“I’ll give you one,” said Emory as he pressed the barrel of his black M1911 pistol into the carotid artery of Jeff’s attacker. “Back away now.”
Monty’s eyes darted between Jeff and Emory, but nothing else moved.
“Monty, put it down!” the woman ordered from behind him. “Please.”
The large man backed away from Jeff but kept the knife in a menacing grip at his side. He blocked the woman from the PIs’ view and asked, “What do you want?”
Jeff relaxed his shoulders. “Geez, guy. Overreact much?” He rubbed his neck, checked his palm for blood and heaved a relieved sigh when he saw none.
The woman stepped beside Monty. “I apologize. Monty’s just very protective. Please, put that thing away.”
Emory holstered his weapon. “I think we all got off on the wrong foot here. We’re looking for Claire.”
“I’m Claire. Now who are you?”
“I’m Emory Rome, and this is Jeff Woodard. We’ve been retained by Becky Melton to investigate the recent death of her husband.”
“Retained?” asked Monty. “So you’re not cops?”
“We’re private investigators,” answered Jeff.
“Then get out of here. We don’t have to answer your questions.”
“Monty, it’s fine.” Claire patted his shoulder. “Just go. I’ll take care of this.”
With a shake of his head and warning glares for the PIs, Monty exited the backdoor.
“Gentlemen, let’s walk and talk.” Claire slipped between Jeff and Emory, heading toward the door through which the PIs had come. “I’m curious. Why did Becky send you to speak to me?”
“She didn’t send us,” answered Emory. “We’re just checking out every aspect of his life to get a better picture of who he was and try to decipher his death.”
“Didn’t he kill himself?”
Jeff held open the door that led to the museum. “Common misconception.”
“Oh. Well, I’m not sure how much help I can offer. Corey provided some pieces for us. I can show you if you’d like.”
Jeff waved off the offer. “We’ve seen them.”
Emory asked, “Do you know anyone who had any ill feelings toward Corey Melton?”
“I’m sorry. Corey seemed like a nice enough man, but I honestly didn’t know him that well. I barely know Becky, and I see her just about every day.”
“So do you run this place?” asked Jeff.
“The director officially runs the museum. He usually leaves decisions concerning the displays to me.”
Jeff cocked his head. “Usually?”
Claire stopped walking and crossed her arms. “Gentlemen, I think I’ve been very accommodating, considering you’re not actually law enforcement. I do have a job to do, so if you can show yourself to the front door…” With that Claire left for another room.
As they started for the entrance, Jeff told his partner, “Must’ve hit a nerve.”
“What were you thinking?” asked Emory.
“I’ve thought of a lot of things. Could you be more specific?”
“The way you just barged onto the scene when Claire and Monty were talking.”
“I just thought I’d catch them off guard and maybe get the truth from them before they could concoct a lie.”
Emory pushed open the front door. “You could’ve been killed.”
“I knew you’d have my back.”
Virginia exited the backdoor to Becky Melton’s house and found her friend wearing a terrycloth robe and sitting on a small swing set with a slide. As she rocked a few inches forward and back, one hand held a cell phone to her ear, while the other clutched the hanging chain and a lit cigarette. Virginia sat in the swing next to her and waited for her to finish talking to the funeral home. Once her call ended, Becky buried the phone into the pocket of the robe and took a deep drag from the cigarette.
Virginia said, “I didn’t know you smoked.”
Becky exhaled a cone of smoke into the chilly air. “I haven’t since college. I found an old pack in a cedar chest when I was looking for something for Corey to wear.” She puffed again on the cigarette. “Did you meet my in-laws?”
“I wouldn’t say met. Your mother-in-law let me in. Are you… okay?”
“I’m a twenty-five-year-old widow. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve never arranged a funeral before.”
“Do you need help with the arrangements… or money?”
Becky took a final puff before crushing the cigarette on the sole of her white slipper. “My parents’ flight landed a few minutes ago, so they’ll be here soon to help. Corey had a small life insurance policy through work, so that should cover the expenses.”
Virginia placed a hand on her friend’s. “Becky, why didn’t you tell me about Corey?”
“What do you mean? I told you not more than an hour after I found out myself.”
“I’m not talking about his death. I’m talking about what he did to you.”
The widow squinted at her. “I’m not following.”
“I saw the bruise on your shoulder.” Becky reached for her left shoulder, which elicited a gasp from Virginia. “You have a bruise on that shoulder too? How long was this going on? You could’ve come to me.”
“Virginia, you’ve made a big ole leap here. Corey never laid a hand on me like that. He was a gentle man.”
“Then where’d you get the bruises?”
“I backed into a piece of equipment at the gym. You know how clumsy I am.”
Virginia lowered her chin and looked at Becky through her upper lashes. “What machine?”
“I don’t remember. What does it matter? I’m telling you, Corey was an exceedingly gentle man.”
Becky pushed off the ground to give momentum to the swing before dragging her feet on the ground to end it. “This swing set was left here by the previous owners. I asked Corey several times to take it down, had it on his list of chores ever since we moved in two years ago, but he somehow never got around to it. I think he secretly hoped we’d have children someday and be glad it was here.” A tear dripped down her cheek as she slipped out of the swing and plodded over to an object on the ground. “You might want to get up.”
Virginia pulled herself out of the swing. “What are you doing?”
Becky picked up the sixteen-pound sledgehammer by its hickory handle, stumbling as she adjusted to the weight. Holding the head up to about her waist, she spun around in a complete circle before hammering one of the swing’s support posts.
“Becky?”
The widow continued with her task until the post buckled, at which point, her knees did the same.
In an examination room of the Knox County’s Regional Forensic Center, Cathy Shaw pushed a corpse-laden rack into the body refrigerator and closed the door. “I have time to get an early lunch now.”
A technician entered pushing a gurney in front of him and pulling one behind him. “Cathy, I have a double homicide for you.”
The petite medical examiner’s shoulders drooped in her lab coat. “Are you serious?”
“Sorry.” The technician gave her an odd grin before leaving her alone with the sheet-covered corpses.
“No lunch today.” The nose on her vulpine face twitched as an unexpected aroma tickled her nostrils. “What is that smell?” She gave the nearer body a sniff through the sheet before moving to the other. “Smells like hamburger.” She grabbed the top of the sheet and lowered it a quarter of the way down the body.
Before she could focus on the face, the corpse spoke. “Hi Cathy.”
She screamed and backed into the other gurney. “Jeff?”
Jeff held up a bag. “We brought you lunch.”
“We?” The corpse behind her ascended like a black-and-white movie vampire’s rise from the grave. Cathy screamed again. “Emory?”
Emory pulled the sheet from his face. “Sorry Cathy. We didn’t mean to scare you. We just wanted to make sure no one else was in the room first.”
Jeff hopped off the gurney and handed her the bag. “His asshole ex-partner left Emory’s picture with the front office staff and told them to keep him out. We bribed the tech to sneak us in.”
Cathy hugged Emory. “I heard what happened. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t feel too sorry for him.” Jeff slapped his own chest. “Now he gets to work with me full-time.
“That’s true, handsome. Thank you guys for lunch and for going through so much trouble to see me.”
Emory straightened his suit. “To be honest, we had another reason for coming. Corey Melton.”
Cathy nodded toward the refrigerator. “I just finished the autopsy on him.”
“We’ve been hired by his widow to find out what happened to him. Would you mind telling us what you know?”
Cathy bit her lip. “I’ve never liked Wayne, and you know I’ve always adored you. But when the body is the subject of a police or TBI investigation, I can’t release my findings to anyone else.”
Emory frowned at her response but nodded. “I understand.”
“Now I’m going to sit over here and eat this wonderful lunch you brought me while I review my summation of that particular autopsy.”
Before sitting to eat, Cathy hit the Play button on her dictation system. Her recorded singsong voice drawled over the room’s speakers. “…had contusions, lacerations and several broken bones, including cranium, cervical discs, the right scapula and both clavicles – consistent with a head-first collision into tempered glass. The COD, however, is exsanguination through the severed carotid artery. Also of note, the victim had rope burns on the palms of both hands, where I found embedded Kevlar fibers, likely from ropes used commercially for strength and weather-resistance, such as in boating, hot air balloons, et cetera. As far as accidental or purposeful death, at this time I have to leave it as undetermined.”
Cathy turned off the recording. “This burger is just what I needed.” She turned to the guys and smiled with a twinkle in her blue eyes. “Oh, Emory and Jeff. I didn’t realize you guys were still here.”
Emory gave her a hug goodbye. “Thank you, Cathy.”
“Yeah, thank you.” Jeff gave her a hug too and looked at the door. “Damn, I didn’t think about how we’re going to get out.”
“Cathy, can you push us to the nearest exit?”
“Not two gurneys at once. Can you both get on one?”
“We can manage that.” Jeff hopped on the stainless steel surface, lying on his left side with his right arm up and ready to embrace his partner.
Emory sat on the edge of the gurney. “How are we doing this? Facing or—”
“Spooning.”
Emory reclined onto the cold steel and scooted his back against Jeff’s torso. Cathy smiled and covered them with a sheet. “Perfect. You could pass for an obese victim. Just stay still.” She hit the button to open the double doors. “Here we go.”
As she pushed them into the hallway, Emory whispered from beneath the sheet. “Cathy, is anyone around?”
“Hallway’s empty.”
Jeff asked, “Cathy, about the Kevlar fibers in Corey’s hands, could he have been hanging from a hot air balloon when he crashed through the window?”
“Maybe.”
Emory shot down the theory. “I don’t think a hot air balloon would be allowed to travel through downtown.”
“What if it got blown off course?”
“I guess it’s possible,” said Emory.
Cathy laughed. “Emory, I have to say, you’ve loosened up since you switched jobs. It looks good on you.”
Once outside, Jeff started laughing, but Emory’s mood turned glum. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“I’m aggravated that I had to sneak in and out of here.”
“What’s to be aggravated about?” asked Jeff. “We got the information we came for, and we didn’t get caught.”
“People I’ve always treated kindly basically spat in my face today.”
“Those people up front? Forget about them. Cathy came through for you.”
“There are all these obstacles now. I can’t just do my job and investigate. I have to find workarounds.”
Jeff put his arm around Emory as they walked to the car. “Don’t look at these obstacles as humiliations that you didn’t have to endure when you had a badge. Look at them as cool challenges that force you to use your wits. They’ll make you an even better investigator. Embrace the fun.”
Emory clenched his jaw. I’d rather strangle it.
Jeff pointed to his car, parked in the lot adjacent to the building. “What the hell is that?”
Emory squinted at the strange figure pinned under one of the windshield wipers. “I don’t know.”
The first to reach the car, Jeff pulled the chicken-bone doll free. “It’s like the one in Corey Melton’s office.”
“And in Ms. Mary Belle’s retirement home.”
“You didn’t tell me that.” After a shrugged apology from Emory, Jeff observed, “Do you think it’s a voodoo doll?”
“Maybe an Appalachian version of one.” Emory took the doll from him.
“Did your witch do this?”
“I don’t know how. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t drive.”
Jeff opened the car door and glided into the driver seat. “Didn’t you say she lives in a retirement home.”
Emory nodded as he entered the passenger side. “A retirement home. But how would she know where we are, and how would she get here?”
“I’ve got a better question for you.” Jeff smirked while starting the engine. “Why would she put it on my car? You’re the cursed one.”