Unwanted Company - Barbara Seranella by Barbara Seranella Read Free Book Online Page B

young
    "Whose little girl were you?" he asked out
loud.
    He bent over to study the aftermath of the killer's
carnage. There were twelve X's of white tape adhered to the woman's
ghostly white torso. He peeled back one of the dressings on her
abdomen. Radiating out from the puncture wound he found bruising,
indicating that the hilt of the weapon had struck the surface of the
skin. He searched her chest, hoping to find a clean kill wound,
wondering how many stabs she'd been alive to feel. The medical
examiner would check for that and note it in his report.
    Mace looked up, following the seashell pattern of
wallpaper to where it met the ceiling. Half his brain wondered if
this had been her last sight. The analytical half knew something was
missing: blood spatter on the walls.
    "Don't forget the traps," he told the SID
crew. "I want all of them: sink, tub, toilet."
    " Kitchen, too?" a tech asked.
    " Yeah, kitchen, too," he answered. "Rush
the tox reports on the victims," Mace told Cassiletti. "And
I want comparisons on the hair and semen."
    Cassiletti pulled out his notebook and scribbled.
"Anything else?"
    " Let's check out the other one."
    As they started to leave the room, the phone mounted
on the wall next to the toilet rang. Mace lifted the receiver
carefully from its cradle, knowing his gloves would not add new
prints but not wishing to smudge any that were already there. He
answered the phone with a simple "Hello".
    "Uh, is the lady of the house in?'
    " Who is this?'
    " A friend of Raleigh Ward's."
    " Can I tell her what this is regarding?
    " Um, well, actually I'm trying to track Raleigh
down, and I, um . . . Listen, can I give you my name and number, and
maybe she could just give me a call, you know, as soon as she can."
    " Sounds like a plan," Mace said, pulling
out his notepad and a pen. "Go ahead."
    "All right, my name's Munch, and the number is—"
    "Munch? Munch Mancini?" Mace asked.
Cassiletti's head swung around at the sound of the name. Mace pointed
at the receiver for the big man's benefit.
    "Who is this?" she asked.
    "Mace St. John."
    " Mace? What are you doing there? How have you
been?"
    Mace pictured her as he'd last seen her. Was it five
years ago? Longer? He had stopped in at the garage where she worked
just to say hi, see if she was okay. She was, and it had been
gratifying to see. Taking the time to call on her had been his wife
Caroline's idea. Caroline, the ultimate social worker, lived by her
own idealistic, if naive, credo that in giving you received. It had
taken him a few years, but he had finally managed to exhaust her deep
wells of compassion.
    " Mace?" Munch asked again. "You still
there?"
    Cassiletti's head was also cocked in question like
some six-foot-four puppy dog.
    "Yeah, I'm here. What's new with you?" And
what are you doing calling into a homicide scene? "You still in
the Valley?"
    " No, I moved back to the west side. Didn't you
get my Christmas card?"
    " Oh, yeah, that's right. Go ahead and give me
your address again." He took down her information, writing with
the phone cradled carefully between his ear and shoulder.
    Cassiletti made a move as if to hold the phone to
Mace's ear. Mace frowned and waved him away. Munch also provided her
new phone numbers and work address. He looked up into the mirror of
the medicine cabinet but saw only the dead girl in the tub behind
him.
    " So how well do you know the women who live
here?' he asked.
    " I don't even know their names. Did something
happen?"
    "What was that name you said when you first
called?"
    "Raleigh Ward," she said. "He's a
customer."
    " What kind of customer?"
    "I have a limo business. Hey, wait a minute. Are
you still working Homicide?"
    " How is it that you have this number?" he
asked.
    "That's a little complicated," Munch said.
"Look, I'm just looking for this guy. He, uh, owes me money."
    "This Raleigh Ward."
    "Yeah."
    " Why would you look for him here?"
    " I'm just trying all the numbers I have for
him."
    " When did he rent your