Page 5 of Midnight Secrets

Rounding the bed, I stopped near the end. A woman lay face down on the beige carpet, her head turned so she stared under the bed. Her deep red skirt and jacket blended in with the pool of blood spread out around her. One black heel hung off her foot, hooked only by her toes. The other was on the floor beside her legs.

“What do we know about her? Garnett said she’s one of the homeowners.”

“Her name is Marie Hammond. She’s forty-one. Married,” Grant answered. “One of my techs found her purse. She’s a teacher at Parker’s Landing Academy. That’s all we’ve got so far. No kids, as far as we can tell.”

I reached into the cargo pocket on my pants and produced a small spiral notebook, then grabbed the pen I kept clipped to my collar and jotted that down. “What about cause of death? Do you have any ideas about that yet? Other than exsanguination?” I gestured to the copious amount of blood staining the carpet.

“No. We were just getting ready to roll her.” Grant looked up at his colleague, Maya Gossard. “You ready?”

She nodded and picked up a thick plastic sheet, holding out one end to him. Grant took it, and they unfolded it, spreading it on the floor beside Mrs. Hammond.

“Okay. On three.” Grant wrapped gloved hands around the woman’s ankles. Maya put a hand under her right arm. “One… two… three.” Together, they rolled Mrs. Hammond onto her back onto the plastic sheet.

I tipped my head, studying the front of her body. “I don’t see any burn marks. And those don’t really look like bullet holes.”

Grant picked up his camera and snapped several photos. “I agree. They look like stab wounds.” He took several more pictures from different angles and with a ruler.

Finally, he was ready to open her jacket. It was unbuttoned, but blood had made it sticky. Carefully, Maya folded the fabric back while Grant took more pictures. The slashes through her blouse were much more evident than those through the jacket.

“She was definitely stabbed.” Grant glanced back. “The medical examiner’s office will be able to tell you more once they conduct her autopsy.”

Mouth flat, I nodded once. “Has anyone contacted her husband?”

Garnett smirked. “That’s your job.”

I rolled my eyes. “Gee, thanks.”

“Welcome.”

“Before I go making phone calls, are we sure he’s not somewhere on the property, also deceased?” If it was a home invasion gone wrong, that was a distinct possibility.

“We checked when we arrived,” Garnett said. “No sign of him. There’s only one vehicle in the garage, but from the discoloration on the concrete, I would say there’s normally two.”

“Okay. I’ll see about tracking him down, then.”

The radio on my belt crackled to life.

“PL-one-ten for PL-two-twelve, over.”

Unclipping it, I answered. “PL-one-ten, PL-two-twelve. Go ahead, over.”

“I’ve got the RP out here with some information you should know, over.”

It sounded like the realtor’s shock might have worn off. “Copy that. I’ll be out shortly. PL-two-twelve out.”

I turned to Garnett. “Let’s find some contact info for the husband, then I’ll talk to Ms. Holmes.”

CHAPTER 4

Claire

An icy breeze blew over my face, tousling my flaxen hair. The change in the weather the forecasters assured us all was on the way had arrived.

Or maybe that was the chill blanketing my body from finding Mrs. Hammond dead in her bedroom.

I shivered and huddled deeper into my coat. Cold seeped through the skirt of my dress from the concrete porch beneath me. It added to the numbness slowly claiming me from what I’d seen. All that blood and Mrs. Hammond’s lifeless body. How could this happen? Mrs. Hammond wasn’t even supposed to be in town. She and her husband were supposed to be off looking for a new home in Boston.

Her husband!Eyes wide, I shot to my feet. Where was he? If the wife was here and dead, where was Mr. Hammond? Was he dead too?

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