The Dead and the Dying Read Online Free

body than with someone who's alive, but the rule seems to hold true even when the body has been fly-food for a few days. "Unless this victim has a mutilated vagina, which I doubt given that he's a he, I think we're looking at nothing more than a coincidence. Whoever did this, they probably had no idea that Sam Gazade dumped a body here."
    "On the exact same day." He pauses. "It's October 5th. Wasn't Blackman found on October 5th?"
    I nod.
    "You see my problem," he continues. "Not enough to make it a definitive copycat, but enough to make me wonder. On the twelfth anniversary, the silk anniversary, of Rachel Blackman's death, another body is found in the exact same spot, just a day before Blackman's murderer is due to be executed."
    "Blackman was murdered and dumped just a few hours before she was found," I reply. "This guy's clearly been dead for days, maybe even a week. It's not the same. You've got a couple of coincidences, but not nearly enough. This is just another murder in a city where murders happen all the time. Don't read too much into it. Bag the guy up and try to find the perpetrator without getting bogged down in elaborate theories."
    "That's kinda what I figured," Dawson says, with a hint of cautious relief in his voice. "Well, it's what I was hoping , but I wanted to get your opinion first. I hope you didn't mind coming back down here."
    "Why would I mind?" I ask, turning to him.
    "I don't know," he says, "it's just... not a place that I imagine fills you with much joy."
    "It's been twelve years," I point out.
    "Huh. Silk."
    "Silk?"
    "Silk anniversary," he replies. "That's what twelve years is called. When you're married, at least."
    Sighing, I check my watch and see that it's almost 3pm. "I have to get to an appointment," I mutter, glad that I have an excuse to get away.
    "Oh," he replies, sounding a little surprised. "Okay. It's just, I remembered you saying you had to be somewhere today, but I thought you said it was before lunch."
    "I had an appointment before lunch," I reply, "and I have another one in an about an hour. Two in one day. Lucky me." I look back down at the corpse for a moment. "Keep me informed on this one. Just in case. I know it's your case, but I'd like to get a copy of the autopsy results. Even if it's all just a coincidence, I'd rather keep on top of it. Good luck." With that, I turn to walk away.
    "So are you going tomorrow?" Dawson calls after me.
    Stopping, I turn to him.
    "Sorry," he replies, "I just wondered. A lot of people would . I mean, I would. Definitely. If someone got to me the way he got to you, I'd want to watch the fucker die, just to make sure." He waits for me to reply. "So... are you?"
    "I'm busy tomorrow," I reply. "Washing my hair."
    "That's what I figured," he says. "I told the others, you're not the kind of person to go and crow over an execution."
    "What others?" I ask.
    "We were just talking about it the other day," he replies. "I mean, we weren't talking about you . Well, I guess we were in a way, but not in a bad way, we were just..." He pauses. "You seem a little different lately, Joanna. We've known each other for a while, so if something's wrong -"
    "Nothing's wrong," I say firmly.
    "You just seem a little pale," he continues, "and sometimes you look like you're about to throw up. You're not..."
    "What?" I ask.
    "I don't know," he says, even though it's painfully obvious what's on his mind.
    Sighing, I realize that although Dawson has clearly picked up on a few of my health problems, he's come to totally the wrong conclusion. "I'm not sick," I tell him. "I'm fine. I guess I just haven't been sleeping very well lately."
    "Because of the Sam Gazade execution?"
    "Sure."
    "Well, I guess you'll sleep like a baby after tomorrow night, huh? Once he's dead?"
    "I guess so," I reply, even though I know things aren't that simple. Sure, Sam Gazade is going to be put to death, and I'm fine with that, but my cancer is going to be much harder to kill.
    "As long as you're