Dirty Little Secrets (Romantic Mystery) Book 1 in the J.J. Graves Series

by Hart, Liliana

  “You know, that’s a common misconception. Most suicides don’t actually leave a note.”

  “I know, but Dr. Hides just seemed like the kind of guy who would need to clear his conscience. I do have a small amount of good news,” he said.

  “What’s that?”

  “The warrant for the files came through first thing this morning. Apparently someone in the DA’s office has a lake house on the Chesapeake Bay and the entire staff spent the weekend there. And Judge Andrews was out of town at a wedding. Fortunately, someone checked their voicemail and heard my frantic messages because it was waiting for me first thing.”

  “Then let’s see what we can find.” I watched Jack do something interesting to the locks on the file cabinet and the drawer popped open. “My, my, my,” I said. “Somebody has hidden talents.”

  “I’m not the only one,” Jack said. “Both files are gone.” It was then we heard the sound of sirens and feet clomping up the stairs outside. Officers I’d just left at one crime scene were coming into the door of another. They got to work, and I stood by Jack and waited for my turn to come up.

  “You think he destroyed them so we wouldn’t see what was going on in those sessions?” I asked.

  “Maybe. Or maybe someone else got to them, and him, first.”

  “So what you’re saying is that I should be looking for signs of homicide when I get up there.”

  “If you don’t mind,” Jack said dryly.

  “Let’s see if we can get a couple of your boys to lower him down. I can’t really see myself hanging over the balcony to study a body.”

  “You never were the athletic type,” Jack commented. “Lower him down, boys,” Jack said above the low murmur in the room.

  “I’ll do it,” Jeremy Mooney volunteered along with another baby-faced officer. I was surprised the neither of them seemed bothered by such a gruesome death. They hadn’t exactly had a lot of experience in such matters.

  I got to work as soon as Dr. Hides was laid out in front of me. “That noose is very well done,” I said pointing to the thick shank of rope. “I wonder if the doctor was an avid boater.”

  “Maybe he was a Boy Scout,” Jack added.

  “Whatever he was he’s been dead less than two hours.” His body was still warm and his corneas hadn’t yet clouded over. “He’s got a broken neck. Instant death as soon as his weight reached the end of the length of rope.”

  I was feeling more than inadequate. I knew Jack wanted me to rule homicide, but it looked like a suicide. This was a moment where it would have been nice to have an actual medical examiner. Jack knelt down beside me.

  “What is it?” He asked in a soft voice, so his men couldn’t overhear what was being said.

  “I just don’t know, Jack. It looks like a suicide to me. There’s nothing I can tell you just by a visual examination here in the middle of the floor. I can smell alcohol on him, but that’s not unusual in these cases. Now if something suspicious shows up in the tox screen, then you may have something. But right now. . .”

  “Then let’s do the tox screen,” Jack said.

  I put my hand on his arm before he could get up. “It might be more beneficial for you to send him to a medical examiner,” I admitted. “I’m out of my league here, Jack, and I’m not afraid to admit it. One mistake on my end here could change the course of the entire investigation. If he hung himself, that leaves probable cause that he was responsible for both murders and took his own life over guilt or some other reason. If someone else was responsible,” I said, pausing with a shrug, “then we’re far from through yet.”

  “I want you to do it, Jaye. You’ve seen the other murders. And if you take the time frame of when this happened, it’s not so far out of the realm of possibility that someone else did this to him. My gut says the doctor is just another victim, which means the murderer knows the steps we’re taking. He knew enough to know what time we found the body this morning, and that we’d probably be headed here next.”

  When he put it like that I could see where all this suspicion was coming from.

  “I’ve got a couple of officers looking through the trash and the shredder to see if they can find those missing files. But come on, Jaye, an outside medical examiner is not likely to see the big picture. I need you.”

  “Right, no pressure,” I said. “I’ll do it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” We bagged up the body and left the cops to finish up the job. I had a long day and night ahead of me. I hoped Brody was a patient man.

  I put Dr. Hides on ice as soon as I got back to the funeral parlor. I had Amanda Wallace to tend to before Harvey came in to view the body this afternoon, and she didn’t look good. But before I began working, I had to do something for myself. Something selfish that had nothing to do with murders or police investigations.

  So I left the basement, grabbed the emergency chocolate ice cream I kept in the freezer and cried. Just cried—a pitiful, sorry-for-myself good old-fashioned cry. I cried for Fiona Murphy and Amanda Wallace. I cried for Dickey because he’d gotten himself in a hell of a mess. He was a dope, but he was still one of my closest friends. I even cried for Dr. Hides, and I didn’t even really like him all that much. I cried for Janette Taylor and her miserable cold. I cried for the spouses who were left without partners because of senseless murders, and Jack because I could see the strain he was under and that these people mattered to him. I cried for Brody because, what the hell, I might as well add that little twist of fate into the mixture. I rested my head on the table and let it all out in big gulping sobs.

  The rattling of the screen door to the kitchen brought my head up with a start. I saw Brody through the glass in the door and motioned him in so I wouldn’t have to move out of my comfort spot. I wasn’t quite through feeling sorry for myself.

  “Were you sleeping?” he asked.

  “No way,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve got way too much to do to take time out to sleep.”

  “That’s what I thought too, but you have the imprint of a spoon on the side of your face.”

  I reached up and felt the dents in my cheeks and shot Brody a dirty look. So maybe I fell asleep for a few minutes. Crying could wear on a girl. And it wasn’t very gentlemanly of Brody to mention the creases.

  “Tell me what’s wrong, babe,” he said sitting across from me and then pulling me into his lap.

  I snuggled up against him and breathed in his scent. I smelled my soap on his skin from our shower earlier. I couldn’t think of anything more intimate. “Nothing really,” I said. “Not anymore. I was just a little overwhelmed for a bit.”

  “I should have gotten here sooner, but I got caught up in work. The book’s going well. Something about this town really gets the process moving along.”

  “I’m glad things are working out,” I said. In all honesty I didn’t really care how it was going. I would have cared yesterday and I’d care tomorrow, but I was still in my all-about-me mode.

  “I would have let you use my shoulder,” he said in my ear and made me shiver. “And it looks like you’ve eaten lunch without me.” He looked at my empty carton of ice cream and quirked an eyebrow at me. “I had grand plans for lunch.”

  “It was really more of a brunch,” I clarified. “I haven’t had lunch yet.”

  “Well. You’re way past due,” he said. “Why don’t we go grab something? We can even go out of town if you want.”

  “How past due am I?” I screeched, jumping out of his lap to dig through my purse for my watch.

  I always took my jewelry or anything else off that had the potential of coming loose while I was working on a body. I’d learned from experience that retrieval was not always easy. Or pleasant.

  Brody beat me to it by looking at his own watch. I guess he didn’t have to worry about it getting stuck in body parts while he was writing. “It’s almost two,” he said. “That must have been some nap you weren’t taking.”

  “Oh my gosh! It can’t be that late. Mr. Wallace could be here
at any time and his wife is so not ready for public viewing.” I was practically shrieking, and I yelled the last bit as I ran down the basement stairs.

  “I’ll make you a deal,” I said.

  “Does it involve nudity?” Brody asked.

  “Absolutely.”

  “Then I’ll do it,” he said.

  “But you haven’t even heard what I want,” I said. “You could at least hear me out for formality’s sake.” I was busy pulling Mrs. Wallace out of the refrigeration unit, but I still saw him roll his eyes.

  “Fine, what do you want me to do?”

  “I’m running behind, so I’d like you to help me with the documentation and cleaning on Mrs. Wallace.”

  He was silent for a few seconds until I looked up at him. “Does it still involve nudity?” he asked.

  “Yes, geez. And I’ll even throw in dinner at Martha’s.”

  “All right, but I want the sex first. I’m no dummy. And I brought my own condoms in case you decided to take Martha’s advice to heart.”

  Damn, I knew it wouldn’t take long for that bit of information to make its way around town.

  Thankfully, Kendra and Owen had taken a couple of hours prep time off my work. They’d massaged out the rigor until Mrs. Wallace lay limp on my metal table with her hands down to her sides. They’d also taken the necessary blood and sperm samples, labeled them and put them in the refrigerator so they could be sent out to Richmond.

  I withdrew my own syringe.

  “What are you doing?” Brody asked.

  “The samples have already been gathered to go to the lab in Richmond, but I have small capabilities here to test for medications, illegal drugs, alcohol or any irregularities in the system.”

  “You think she was drugged?” he asked.

  “No, not if he’s keeping with the same pattern he held with Fiona. But it never hurts to check.”

  Between the two of us, we were able to get her weighed and measured, all of her external injuries recorded and her body cleaned minutes before I heard the buzzer ringing, signifying I had a guest in the lobby.

  “He’ll want to see her,” Brody said.

  “I know. He’ll need it to be real to him. Right now all he has is our word that it’s his wife who was the victim. I’d appreciate it if you’d wait in my office,” I said. “He probably wouldn’t be comfortable knowing you’re here.”

  “Sure,” he said, making his way toward my office door.

  “And Brody,” I said, waiting until he turned back to look at me. “Thanks for your help.”

  Mr. Wallace was not in good shape. And I’d learned something over the past year about being the bearer of bad news: I was always the one they blamed. It was obvious Mr. Wallace had gotten over the initial shock about his adulterous murdered wife and was now leaning towards other, stronger emotions. Anger being most prevalent.

  “Have you found out anything to help the sheriff in his investigation?” Harvey asked as soon as I buzzed him in the front door. He stood rigid with his hands clamped tightly behind his back, his eyes hard and determined. I didn’t bother to offer him a place to sit or something to drink. He was obviously on a mission. And all I was able to give him was the standard line.

  “I can assure you this investigation is top priority, and I’ll be able to help the sheriff more after I’ve finished my preliminary report.” I didn’t actually say the word autopsy because you’d be surprised how many people got upset that I was required to perform one, and I figured since Mr. Wallace was already upset it wouldn’t help to remind him I’d be cutting his wife open from bow to stern and removing all her organs.

  “Hmmph. You think I don’t know that the sheriff is up to his wazoo in this mess? I’d be surprised if the killer was ever brought to justice.”

  “What are you talking about? Jack is working practically around the clock to catch whoever did this.”

  “It might look that way to you, but we’ve had more death in this county in four days than we’ve had in the last fifty years, and all under his watch. You never saw us in a mess like this when Donald Drummond was sheriff.”

  It took a lot of willpower to keep from rolling my eyes. That Harvey would even consider comparing Jack and Donald Drummond was laughable. Sheriff Drummond never left the comfort of his desk chair and wouldn’t know police procedure if it bit him in the behind. It was a darned good thing this hadn’t happened while he was sheriff or we’d be in a real mess.

  “You think because we’re a small town we don’t hear news from the big city. That mess he was involved in up in D.C. looks pretty conspicuous to me, and don’t think I’m not going to bring it up to the rest of the council at the special session I’ve called. He’s going to have to answer some questions, like what the hell he’s going to do about the fact that he’s got a murderer under his command, and how long he’s known about it.”

  Ahh, so the news had spread about Detective Colburn and Mrs. Wallace. I knew it would only be a matter of time before it did, but I’d still hoped for maybe another day before the storm hit.

  “Jack is a good sheriff, and he will get the job done. I know this is a difficult time for you, but you need to be patient and let him do his job. We’re all working around the clock on this, and Detective Colburn is on leave until the investigation is complete.”

  “Well as far as I’m concerned Jack Lawson can work around the clock as an insurance salesman instead of the sheriff. And he will be by the time I’ve had my say.”

  In my job it was necessary that I have a compassionate nature and a sympathetic ear, but sometimes enough was enough. No one would talk about Jack that way to my face.

  “Mr. Wallace, if I were you I’d be trying to help the police in their investigation by helping them instead of holding them up with false accusations. This county’s police force is tired and ragged because the council refuses to hire more men, and if you really wanted to help you’d see to it that something was done about that instead of blaming Jack for nothing more than hiring a man that was intimate with your wife.”

  He inhaled quickly through his teeth, and I realized I’d taken it a step too far. Sometimes I did that when I was angry. Oops. I tried to soften the damage, but I knew it was too late. “I’m sorry for your loss, but I think you need to go home and be with your children right now, and let us all do our jobs.”

  He looked like he wanted to argue, and I had my fingers crossed he didn’t want to go down and view the body. I didn’t think he was quite ready for that particular step, and a part of me wished I hadn’t rushed to get her body ready for viewing, so I’d have a legitimate excuse to give him if he asked.

  “It figures that you’d defend him,” he hissed. “I’ve heard about the sick things the two of you do together down in that room of yours. You’re perverts, both of you. I’m going to get in touch with John Luke Stranton. I want Amanda transferred to the Here and Gone Funeral Home.”

  I was so surprised about the pervert comment that it barely registered what he was saying about changing mortuaries. Were rumors really going around about me and Jack? You’d think I’d have caught wind of something like that. Or lost business. I’d have to ask.

  I was mostly on autopilot when I told Mr. Wallace the body could be transferred after I’d finished my investigation. I needed to get to Jack and get to the bottom of this me being a pervert business. Everybody in town knew Jack was a pervert, but not in a too over the top, kinky way. Just in that he went through women like he did those little disposable Dixie cups you use when you brush your teeth.

  But not me. I was as straight-laced as they came. Well, I guess technically in the last four days I’d been more open to things than usual, but it hardly counted. I wouldn’t be able to survive another week going at my continuous rate, and I definitely didn’t want to go to the hereafter in the throes of passion. How embarrassing. One of my first deaths after I’d taken over the funeral home was Buck Koch, and he’d died in a similar situation. Let’s just say it was a close call
for getting the casket closed. Buck hadn’t died at half mast.

  I realized I’d been standing in the parlor, staring after Mr. Wallace long after he’d gone, and I remembered Brody was sitting in my office waiting to collect on nookie and dinner. I wasn’t all that sure I was in the mood for either one after my conversation with Mr. Wallace. But I went back to my office anyway and found him sitting behind my desk with his feet propped on the corner.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I’m not going to welsh on our deal, but I don’t think I can have sex without taking a shower first,” Brody said. “I need some time to regroup after the whole dead body thing.”

  Made sense to me. Death was not an aphrodisiac. Well, maybe it was for some people, but I didn’t really want to think about it because it grossed me out. We didn’t have to deal with that nonsense in Bloody Mary. You had to go all the way to Richmond to find the real wackos.

  There was a full-size bathroom that connected to my office, and we decided to get clean before we headed to Martha’s. And it just so happened that once we were soaped up we felt like fooling around after all. Go figure.

  “I’m starving,” Brody said as he pulled on his clothes. “And I don’t think my legs work anymore.”

  “I can’t imagine why,” I said, struggling to get my own clothes on. My brain wasn’t sending the correct signals to all my extremities. Showers with Brody seemed to do that for me.

  “We could always order pizza,” I said. I was still thinking about what Harvey Wallace had said about me, and I knew every time I went out I’d be thinking people were talking about me behind my back and calling me Dr. Pervert.

  “Unh-uh. You promised to take me out. I’m holding you to it.”

  “I don’t think you’ve thought this through. We’re going out to dinner at a place that will be jam-packed with people. Nosy people. And they won’t bother to be subtle about it.”

  “Hey, don’t I know it. I’ve been here four days. But I can handle myself. I’m a writer for Pete’s sake. I’ll just lie like a dog and nobody will know the difference. Trust me. I’m a professional.”