The devil's closet by Stacy Dittrich

Author:Stacy Dittrich [Stacy Dittrich]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Policier
ISBN: 9780843961591
Published: 2008-09-09T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I was disoriented. I had slept so soundly I wasn’t quite sure where I was, let alone what time and day it was.Michael didn’t help. He was digging through my suitcase, grabbing clothes and tossing them at me. I looked at the clock and saw it wasn’t as late as I had thought.

My sleep beginning to fade, I remembered the day’s events and why I was here, though it still didn’t answer what Michael was doing.

“Michael, slow down. I’m barely awake yet.”

“We don’t have time.”

“Well, I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s happening.”

“Another body’s turned up.”

“Who?” I didn’t think I had slept through another Amber Alert; at least I hoped not.

“I’ll explain later. Move it. Let’s go.”

I dressed, clumsily and quickly, and followed Michael out the door. I assumed we were going to the crime scene, although he still wouldn’t respond to my questions. When we pulled into the department lot, I was still mystified.

“I thought we’d be going to the crime scene?”

“We are—kind of. Just follow me.”

It wasn’t like Michael to keep me out of the loop, so his behavior was puzzling. Downstairs by the crime laboratory, the hallway outside was a circus. Everyone was there talking with—and over—one another, but the scene quieted down considerably when they saw me. Now I was beginning to get unnerved.

My first thought was that something bad happened in my family. I started picking up my pace, walking ahead of Michael, ignoring the other agents and detectives.

Once in front of the lab doors, I shoved them so hard, they slammed against the wall when they opened. I followed voices to one of the rooms on the far side, where I saw the sheriff first, outside the examination room door.

“Sheriff, what’s going on?”

“CeeCee.” He pointed into the room. “Take a look.”

Inside, spread out and lying on a table, were bones; human bones. I learned that earlier, while Michael was leaving for the day, walking in the parking lot toward his car, a small boy, maybe nine or ten, was waiting for him holding a box. The boy said a man had paid him ten dollars to give the box to Michael. The man told the child which car to stand near, described Michael, and said to make sure not to leave until handing over the box.

Other agents had the boy and his parents upstairs, interviewing the child in hopes of getting a solid description of the suspect. The box contained a pile of bones, one red ribbon, and a dirty old My Size doll shoe.

I still wasn’t catching on as to the urgency of my arrival, or why I needed to know about it right this minute. After all, it wasn’t my show anymore. It was hard to get a grip as to who was in charge. I said this loudly and defiantly to Michael, and to the supervising agent standing next to him.

“CeeCee, he left you a note inside the box,” Michael said quietly.

“Me?” Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe.

Michael led me to the next room and closed the door behind us.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.