Salem's Cipher Read Online Free Page B

by Agent Stone and then Salem.
    Stone lightly touched Salem’s arm. “You okay?”
    Salem brushed off his concern and stumbled closer to Bel. Her goal was to comfort her, but from this angle, the entire corpse was in view. It was the body of an older woman dressed for bed. Her robe was tied in front. The hem was blue, but the rest of the terry-cloth was mottled with blood so thick that it turned black at the shoulders. Her neck housed a four-inch, eye-shaped gash, the meat of it gaping at the ceiling. A pile of fur lay next to the woman. At first Salem thought it was an article of clothing, but then she caught the beady black eyes staring at her from the dog’s face, its body twisted the opposite direction.
    She couldn’t blink. Her eye muscles had stopped working.
    The terror was a lovely sticky web, adhering to her skin and tugging her down.
    A tiny sound from Bel mercifully forced Salem’s attention away from the horrific sight. Bel was rocking back and forth, the move so slight that Salem would not have noticed if she hadn’t reached for Bel’s icy hand. She followed her friend’s stare, her eyes landing three feet above the corpse. The investigators were scraping something off the wall. Salem kept her eyes moving, to the open doorway that allowed the beginning rays of the chilly Halloween sunshine to filter into the hallway. The furniture inside Gracie’s apartment, at least what Salem could see from this angle, was undisturbed.
    â€œWe have one body.” Agent Stone’s voice was a deep rumble directly behind them. “She’s been positively ID’d as Carla Marie Gladia.”
    Bel’s hand tightened in Salem’s. “Neighbor.” Her eyes flicked to the body.
    â€œThat’s right. And her dog, Dante.”
    Salem spoke past the pressure at the top of her throat. “Someone murdered a dog ?”
    â€œProbably to keep the animal quiet.” Stone tipped his head toward the two corpses on the floor. “That’s exactly as the police discovered them.”
    One of the uniformed officers walked over to Agent Stone, whispered something to him, and then stepped onto the elevator. The mechanical door closed behind them as Stone continued. “We have the security tapes from the lobby for the past twenty-four hours. You know this is a women’s-only building?”
    Both Salem and Bel nodded, their eyes locked on apartment 307 as if love and wishes could coax Grace to walk out of it.
    â€œWe’ll review the tape, but for now, it appears that no males have been in or out of the building in the past twenty-four hours. Not even a repairman or delivery man. Yet, from the blood pattern, we know at least one of the killers, if there was more than one, entered through the front door. That narrows our suspects to females.” Stone cocked his head, his eyes unreadable. “Ms. Odegaard, did your mother have any enemies that you know of?”
    Bel shook her head, the movement slow.
    Salem’s heartbeat picked up as she connected two dots. “Wait, you have a body. Two, with Dante. Maybe all this blood is from them!” She turned to Agent Stone, realizing too late how excited she sounded about this grotesque reality. She swallowed past the spongy lump lodged between her chest and mouth.
    Stone’s eyes remained trained on Bel. “I’m afraid that’s unlikely. There’s a secondary crime scene inside. If you’ll follow me?”
    He handed them shoe covers before walking along the carefully-marked trail skirting the blood, indicating that Bel and Salem should follow. “Everything in the apartment appears to be in order—all major appliances accounted for, dishes done, bed made. We haven’t located a safe.”
    â€œMom didn’t own one.” Bel crossed the threshold and surveyed the apartment, her visual assessment snagged by drops of what looked like dried blood under the far window, two more