Notoriously Neat Read Online Free Page A

her husband, I hadn’t gotten to know her too well . . . and neither had anyone else in the Cove. Liz mostly ignored people and seemed almost motorized in the way she’d hurry past you on the street.
    “She’s only been dead a short time,” she said to Chief Vega and two or three other officers standing around her. “My estimate would be less than an hour.”
    “Any ideas about the COD?” Vega said. In police jargon that was short for “cause of death.” Though I don’t suppose anyone would have confused it with “cash on delivery” given the circumstances.
    Liz was packing away her equipment. “There’s serious damage to the C-three vertebra.”
    “A broken neck,” Vega said.
    “In layman’s terms, yes.”
    “You think it happened before she went through the rail? Or as a result of the fall?”
    “I don’t do instant reports, Chief,” she said curtly. “That’s why we conduct autopsies at the hospital.”
    Vega watched Liz latch her kit shut and rise to her feet. I didn’t think he appreciated her condescending attitude. But I also didn’t think he intended to call her out on it . . . not at that very inappropriate point in time.
    The two EMTs chimed in before I could find out for sure.
    “This is exactly what we’ve been telling your boys, Chief,” Hibbard said. “Thanks to the assistant coroner, we can state for the record that we have a deceased, nonresuscitable person here.”
    “Meaning there’s no sense in us hanging around,” Hornby said. “If it’s all the same to you, we’d like to load her up in the wagon and be on our way—”
    Vega cut him short with a glance. He seemed ticked, putting it politely. “A woman’s been killed. As of right now this is a crime scene,” he said. “You’ll wait till I’m finished inspecting it and collecting evidence.”
    In fairness to the techs, I thought they looked sort of contrite. They went back to shuffling their feet, finally stepping aside as Liz Delman shouldered past them to the door.
    Vega quietly studied the broken handrail. After what seemed a long while, he turned to an officer who’d been in the hallway with Liz when we arrived.
    “It would’ve taken a lot to send her clear through that rail,” Vega said. “A whole lot.”
    I could guess what he was thinking. Gail was five six or so and weighed maybe 110 pounds. A woman that petite wouldn’t have taken down what appeared to be a solid mahogany banister unless she was pushed hard—and with very deliberate intent.
    Vega kept looking at the cop, a young rookie with a dimpled baby face—I swear he could have been mistaken for a high school kid—named Jerred. And in case you’re wondering, I knew he was a rookie from a story my kinda sorta ex Mike Ennis had written in the Anchor introducing him to the town’s residents.
    “You answered the nine-eleven?”
    “Right,” Jerred said. “With Connors.”
    “I don’t remember you being on tonight’s duty roster.”
    “I wasn’t, Chief. But Elroy called in sick and I offered to cover for him.”
    Vega rubbed the back of his neck. This was something he did when he was thinking hard. “Who found the body?”
    “The woman outside giving a statement,” Jerred said. “She’s got that little shaggy dog . . .”
    “Her name is Corinne Blodgett,” I said. “I think her dog is Zsa Zsa.”
    Vega faced me abruptly. I could tell he was surprised to hear my voice, and realized he’d been too preoccupied taking in the scene to notice my exchange with the medical techs.
    “Sky,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
    I shrugged. Hadn’t I wondered that myself?
    “Being helpful,” I said. “I think.”
    “Didn’t I ask Connors to bring you to the other side of the house?”
    “She got away from me, Chief.”
    That, naturally, was from Officer Connors, who’d shoved past Hibbard and Hornby after following me through the door. All of a sudden the hallway felt really crowded.
    It had also gotten increasingly tense in