Ten
 
 
 
 
 
“What? What?” Turner was at her side in a second. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s the body!” she cried, leaning against the door. “The body is here, looking for you!”
“You mean Anna? Move.” He jerked the door open. “Holy shit!”
“You slammed the door on me,” the body complained, aggrieved. “I hate that.”
Caro goggled. “You’re not dead!”
Turner gave her a curious look. “That seems to be a thing with you. You’re always shocked to find out someone’s alive.”
“No, I’m not. I mean, I am tonight, sure. But it’s not ‘a thing’ with me. Not normally. Jeez, Anna Barkmeier! I can’t believe it!”
“Anyway,” the body continued doggedly, “if I could just borrow Turner for a few minutes ...”
Turner grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her into the room. “Where the hell have you been?”
Anna tripped on the rug and nearly went sprawling, then jerked her elbow away and glared at them both. “I was stuck in town, of course. Miserable storm. Why, were you looking for me?”
“Actually, no. We thought you were—uh—it’s a long story,” Caro finished sheepishly.
“Well. Now I’m way behind on breakfast prep, so I really need you to—”
“But who’s dead?”
 
 
“Corinne! Open up!” Caro hammered on the door. “We found the body!” Silence from inside the room. Caro hammered more. “I’m sorry to bother you again, but the body’s here!”
Suddenly, the door was jerked open, and a disheveled, hastily robed Corinne stood there, glaring. “You’re going to be the body if you don’t quit interrupting us,” she growled.
“I know, I know, I’m sorry. But the body came looking for Turner.”
“The body did what?”
“For heaven’s sake,” she heard Grant say from inside the room. “Let her in, Corinne, or she’ll beat on our door all night.”
“I didn’t know you were into that stuff,” she snapped, then stepped back.
Embarrassed, Caro scuttled into the room. “Hi again,” she said breathlessly as the scrumptious Grant, looking resigned, once again rearranged the covers over himself. “Sorry. I’m really sorry. But this is important.”
“Oh, you always say that. ‘Come quick, there’s been a murder.’ ‘Come quick, we found a dead body ... again.’ ” Grant smiled at her to take the sting out of his words. “Can’t you come up with anything good?”
“Funny,” she said. “But we really need you guys. See, Anna being alive poses kind of a problem.”
“You got that right,” Corinne replied. “For starters ...”