Dolled Up to Die by Lorena McCourtney Read Free Book Online Page A

friend’s house for the night, and I think she’s short on money.”
    Uncle Joe nodded. “Write up a report for the files.”
    Joe was a stickler for keeping a written record of everything Belmont Investigations did. Cate intended to wait until morning to do the report, but she found she couldn’t sleep and wound up padding barefoot into the office just after 2:00 a.m. Writing the short report again raised doubts in her mind, but she stuck to the facts and didn’t include her questions. Her current case was to deliver a subpoena the following day.
    She printed out the report and tucked it in a folder to file later. Then, strictly because she couldn’t sleep, of course, not because she was involved , she found a book in Joe’s criminal research library and read up on suicides. One item she gleaned: gun suicides weren’t unusual, but a bullet to the forehead was definitely out of the ordinary. Most gun suicides were done with the weapon stuck in the mouth or aimed into the temple.
    Interesting.
    Cate spent most of the next day looking for the woman on whom she was supposed to serve the subpoena, finally locating her hiding under a blanket in the backseat of her car. The woman was not complimentary about Cate’s talent or persistence in tracking her down. She fired off a barrage of language hot enough to toast Cate’s ears, then smashed the remains of a chili dog in her face. The woman had to get closeto Cate to do that, however, and Cate triumphantly stuffed the papers down the front of the woman’s baggy sweatpants. Subpoena served! And case closed.
    This time, when she got home, she found Uncle Joe sprawled on the sofa, leg stretched out on a pillow. The hip he’d broken several months ago still gave him occasional problems and limited his activities. Now he grimaced with a twinge of pain as he shifted on the sofa and lowered the copy of the Eugene newspaper he was reading.
    “Your dead man is featured,” he said. He handed the front section of the newspaper to Cate.
    Cate was headed for the shower to get rid of a chili-dog scent powerful enough to interest the neighbor’s German shepherd when she got out of the car, but she stopped to look at the newspaper. The article about Eddie the Ex wasn’t the top story, but it was on the front page, with a photo and a headline that read “Death of Prominent Businessman Investigated.”
    The article was short, as if the law enforcement people had been close-mouthed with information. Ed Kieferson had been found dead in the home of his former wife, Josephine Joanna Kieferson, in a rural area south of town. He’d been shot, but the article didn’t go into specifics, didn’t call it suicide, and didn’t mention the dolls. It gave background information about Kieferson’s business interests and named his survivors as wife Kim, living here in Eugene, and a son living back east. Cate was relieved to see her own name was not mentioned.
    She studied the photo. A bullet hole in the forehead tended to alter anyone’s appearance, of course, but in this apparently older photo he didn’t have the beard, and his face was on the chubby side. Not what she’d call, as Robyn had, distinguished looking. Maybe his midlife crisis had included a face-lift? Or maybe he’d grown the beard to mask the saggy jowls visible in this photo?
    “I think I’ll cut this out and stick it in the file with my report,” Cate said.

    Cate talked to Mitch later, telling him about her day and hearing about his, and then went into the office to write up her brief report on serving the subpoena. She was surprised when the office phone rang after 10:00. Joe and Rebecca had already gone to bed.
    “Belmont Investigations, Assistant Investigator Cate Kinkaid speaking.”
    “Cate, this is Donna Echelon. Jo-Jo Kieferson’s friend?”
    “Yes, of course. How’s she doing?”
    “Not great. An officer was here this morning and asked her all kinds of questions.” Donna’s voice was almost a