapt up the stairs to the apartment, threw open the door, then bolted it behind me. I swept up the piles of papers and notebooks, folders of documents and other bits and pieces and stuffed them into the nearest hidey-hole, as much as would fit, then the next one and the next one. I could hear feet on the stairs as I softly shut all the portraits and photo frames that hid the cupboards.

I tried to control my breathing as I answered the knock at the door.

An officer in a black uniform, with a heavy black coat over it, stood on the small landing, with Benedict right behind him. The officer touched the brim of his hat, then removed it. “You’d be Mrs. Crackstone? The daughter?”

“This is Sargeant Lewinsky of the Criminal Division of the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office in Canton,” Benedict said.

“Captain Glass sent me, ma’am,” Lewinsky said. “Something about a suspicious death?”

“You’d better come in,” I told him. I let the door swing open fully, turned and led him into my mother’s bedroom.

The room instantly felt smaller with the two tall men in it. I didn’t go all the way to the bed. It was obvious where my mother lay.

Lewinsky leaned over and studied her for long minutes. Then he straightened up and put his hat back on. “I see,” he said, his voice crisp. “She was moved?”

I wasn’t sure who he was talking to, so I said, “Dr. Marcus took a great many photos of where she was found, but it was in the middle of the intersection you just drove through…and it was over 48 hours ago. She had to be moved.”

Lewinsky turned to look at me. “Doctor Marcus?”

“I’m not a medical doctor,” Benedict said quickly. “I’ve had some medical training and provide first aid and basic care for the residents here.”

My jaw sagged. Not a doctor? But he had…he’d spoken like a doctor. How had I made the assumption that he was? Had he called himself a doctor at any point?

Acute embarrassment spread through me, making me want to sink into the floor or become invisible. I couldn’t look at Benedict. I could barely look at Lewinsky. “So, you will investigate now?”

“I’ll have my men collect what evidence is left,” Lewinsky said stiffly. “But the body has been moved, and the critical early hours are long gone…” He shook his head. “I doubt there’s anything we can do, now.”

Again, my jaw loosened. “But…you took your time getting here!”

“We came as quickly as we could,” Lewinsky said. “We have nearly twenty-five hundred square miles we must manage, ma’am. As soon as I got the assignment, we moved. We gave this our top priority.” He pulled out a cellphone and thumbed a number, then listened.

“Yeah, bring up all the gear,” he said softly. “Call Davey in, too. We’ll need the van.”

●

It took two hours for the officers to finish their on-site investigation. I sat in one of the wing chairs for most of those hours.

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