The Alexandru Chronicles: The Beginning by Julienne Holmes Read Free Book Online

over to him.
    As she stood next to the bed, staring down at the body, Albert then handed her a pair of gloves. “Try bending the wrist.”
    After putting the gloves on, she did as he instructed her to do.
    It was in that moment of bending that wrist back, that Genevieve felt this cold shiver go down her spine. “Okay that's odd...” she looked at Albert confoundedly. “This wrist shouldn't bend this easily...Unless, the body hasn't been dead for that long...?” she looked perplexedly down at the body. “Either way, rigor should have already started to set in.”
    “That's what I said...” he rubbed his face. “From the moment I showed up, everything has felt wrong about this whole crime scene...” mumbling mostly to himself, “The body's flexibility and the lack of a stench...” looking at her, he said, “At first I thought him...” he motioned to the dead body. “To be sleeping...”
    When all Genevieve did was quizzically stare at him, he said, “It was when I felt for a pulse, that I knew for sure he was dead.”
    Taking off her gloves, she finally said, “How long do you suppose he's been here?”
    “ I don't know...I can't say, until I get him down to the morgue...” turning on her heels to walk away, Albert said, “Hey, Gen..,” she turned back around. “If you really want to know, you should ask the first responding officers...They might be able to give you some clue on when he died.”
    XXX
    It was Albert's advice that now had her standing in front of the first office, who she had met earlier that day. As she stoically surveyed him, Genevieve could tell, just from his posture, that he was a young rookie.
    From the way he presented himself, not wanting anyone to notice him and trying to be invisible, she knew he was the right person to talk to – his guard would not just be down, but he would be new enough that that 'be a shithead to the detectives' attitude wouldn't have set in yet.
    “ Officer Carven, is it?”
    “ Yea...” he nervously looked down at his feet.
    “ Don't worry...I'm not here to get on to you about anything...” when she smiled, he instantly relaxed.
    “ I just want some information. Who called you and your partner out about the dead body?”  he nervously looked over at his partner.
    Glancing behind her at Officer Gaven, Genevieve noted the disgruntle frown on his face. From his apparent deep scowl, it was obvious that he wasn't happy that his partner was talking to her. Most likely Office Carven would get a lot of heat from him, but that couldn't be helped – she needed answers.
    Besides they all were on the same side.
    She couldn't understand, why detectives and street cops were always acting as if they had a beef with one another.
    Then again, maybe it was just her precinct.
    Smiling over at Gaven, she waved to him. After turning back to Officer Carven, she repeated her question, “So..., again..., what happened?”
    Giving his partner one last, wary, glance, he pulled his attention back to her. “Around eight, the dispatcher told us to head over here...Supposedly, the landlady, here, wanted to kick one of her tenants out, but she was afraid to go into the tenant's apartment to do so.”
    “So, once you got here, what happened?”
    “ We went upstairs to the apartment in question and first we knocked...When the tenant didn't come to the door, the landlady opened it for us and we went inside...”
    “ And?”
    “ That's when we found him...dead...”
    “ What made you two come to the conclusion that this was a homicide?”
    Officer Carven again looked nervously over at his partner. When eventually he spoke, there was a shakiness to his voice, “Well, that's the thing... After finding the body, one of them...” he motioned over to one of the five idiots, that had earlier accosted her. “Came up to us and told both Officer Gavin and I, about this red head that they had seen the victim with—last night.”
    Really this explanation didn't tell Genevieve