Aurora quit stuffing darks in the washing machine when the telephone rang. Sam had brought all his dirty laundry with him from Augusta, and she’d not had time to wash but one load since he’d arrived. Until now, that is. Frowning, she left the laundry and hurried to the telephone.
“Mrs. Harris, a body has surfaced!” Lieutenant Conner exclaimed. “Could possibly be the one you discovered on Wednesday.”
“Where?” Aurora asked, as the familiar undercurrent of fear burned in her stomach. She sat down next to the phone, squeezed her eyes shut, and willed the fear to go away.
“One cove over from Spawning Run. I’ll explain it all to you when I see you. Can you come down to the station right away?”
“I can be there in about forty-five minutes,” she said. “But I’m not looking forward to this.”
“I understand, but I’m glad you can come. Our office is on the third floor. See you then.”
Aurora cradled the receiver and headed to the bedroom to leave a note for Sam. She didn’t want to wake him if he was still sleeping, but she couldn’t leave without letting him know where she was going.
In the bedroom, Sam had heard the phone ring. He sat up, flung back the covers, swung his legs over the side of the bed, and stood up. He waited, expecting a slightly off-balance feeling to hit him. Pleased, and a little surprised when it didn’t happen, he hobbled over to the dresser, pulled out underwear, jeans, and a faded black sweatshirt. He dressed, then sat down to put on his socks and walking shoes. Little Guy, sensing a change, barked.
“And just what is going on in here?” demanded Aurora as she entered the bedroom. “Hush, Little Guy. Sam, you get right back in that bed.”
“Nope. Not gonna do it. I’m sick of being cooped up. Little Guy’s tired of it, too. Just look at him.”
Aurora stood there, hands on her hips. “You know you need one more day of bed rest. You heard Dr. Cameron.”
“Susie-Q, I’m okay. Honest. I’m also bored beyond belief. Bet you didn’t know there are 309 dogwood blossoms on that tree just outside the window.”
“I don’t believe you.” She grinned in spite of herself.
“Fine, count them for yourself. But Little Guy and I are going for a short walk.” He turned and sauntered out of the room.
Aurora glanced at the large dogwood tree on the other side of the window. There was no way she was going to count all the white blossoms, but Sam had piqued her curiosity. She hurried to catch up with him and Little Guy.
“Want to walk with us?”
“I’d love to, but Lieutenant Conner just called. He wants me at the police station as soon as I can get there. They found a body.”
“I’ll ride with you.”
“No, someone needs to be close by in case the cleaning service has any last minute questions. Besides, I’m ready for King to come home. It’s incredible how much I’ve missed him. I’ll call Carole from the car phone later, see if I can go pick him up. She’s probably had just about enough of The King of Hearts. If it suits Carole, I’ll swing by her place after I leave the police station, probably visit with her for a few minutes, too.”
Chirp. Chirp.
“The battery in one of the smoke detectors must be weak. I’ll go change it,” Sam said.
Chirp. Chirp.
“No, you shouldn’t be going up and down stairs. I’ll go. It’ll only take me a minute.”
She gave Sam a quick kiss as he walked out the front door, implored him to walk slowly, and followed the chirp-chirp to the basement. She looked around, amazed as always at what a neat shop her dad had kept. She reached over a workbench and pulled a box marked “Smoke Detector Batteries” off the well-organized shelf.
Setting the box on the workbench, she saw again the completed picture frame waiting for the craftsman who would never return. Fighting back tears, she picked up the frame and turned it over.
Puzzled, Aurora stared at the inscription her father had written on a portion of the frame. It didn’t surprise her that he had written something; that was his custom. But this was the first time the message had been handwritten with a black marker instead of routed. And usually her dad inscribed a short line from a favorite poem or hymn, one that the two of them both loved. This one, however, read simply “Ask Wyeth.”
Ask Wyeth? I have absolutely no clue what that means, Dad.
She shook her head, returned the frame to its place on the bench, and replaced the battery in the smoke detector. Back upstairs, Aurora snatched up her car keys and headed to the police station. She blew Sam a kiss as she passed him in the driveway.
“Drive carefully,” he called after her.
Aurora pulled into a parking spot in front of the three-story red brick building. She entered the police station through wide double doors and bypassed the elevator to walk the two flights of stairs instead. As she came out of the stairwell on the third floor, she nearly collided with Sergeant Johnson.
He grinned. “I thought I’d meet you in the lobby. Almost perfect timing, don’t you think? Our office is just down the hall.” He ushered her into a large room equipped with four desks, computers and several file cabinets. Stacks of papers and file folders were piled around the room.
“Ms. Harris, we need you to look at the body we fished out of the lake today. Hope you’re up to that. I have to warn you, though. It’s a gruesome sight. Are you ready?”
“Once was enough for me. Do you have a picture I could see instead? I honestly think I’d throw up if I smelled that body again.”
“We wear masks; we’ll get one for you. We think it’s important that you view the actual corpse.”
“Okay, I’ll try.” She donned the mask Lieutenant Conner handed her and followed the men into the morgue.
The thump, thump, thump of her heart blocked out all other sounds. The blood in her head drummed against her temples. Every single detail of the floating mass—the smell, the feel, the hanging flesh—flashed through her brain. She knew she was close to losing it. She shut her eyes, clutched the doorjamb, and waited until the room stopped spinning before she opened her eyes and walked over to view the corpse laid out on the gurney.
“It’s the same one.” She wheeled and fled from the room.
Once seated in the office, Aurora silently congratulated herself. She hadn’t thrown up. She hadn’t passed out. She had faced her demon and won. She felt a surge of strength she hadn’t possessed since her dad died. She sipped on the bottle of ice-cold Coca-Cola Sergeant Johnson handed her.
Conner said, “Forensics compared the blood stains in the foyer of the 214 residence to the stained bat at your house. They matched perfectly. We suspect that the dead man is J. Melton Lampwerth IV, but we haven’t received the final word from the lab yet.” He paused, then added, “And by the way, why didn’t you tell us Judge Anderson is your uncle?
Aurora shrugged her shoulders, grinned sheepishly, then said, “Sorry. Does that cause a problem?”
“Nope.”
“Good. Now there’s one thing I must say before I leave. That mask you gave me didn’t hide the stench at all.”
“We know,” said Johnson, chuckling. “But would you have gone in the morgue without it?”
Back in the car, Aurora stuck a beach music CD in the CD player. She loved the sound of the Tams, the Catalinas, the Embers, the Drifters. She made a mental note to take Sam shagging at a local dance club when he recovered. Her fingers tapped the steering wheel in rhythm to “I Love Beach Music” as she headed home. The fear that had plagued her was gone. She felt rejuvenated, alive, capable of tackling anything.
Happiness swelled inside her. For the first time in many months, life was good again. Sam was healing fast, she now accepted her father’s death as an accident, her mother no longer suffered, and soon King would be with her. And the house was clean. Yes, life was good.