Gossamer Ghost Read Online Free Page A

please just get down to business?” said Babcock. He raised an eyebrow and focused on Carmela. “Carmela?”
    So Carmela led them hesitantly through her little adventure. As Charlie and his team snapped photos, bagged the hands, and poked at the body, she explained how she’d heard a couple of strange noises, had entered the shop, and then tripped and inadvertently opened the cabinet where Marcus Joubert’s body had been stashed.
    â€œYowza,” said Ava, when she’d finally finished. “That’s quite a story.”
    â€œThat’s exactly how it happened?” said Babcock. “You didn’t leave anything out?”
    â€œI don’t think so,” said Carmela.
Just that I screamed my head off.
    â€œSounds about right to me, Chief,” said Charlie. “You look at how the body fell, where it landed and all. Her story pretty much tracks.”
    â€œOkay,” said Babcock. He seemed to be chewing on something.
    â€œThere are spatter marks in the back of the shop,” said Charlie. “So that’s where the victim was stabbed. Then he was obviously dragged and stashed in that cabinet.”
    â€œDead before they put him in there?” asked Babcock.
    â€œOh yeah,” said Charlie. “This guy lost a lot of blood. It was all over pretty fast.”
    â€œBut there’s no sign of a weapon,” said Babcock.
    â€œThe killer must have brought his own knife,” said one of the crime-scene techs. “Then taken it with him.”
    â€œHe would have been bloody after such a violent struggle,” said Babcock. “It would be hard to stroll through the French Quarter covered in blood.”
    â€œMaybe not,” said Ava. “Some guys party like rock stars down here.”
    â€œMaybe his car was parked in the back alley,” said Carmela. “Or maybe the killer didn’t have to walk far to duck out of sight and change.”
    Everyone was silent for a minute, and then Charlie said, “All right if we load him up now, Chief?”
    â€œYes,” said Babcock. “But please don’t call me Chief.”
    Charlie snapped off a blue latex glove and grinned up at him. “Isn’t that where you’re headed? The chief’s office?”
    This was news to Carmela. “Are you?” she blurted.
    â€œHardly,” said Babcock. But he seemed embarrassed.
    One of Charlie’s team spread a black plastic body bag on the floor, then the three of them muscled Joubert’s body into it and zipped it up. The bag was then rolled onto the gurney and the gurney was raised to waist height.
    There was another collective moment of silence and then Officer Lambert glanced toward the front door and said, “Uh-oh.”
    â€œWhat now?” said Babcock.
    But Carmela knew exactly what was going on. Mavis Sweet had just arrived at the front door and was struggling to push her way in. There was an exchange of heated words and then a high keening sound, like the screech of a dying hyena. And then Mavis cried, “Let me in! Let me in!” She seemed to be locked in a physical confrontation with Officer Wallace, who was pushing and grunting and trying to block her entrance to the shop.
    â€œI’m sorry, ma’am,” Wallace continued as he lowered a shoulder and tried an unsuccessful body block. “This is a crime scene. No one’s allowed to pass.”
    â€œBut I
work
here!” cried Mavis.
    Carmela peered toward the front of the store. “That’s Mavis Sweet,” she told Babcock. “Marcus Joubert’s assistant.”
    He cocked an eye at her. “Let me take a wild guess. You called her with a heads-up?”
    Carmela nodded. “I thought Mavis had a right to know. And she’s not just the assistant. I’m pretty sure she and Joubert were . . . romantically involved.”
    â€œLet her in,” Babcock called to the officer at the front door.