Caught Dead Handed by Carol J. Perry Read Free Book Online

the station, you know. Walks around like he owns the place. I tried to call him in this morning, but he won’t set foot in the building.”
    The door closed, and once again I was alone in the long, black-walled studio. Alone with Ariel’s books and crystals and with my own thoughts and plans.
    And maybe with a rat or two.

CHAPTER 6
    I fanned Ariel’s books out on the table. Bright graphics on the covers showed crystals, pyramids, astral charts, tarot cards—there was even a unicorn on a field of stars. Clearly, I had a lot of studying to do if I was going to pass as a credible replacement for the drowned woman.
    The overhead monitor clicked to life, and Phil Archer’s face appeared on-screen.
    â€œIt’s not an ordinary happening here in Salem when two unusual deaths are discovered on the same day, on the same street,” he began. “As many of you already know, WICH-TV’s own Ariel Constellation was the victim of an apparent accidental drowning in the harbor, just behind this station’s Derby Street headquarters. There has been another death on Derby Street, this one under suspicious circumstances. Scott Palmer filed this report a short time ago.”
    â€œWe’re on Derby Street, at the home where the body of a woman was discovered this morning.” The field reporter spoke in hushed tones. “Here’s Police Chief Whaley to update us on the situation.”
    A makeshift podium had been set up in front of a four-story, wooden tenement-style house. The chief adjusted a microphone, which squealed briefly, and began speaking.
    â€œThis morning, at approximately eleven a.m., a 911 call was received reporting the discovery of an unresponsive woman in a first-floor Derby Street apartment. The victim is a white female in her forties. Identification is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. We are treating the death as a homicide. The victim had sustained upper body trauma. A weapon has been recovered that may be associated with this case. That’s all the information I can give you at this time.”
    He turned away from the microphone and cameras and headed for a nearby police vehicle amid cries from the press of “Chief ! Hey, Chief!” and “Who found the body?”
    Whaley paused before climbing into the car. “It was the landlady.”
    The reporters persisted.
    â€œWhere did you find the weapon, Chief?”
    â€œIn a pile of trash,” he said. “But we’re not sure it is the weapon.”
    The cruiser sped away. A second officer stepped forward. “No more questions right now, folks. We’re waiting on the medical examiner. We’ll call a news conference as soon as we have something to report.”
    â€œThat was it for word from the chief,” Scott Palmer announced. “But stay tuned as WICH-TV brings you an exclusive interview with the man who discovered what may be the murder weapon.”
    The next shot showed the field reporter with a handheld mike, standing next to a shabbily dressed man. In the background yellow tape surrounded a trash-strewn area, a large rusted Dumpster at its center. The reporter looked into the camera, his expression serious.
    â€œLadies and gentlemen, this is Vergil Henry. After the chief’s remarks, as the WICH-TV crew was putting away the camera equipment and preparing to return to the station, Mr. Henry approached us.” He extended the mike toward the man. “Mr. Henry, would you tell our audience what you found here this morning?”
    The fellow smiled, revealing missing teeth. “Well, sir, I was looking for aluminum cans in that there trash bin. It was early morn, y’know. Just turnin’ light. Well, I seen this nice green plastic raincoat, all folded up neat like. I pick it up, ’cause, you know, I could use something like that, what with the rainy weather we’ve been gettin’.” The old man paused, staring into the camera, as