Veiled (A Short Story) by Kendra Elliot Read Free Book Online Page B

next room was poking at
her. From what she knew of her single male friends, it was nearly impossible
for them to leave a room that uncluttered. There was almost nothing out of
place.
    An idea lit up her brain. She opened the fridge and studied
the contents.
    “Careful what you touch,” said Terry.
    She was still gloved. “I know.” Her mind raced at full
speed. She closed the fridge and rooted through the garbage. She pulled out an
empty plastic fifth of rum and several Coke cans. Rum and Coke . Then she
found a plastic grocery bag with the receipt still inside. Goose bumps rose on
her arms as she read the slip.
    “Here. Look at this grocery receipt. It’s for yesterday.
Someone paid cash for steaks, two bags of Doritos, and beer in the
midafternoon.” She held the receipt for Terry to see. “Where is this store?”
    “That’s about halfway between here and Seaport.”
    “Okay. So somebody bought food on the way up here.” She
opened the fridge again and pointed. “Look, the steaks are still here. All
three pounds that are on the receipt. If you’re going to kill yourself and have
a last meal of steak and beer, why wouldn’t you eat your steaks first? Rib
eyes, good cuts of meat. Someone was looking forward to this meal and spent the
money for a high-quality steak.” She looked in the fridge again. “And where’s
the beer? There should be a six-pack of Coors Light. I saw three empties in the
other room next to Will. Where are the rest? They’re not in the garbage can I
just looked through.” She carefully rooted around in the other cupboards.
“Maybe there’s a recycling bin outside?”
    “I’ll check.” Jack stepped out the back door.
    She looked at Terry. She could tell his mind was making
leaps and bounds.
    “You’re right. I stopped too soon. I saw what I wanted to
see,” he admitted.
    “We’re all tired,” Lacey agreed, but her skin was tingling.
She knew she was on to something.
    Jack came back in. “There’s nothing outside for bottles or
any other garbage. Lacey has a good point. Someone must have taken them. Or
else Will is one of those assholes that drinks while he’s driving and hurls the
beer cans out the window when they’re empty.”
    “And what about the steaks?” Lacey asked. “That’s food for
at least two men, not one. Same with the two bags of chips. You don’t go stock
up on food when you plan to kill yourself. And why would somebody remove three
cans? Because he drank out of them and worried he left a DNA trace behind or
fingerprints? Seems our killer likes to watch CSI ,” she said with a
grin.
    “Will may have killed his ex-wife, but there’s a good chance
he didn’t kill himself,” stated Jack. “He wasn’t alone up here.”
    “Maybe Will didn’t kill Patty,” Lacey pointed out. “The same
person might have killed both of them.” She and Jack looked to Terry. His deep
scowl would have made a child cry. He pulled out his cell phone and started
tapping the screen.
    “Damn it. We need to find the other guys that share this
cabin,” Terry said firmly. “And I want a look inside the Marino house.”

C HAPTER S EVEN
    It was close to midnight when Lacey and Jack made it
back to the tiny police station along with Terry and Mathews. They’d left
Garcia at the cabin to wait for the transportation to take Will Marino’s corpse
to the morgue, where he’d join his ex-wife. Terry had decided to process the
cabin thoroughly in the morning, when there was more light and his men weren’t
about to fall over from exhaustion.
    When Dr. Pillai had shown up at the cabin, he
whipped out a miracle sprayer that shooed the flies away. But by the time he
arrived, there were already fewer flies, and from the little Lacey remembered
about entomology, that meant they’d already laid all their eggs. She didn’t
care to be present for the second stage, when the eggs hatched into maggots.
With his flashlight, Dr. Pillai confirmed an entry wound in Will’s soft
palate and