Finger Lickin' Dead by Riley Adams Read Free Book Online Page B

they walked and grabbed Lulu’s arm. Her face was pale and pinched looking. “Something’s wrong with Ella Beth.” A frisson of fear went up Lulu’s spine at Coco’s tone. She’d never discount that twin connection between Ella Beth and her sister. They both ran toward the river.

Chapter 4
    The street dead-ended at the water. Ella Beth walked stiffly toward them, face white enough for her freckles to stand out in sharp relief. “Ella Beth! Ella Beth, what’s wrong, sweetie?” Lulu pulled Ella Beth into her arms, rubbing her back as if to warm her up. Despite the heat, the little girl was shaking. Lulu looked over Ella Beth’s head and froze as she saw Coco had gone down the hill near the river. “Coco!”
    Coco spun back around quickly and stumbled back up the hill. “It’s him ,” she gasped. “It’s him , Granny Lulu!”
    “Him?”
    “The man. The man I saw. The man Daddy was yelling at this morning. He’s dead.”
    Lulu staggered over to a nearby park bench, legs seemingly not eager to respond, still clutching Ella Beth, and now Coco, fiercely. Lulu’s mind was whirling and, oddly, the first fully formed thought she had was fury at the damned man for dying somewhere where children could come across his body.
    She fumbled in her skirt pocket for her cell phone, fingers jabbing at the buttons. “Ben. Get Stanley to cover for you in the kitchen if you have any orders up and come down to the river. The girls are down here and we’ve . . . run into a problem. Hurry.”
    Lulu put down the phone and pulled her grandchildren close to her in a tight hug. “It’s okay,” she crooned and rocked as she waited for Ben to get there.
    She had no faith in her ability to pull both girls back up the hill leading to the restaurant. No matter—Ben was already there. He must have run the whole way down, despite those extra twenty-five pounds he was always talking about shedding.
    Ben’s shaggy eyebrows were drawn together ferociously. “What the hell is going on?” he panted, drawing up close and looking the girls over quickly. “Are they sick?”
    Lulu nodded her head in the direction of the river. “Over there. See for yourself,” she said in a murmur.
    Ben walked down the small hill, through the trees, to the Mississippi—until he stopped with a jerk and hurried back up the hill, looking grim.
    “Come on, girls. I’ve called Mama and she’s on her way back to Aunt Pat’s. Y’all got your Frisbees?” He turned to look at Lulu as he walked away. “You’ve got a phone call to make, too, right?”
    Lulu nodded. “I’m going to call Pink Rogers. I’ve got his number in my cell phone.”
    “You’re not going to just call 911?”
    “Pink will take care of it,” said Lulu evenly. Pink was a police officer who’d been a regular at the restaurant for the past ten years. He was a fit and trim two hundred and fifty pound, six feet seven inch man—and she would feel a lot better knowing he was there with her. Plus, somebody was probably going to have to ask Ella Beth some questions about finding the body and she wanted Pink to be around.
    “Call him now, will you? And come on . . . you need to come up, too. I’m not leaving you down here with—that—by yourself.” He didn’t voice his thoughts that the murderer could still be lurking nearby, but Lulu was able to pick up the message.
    She trailed behind Ben, calling the policeman. “Pink? It’s Lulu. I need your help.”
     
     
    In no time, the Memphis police department had cordoned off the area where Ella Beth had discovered Adam’s body. There was a forensics team there, walking around in what looked like spacesuits while they gathered bits of evidence.
    Sara had stayed at Aunt Pat’s with the girls, letting them zone out on television in the restaurant’s office. Lulu and Ben stood outside the taped-off crime scene with Pink, who was off duty and able to get right over there. Off duty, Pink wore the pastel button-down shirts he loved and