Body Movers 4 - 4 Bodies and a Funeral (12 page)

Jack walked back. “What’s up?”

“There’s something in her mouth.”

Jack leaned forward. “How can you tel ?”

“Her lips should be more relaxed.”

Carlotta stared, detecting the slightest protrusion of the

woman’s upper lip, unnoticeable to a layperson and

perhaps unnoticed by the M.E.

Coop donned plastic gloves, then reached into the small

bag he carried with him to retrieve a pair of metal tongs

and a small flashlight. Very gently he pul ed down on the

woman’s chin until her mouth opened. He snapped on the

flashlight, then peered inside and slowly inserted the

tongs.

“There’s definitely something foreign in here,” he said.

Moments later, he pul ed out the shiny metal object and

held it up to the light.

Carlotta leaned close for a better look.

“What is it?” Jack asked.

“I’m not sure,” Coop said, squinting. “But it looks like some

kind of…charm.”

Carlotta gasped. A charm, today of all days. What a bizarre

coincidence. Of course Hannah was fond of saying there

was no such thing as coincidence.

“Strange,” Coop murmured, turning the silvery charm in

the light. “I think it’s a bird—maybe a chicken?”

“Was it there before she died?” Jack asked.

Coop hesitated. “I really shouldn’t venture a guess.”

“Dammit, Coop, was it in her mouth when she died?”

Coop pivoted his head to look at Jack. “Off the record, I’d

say no. I think we’re looking at something inserted

postmortem.”

Jack cursed under his breath. “Guess I’m going to be here

for a while after all.”

8

“A chicken?” Hannah Kizer squinted over the cream-

cheese quiche she’d brought for breakfast—a leftover

from some exquisite party she’d worked the night before.

From the other side of the kitchen table, Carlotta nodded

at her goth-garbed friend. “I saw it. The charm Coop pul ed

out of her mouth was definitely a chicken.”

“And the assumption is the woman didn’t take a bottle of

sleeping pil s, then put a chicken charm in her mouth?”

“Coop said it was placed in her mouth after she died.

Obviously whoever did it was making some kind of

statement. Maybe someone was taunting her.”

“You mean, saying that she was afraid of them?”

“Or afraid of a commitment—maybe she’d turned a guy

down?”

“We’re assuming it was a guy who kil ed her.”

“Maria says the kil er was definitely a man.”

“Who’s Maria?”

“Um…Jack’s new partner.”

Hannah’s eyebrows shot up. “Jack has a female partner?”

“Women can be detectives,” Carlotta said haughtily.

“Yeah, I watch TV. Is she cute?”

Carlotta lifted one shoulder. “I suppose…if you’re into the

leggy, busty, exotic type.”

Hannah pursed her mouth. “Ouch.”

“Oh, and she’s some kind of a profiler. Comes up with

character sketches of people who commit crimes.”

“Damn, she’s smart, too?”

Carlotta scowled. “That remains to be seen. She didn’t

seem to think it was strange that on the same day Eva

McCoy’s charm bracelet was stolen, a dead woman turns

up with a charm in her mouth.”

“Is the chicken charm from the McCoy woman’s infamous

bracelet?”

“I don’t think so. Her bracelet and the charms were gold.

This charm was silver. Besides, the timing is wrong. Coop

said this woman died sometime the previous night, but

Eva’s bracelet wasn’t stolen until yesterday afternoon.”

Hannah licked her fingers. “So it could be just a

coincidence.”

Carlotta almost choked on her quiche. “I thought you

didn’t believe in coincidence.”

“I’m just saying that people have gone charm crazy, in case

you haven’t noticed. You can even buy charms at the

convenience store when you pay for gas, for God’s sake.

Maybe this woman was into charms, and for some reason,

the person who kil ed her just wanted to stuff this

particular piece of jewelry down her throat.”

“Maria said that was a possibility. She also said that maybe

the person found her already dead and wanted to put

something special in her mouth as a token of love.”

“Yuck.”

“No kidding.”

“The police discussed all of this in front of you?”

Carlotta shifted in her chair. “I sort of…eaves-dropped. The

whole glass against the wall thing actually works, by the

way.”

“I’l bet this makes Coop look pretty good for finding

something the M.E. missed,” Hannah said, her eyes

shining.

“Jack told me that Coop had already been asked to

become more involved with cases at the morgue. And,

yeah, I guess this kind of catch only helps his cause.”

“Do you think he’l ever be Chief M.E. again?”

Remembering the bottle of vodka she’d found under the

van seat, Carlotta pressed her lips together. “I’m not sure

Coop would want that, even if it were possible.”

Hannah nodded, chewing. “So…how are things between

you and Richie Rich?”

“Peter took me to dinner last night,” Carlotta said in a

chiding voice. “And it was very nice.”

“Nice? Having hot chocolate with my dotty old uncle

Harold is nice.”

“We’re taking things slowly.”

“If you ask me, you missed a chance to get rid of him. You

should’ve let him move to New York.”

Carlotta swallowed another bite of quiche then pushed

her plate away. She hadn’t told Hannah about her dad

approaching her at the rest area in Florida or his message

to stay close to Peter. “I owe it to myself to see if things

can work between us.”

“Whatever. I don’t know what you see in him. I’ve spent

my life around rich bastards like Peter Ashford and they

exist only for themselves.”

Hannah had never discussed her family or upbringing.

Carlotta had always assumed she’d grown up in a troubled

home. “You spent your life around rich bastards?”

“Catering to them, I mean.”

“Oh.” The chip on Hannah’s shoulder toward wealthy

people only reinforced Carlotta’s suspicions that her friend

had endured an unhappy childhood.

“So…Coop is stil available?” Hannah asked in sly reference

to the road trip that Carlotta had taken with the man

Hannah had a crush on.

“As far as I know,” Carlotta returned.

Hannah smiled. “Good. How’s your arm?”

“I might have overdone it yesterday at work, but today

should be quieter. I just can’t wait to get this cast off.”

“How much longer?”

“I have to go back to the doctor Friday for another X-ray.

I’m hoping he’l say I’m strong enough to stop wearing it.

There are some things I want to change around the

house.”

“Like what?”

Carlotta gestured to the wal s of the oppressive dark red

kitchen with gold-tone fixtures. “Like this room. My

mother hated this house, and it didn’t help that she was

suffering from depression when she decorated.”

“I don’t know—it’s got that whole nineties vibe going.”

Hannah drank from her coffee cup. “What does Wes think

about redecorating?”

“I didn’t ask him. But this whole frozen-in-time thing has

got to end.”

“I don’t disagree. How did his meeting go with the D.A.

yesterday?”

“I’ve been told that the charges were reduced to a

misdemeanor.”

“You haven’t talked to him?”

“We kept missing each other on the phone yesterday, but

Jack knew the outcome. And I went to bed before Wesley

got home.” Carlotta had waited up as long as she could to

talk to her brother about the missing pain pil s. But in the

end, exhaustion had won out.

And some part of her really didn’t want to know.

“Speak of the devil,” Hannah said as Wesley ambled into

the kitchen, dressed in jeans and an untucked long-sleeve

dress shirt.

To hide the ugly scars in his arm left by The Carver,

Carlotta thought. Her stomach pitched when she

remembered the bloody, swol en aftermath.

“Hey,” he said cheerful y. “Is there enough food for me?”

“Sure,” Hannah said.

“Pul up a seat,” Carlotta offered. “We were just talking

about your meeting with the district attorney.”

He grinned. “So you heard the good news?”

“Through the grapevine,” Carlotta said sourly. “Why didn’t

you call me? I was worried sick.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled, removing the orange juice from the

fridge. “I lost track of time. Besides, I thought you’d be

busy. How was your first day back?”

“Not great.”

“There was an incident,” Hannah supplied. “And your

sister wound up with cake on her face.”

“I think the expression is ‘egg on her face,’” Wesley

offered.

“No, trust me, it was cake,” Carlotta said. “So, you only

have to do more community service?”

He poured a glass of juice, then sat down. “Yeah.”

“And how’s that going?” Hannah asked. “You’re working in

the city computer department, right?”

“Yeah. It’s okay, I guess. They’re a bunch of real geeks

down there.”

“So you must fit right in,” Hannah said.

“Ha. I’m just putting in my time.” He shoveled in a

mouthful of quiche.

“Any chance they’l hire you?” Carlotta asked, drumming

her fingers on the table. “If you’re not going to work with

Coop anymore, you need to find something that pays. You

stil have your court fine and, uh, other debts, remember.”

He looked up from his plate. “You don’t think Coop is

going to cal me?”

She shook her head. “I went on a pickup with him last

night. He’s not angry, but he’s not ready to work with you

yet.”

“Did you tel him the charges were reduced?”

“Yeah.”

Wesley’s expression was the same as when he was ten and

some bul y had taken his cookie at lunch. “What kind of

body pickup did you go on?”

“A young woman in her home on the west side. Seemed

like natural causes at first, but Coop thinks the woman was

probably murdered.”

“He’s good at that,” Wesley said. “Even the M.E. on the

scene usually defers to him.”

“I noticed.”

“Is he going to hire someone to replace me?”

She nodded. “He already has someone in mind.”

Wesley’s mouth tightened. “I can’t blame him. Anyway, I

have another job.”

Carlotta’s eyes went wide. “Doing what?”

He chewed and chewed, then said, “Courier.”

“Delivering packages on your bike?”

“Yeah.”

“When do you start?”

“Soon.”

Carlotta grinned. “That’s good. So you’re going to do your

community service in the mornings and work as a courier

in the afternoons?”

“And probably on weekends,” he said through a mouthful.

“That’s…great.” Carlotta tried to quel her pleasure that he

would be working every day. Maybe her little brother was

finally growing up. He sure had enough grown-up

problems. “Wes, do you know anything about a black SUV

parked across the street?”

He lifted his orange juice glass. “No, what about it?”

“Jack noticed it when he gave me a ride home yesterday.

And Mrs. Winningham mentioned seeing it, too. She said it

comes and goes.”

He pushed to his feet. “There are other people who live on

this street, you know.”

“None who seem to have our issues,” Carlotta said drily.

Wesley drained his glass. “I’m outta here. Hannah, my man

Chance is jonesing to go out with you.”

Hannah rol ed her eyes to the ceiling. “You mean Fat

Boy?”

“He started working out.”

“Wes, do your friend a favor and tel him he can’t handle

me.”

Wes lifted his hands. “I tried, but I think he’s in love or

something.”

Hannah hooted. “What a loser.”

“He’s not such a bad guy,” Wesley said. “Think about it.

He’d spend a shitload of money on you.”

Hannah pursed her mouth. “Would he pay to finish the

tattoo on my back?”

“Probably, if you let him watch.”

“I’l think about it.”

Carlotta gaped at her friend. “You can’t be serious.”

“What? I’ve dated guys for worse reasons.”

Carlotta sighed. Who was she to judge? She was dating

Peter to help her father.

“Later,” Wesley said, then scooted out of the room,

grabbing his backpack on the way through the living room.

Carlotta looked at Hannah. “I’l be right back.” She wiped

her mouth on a napkin and fol owed Wesley through the

house and out the front door.

“Hey, wait a minute,” she called from the stoop.

Already halfway down the driveway, Wesley stopped and

looked back. “I’m kind of in a hurry.”

She walked down the steps. “This won’t take long.” Then

she frowned and gestured to the garage. “Aren’t you

riding your bike?”

“I, uh, left it at Chance’s.”

“Oh. Do you need a ride to your office?”

“No. But thanks. What’s up?”

“I need to talk to you about this.” From her pocket she

removed the Percocet prescription bottle and held it up.

“What about it?” His voice sounded innocent enough, but

his Adam’s apple bobbed.

“It’s empty. And when I called the pharmacy to get a refil ,

I was told that both refil s were used up.”

“So?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Wesley.”