Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Epilogue
Brit Garner woke to the irritating rattle of her cell phone vibrating against her bedside table. She pulled the pillow over her head and tried to ignore it. It finally stopped only to start again a few seconds later. If this was her partner, she was going to kill him.
She checked the caller ID and then took the call. “This had better be of life-threatening importance, Rick Drummond.”
“Not life threatening, but I think you better get down to the morgue.”
“What part of ‘I’m on vacation with plans to sleep until noon every day’ do you not understand?”
“I get it. You’ve worked your gorgeous butt off the past few months. But I think you’ll want to see this.”
“I’ve seen dead bodies before.” Too many of them, which was why she needed a few well-deserved days off. A walk in a park or along the beach would do wonders for her state of mind. Time to read a book or visit friends would be heaven.
Her dad had warned her it would be like this.
“Just come down. No work involved. I really think you should see this.”
“Why is it so urgent I see this particular body?”
“Just get down here, Brit. I’ll buy you coffee and breakfast after.”
“A real breakfast. No coffee and doughnut on the fly.”
“Anything you want—under ten bucks, of course.”
“Splurging and secrecy. You’re starting to freak me out. I’ll be there as soon as I can throw on some clothes. Not work clothes. I’m on vacation, remember?”
“Hard to forget when you keep bringing it up every ten seconds. Come on up to Autopsy when you get here.”
Brit kicked off the top sheet and stretched her legs over the side of the bed. She went to the bathroom, splashed her face with cold water and brushed her teeth. After that she shed her nightshirt and wiggled into a pair of faded jeans and a long-sleeved green T-shirt. A quick brush of her long hair and she was ready.
She’d go to the morgue but, no matter how interesting the case, she wouldn’t let Rick sway her to jump in. She really needed the time off. And not only to rejuvenate, but also to try to figure out where she’d gone wrong on a very important case.
The colder a case got the harder it was to solve. She’d been working on her father’s murder for three years without a decent lead. She had to be overlooking a key element. No murder was perfect.
Less than a half hour later, she was walking into the autopsy section of the morgue. The facilities were state-of-the-art and as familiar as her neighborhood grocery store, though the odors were far more unpleasant.
Her partner, Rick, was standing next to the gray examining table. Her favorite pathologist, Elise Laughton, was at the other side of the table and slipping out of her gloves.
“Looks like she put up a hell of a fight,” Elise said. “Evidently she was just no match for the strength of her attacker.”
“Cause of death?” Brit asked by way of greeting, determined to stick to the basics.
“You made good time,” Elise said, looking up.
“Traffic was light. And as you can see, I didn’t bother with makeup since I’m not sticking around long.”
Elise shared a concerned look with Rick and then looked back to her. “To answer your original question, the evidence includes new bruising on the hands and arms and having her throat slashed.”
Another morning in Houston. Not that all murders weren’t bad, but any detective in the department could handle this, including Rick. There had to be something more going on for him to call her in this morning.
“So start talking, Rick, and this had better be good.”
Rick frowned. “Take a look.”
Brit stepped closer for an unobstructed view of the body. An icy chill seeped deep inside her as she studied the victim.
She could have been staring into a mirror. The lifeless victim spread out on the cold metal slab looked exactly like her.
One Week Later
“How about passing that potato salad before Leif goes back for seconds and doesn’t leave any for the rest of us?” Travis joked.
“Look who’s talking,” Leif said as he handed down the serving bowl. “You’ve been hogging the platter of fried chicken like a starving man.”
“That’s ’cause I had him out baling hay all afternoon,” Adam said. “Nothing like a little ranch work to build up an appetite.”
“Save room for the apple pie à la mode,” Hadley said. “I made it myself and I’ll be insulted if there’s a bite left on a dish.”
“Ice cream!” four-year-old Lacy added. She pushed her plate back. “I want mine now.”
“Me, too,” R.J. said, “but I better clean my plate first. You better eat a few more bites of dinner, too.”
R.J. smiled and leaned back in his chair. There was a time not so many months ago that he’d have been sitting at this table all alone. Or passed out somewhere skunk drunk. Now he was alcohol-free, thankful to be surrounded by family. Best medicine in the world for a dying man.
He didn’t have much of an appetite these days, even though his daughters-in-law Hadley and Faith had become dadgum good cooks. His third daughter-in-law, Joni, was too busy being the best dang vet in the state of Texas to spend much time in the kitchen.
Besides, he suspected she might be pregnant. She’d turned green and rushed away from the breakfast table a couple of days ago and she’d developed a little swell in the belly. He wouldn’t ask. She’d tell them all when she was ready.
It had been
