Six Killer Bodies by Stephanie Bond Read Free Book Online Page A

time in jail,” Carlotta
    murmured.
    “So maybe he knew this Meriwether chick from then,”
    Chance said.
    “Maybe,” Carlotta agreed quietly, making more notes.
    “What about the next victim?” Hannah pressed, sounding
    desperate.
    Carlotta took a deep breath to clear her head. “Number
    five was Marna Col ins. She died in her home of cyanide
    poisoning. The cop who was first on the scene told me
    there was no sign of forced entry, and that the M.E. pul ed
    a handcuffs charm from her mouth. I don’t know if it
    looked like this one, but it’s the only one I could find.” She
    set the silver charm on the table.
    “Next was Wanda Alderman. Suffocated, again in her
    home. They didn’t realize she was a victim at first because
    she’d swallowed the charm, a barrel or a keg. It was found
    during the autopsy. Again, I didn’t see it, but this was the
    only barrel charm I could find.”
    Carlotta stopped and massaged her temples. “The seventh
    victim was the burned body that was dumped in front of
    my scooter on the street.”
    “They stil haven’t made an identification?” Hannah asked.
    “No. And Jack said it could take a while.”
    “What kind of charm was in the mouth?” Wesley asked.
    “I don’t know, but I’l keep trying to find out. Wes, can you
    keep your ears open at the morgue?”
    He nodded.
    “So the kil er meant for you to run over the body,” Chance
    said to Carlotta.
    She nodded. “I’m assuming.”
    “What kind of car was the body tossed out of?” Chance
    pressed.
    “I can’t say for sure.” She’d played the last seconds before
    the accident over and over in her mind so many times. Her
    memory was starting to return flashes of vehicles, but she
    couldn’t be sure if they were simply vehicles at the scene
    in the aftermath, cars she’d seen in commercials, or even
    figments of her imagination. “It might—” Carlotta
    swallowed, having never uttered the words before. “It
    might have been a white van.”
    In the silence that fol owed, Chance looked around the
    table. “What does Coop drive?”
    “A white van,” Wes mumbled.
    “And a Corvette,” Hannah added quickly.
    Carlotta fought a growing tide of alarm. “Wesley, since you
    picked up the last two victims that were found together,
    what can you tel us?”
    “The eighth and ninth bodies were Georgia State students,
    two girls.” He squinted, as if he were trying to recal
    details. “Amy Hampel …and DeeAnn or Diane Easton, I
    think. They were parked, smoking a joint from the looks of
    it. Died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Our UNSUB stuffed
    a rag in their tailpipe, then stuffed charms down their
    throats.”
    “UNSUB?” Chance asked.
    “Unknown subject,” Wes supplied. “Police speak.”
    “And the charms in their mouths were books,” Carlotta
    said.
    “Both of them?” Hannah asked.
    Wes nodded. “Maybe because they were students?”
    “Is Coop into co-eds?” Chance asked.
    “I think he’s just into Carlotta,” Wes said with a laugh.
    Hannah flinched.
    Carlotta bit her lip, recalling the slinky blonde who’d been
    all over Coop the night she’d seen him drinking at Moody’s
    cigar bar.
    “Was the car found near his house or where he works?”
    Chance asked.
    Carlotta exchanged a glance with Wes, then said, “No, but
    it was found close to a cigar bar where Coop sometimes
    hangs out.”
    Chance threw up his hands. “I don’t even know the guy
    and I’d convict right now.”
    “Don’t say that,” Hannah said. “Coop isn’t a kil er.”
    “Okay. But assuming that’s true, how the heck are we
    supposed to help him? Unless someone else walks into the
    police station and confesses, the guy is sunk.”
    They all looked at Carlotta. Her face felt hot. “Well…the
    way I see it, we have two choices. We can either try to
    prove that Coop didn’t do these things, or we can find the
    person who did.”
    “Michael Lane?” Wes asked.
    She nodded.
    “How are we supposed to do that?” Hannah