Terminal (A Lomax & Biggs Mystery Book 5) by Marshall Karp Read Free Book Online Page A

go?”
    “As soon as I find a kid-friendly morgue that your mom will approve of. Otherwise, you can wait till you’re in medical school.”
    “I don’t want to be a doctor. I want to be a detective like you.”
    “Okay, then wait till you’re in detective school.”
    “Not fair,” she said, sticking her tongue out and contorting her face into an exaggerated scowl—a clear message that she thoughtmy decision to spare her a naked cadaver being sliced open from stem to stern was the ultimate in bad surrogate parenting.
    “I’m sorry to dash your dreams, kiddo,” I said, “but can we change the subject to something more pleasant? Something without dead people.”
    “Okay, how about you take me to a shooting range?”
    My cell rang.
    “Put it on speaker,” the wise-ass kid said.
    “In your dreams,” I told her.
    I’d learned the hard way that hitting the Bluetooth button on the steering column and broadcasting my calls—especially the ones from my foul-mouthed, scatological boss Brendan Kilcullen—was a sure-fire way to expand Sophie’s vocabulary.
    I plugged in my ear buds and took the call.
    “Mike, it’s Doug Heller. I got your blood test back.”
    “And?”
    “And your white blood count went from 18,000 to 22,000.”
    “I’m in the car with Sophie,” I said.
    “So you can’t ask me any probing questions,” he said.
    “Correct.”
    “Good, because I wouldn’t have any intelligent answers. All I can tell you is that the upper limit of normal is 10,000, and your numbers are heading in the wrong direction. I want you to see a friend of mine, Herand Abordo. He’s a hematologist.”
    “Fine,” I said.
    “
Fine
? How about, ‘What’s Dr. Abordo’s phone number, Doug, because this sounds like something I shouldn’t put off?’”
    I laughed. “I’m kind of busy right now.”
    “That’s what I figured, so I made an appointment for you. This afternoon at five. I’ll text you his address. Have a nice day.”
    He hung up.
    “Sure thing, Dad,” I said into the dead phone. “I’ll tell her.”
    “Was that Big Jim?” Sophie asked as soon as I pulled out my ear buds.
    “Oh… were you listening to my phone call?”
    “That’s what detectives do,” she said.
    “Well, Detective Tan, Big Jim just called to say he’s excited about the party. He wants to know who you’re inviting.”
    She handed me a piece of paper. “I made a list last night.”
    I glanced at it. “No kids from your class?”
    “No. It’s a family thing, not a school thing.”
    “Big Jim has four acres, and so far it feels like a pretty small party. Why don’t you invite some more people?”
    “How many?” she said.
    “As many as you want.”
    “Okay,” she said, a gap-toothed imp grin spreading across her face. “How about the Rockettes?”
    God, I loved this girl. I was going to miss her something fierce.

CHAPTER 12
    THE LA COUNTY Morgue is the last place on earth I’d take Sophie to. It’s definitely not kid-friendly and not particularly adult-friendly either. For starters, it’s nothing like the morgues you see on TV. Those are so spacious and pristine, it’s like the set designers are trying to make you feel like you could have your family picnic right there on the stainless steel autopsy table.
    But that’s make believe, and in real life, real death isn’t pretty. The LA Morgue looks more like a Civil War battlefield after the carnage. There are bodies everywhere. Not tucked out of sight in gleaming steel drawers, but on gurneys scattered helter-skelter in the dank hallways—some of the corpses draped with sheets, some not-so-draped, all waiting to be processed, claimed, or stored indefinitely like so many old suitcases that have piled up in the Lost and Found department of a train station.
    And trust me, nothing smells like luggage.
    I pulled into the parking lot, took my last few breaths of fresh air, entered through the loading dock, and stopped at the admissions desk.
    “Good morning,