Jo set down her sandwich. “They found a body?”
“Yeah and I’ll tell you right now it’s not a pretty sight.”
“You checked it out?”
“Stopped by when I got back from Tampa.”
“Wait, you went to Tampa today? I thought you were going to check out some banks.”
She nodded. “Collecting more info on Danny Witmore. Seems he was digging himself into a hole with gambling debts. He owed quite a bit of money to more than one source.”
“Ouch. Do you think it was one of the bone-crushers that did him in?”
Kate shook her head. “Doesn’t feel right. Someone owes you money you might break an arm or leg to teach a lesson, but if you kill the mark how are you going to get your money back? No, I’m still leaning toward Aggie.”
“Because of the poison?”
“Yeah, someone wanted him gone, but didn’t feel the need to stay and watch the finale. And poison is usually a woman’s tool. Distant and not bloody like a knife or gun.”
“Or wine bottle?” Jo offered.
“Well, there is that.” Kate scowled. “I don’t know. I keep coming up with dead ends. Everything I find paints him in a darker light but gets me no closer to the answer.”
“Well, if I know you, you won’t give up until you figure it out. Meanwhile what’s up with the body? Do they think it’s the one I saw in the park?”
“Good possibility. Fatal knife wound to the chest, but….” she trailed off.
“But what?”
“Well, he doesn’t have a head anymore,” Kate said quickly. “It looks like a cinder block had been tied to his ankle to weigh him down. And let’s just say between the gator and the fish, well, you get the picture.”
“Ewuuuu,” Jo grimaced. “Then what is there to identify?”
“You said there was a tattoo that ran from the neck down onto his chest and most of that is still there. And Willard said he was able to get prints off two of the fingers. By tomorrow he hopes to have a positive ID.”
Now Jo groaned in earnest. “I have to deal with Willard the Worm? Why not Doc Tucker? He’s the head medical examiner.”
“Doc’s on vacation so Willard’s in charge of the lab.
Jo dropped her head into her hands. “Damn, this is awkward.”
Kate’s eyes went wide. “He’s not still hitting on you is he?” Jo said nothing but continued to hold her head. “Cripes, Jo, it’s been over two years. Didn’t you tell him you weren’t interested?”
Jo leveled a withering stare. “I just met him for coffee one time right after Doc was appointed. I mean, I understand why the ‘powers that be’ wouldn’t want someone like Worm representing the department and talking to the media. He just doesn’t have the presence to pull it off. But he looked so pathetic when he found out, and I happened to be standing there so I sorta asked if he wanted to go for coffee.”
“Jo, how in the world could you think Willard looked pathetic? I mean jeez.”
“It’s not his fault he has these tiny little eyes that look so creepy. And okay, so he wears an odd crew cut.”
“And he always stares.”
“Well, he’s weird, that’s a fact, but he knows his stuff. The man is really tenacious about finding answers.”
“As proved by the fact he’s still trying to date you?”
Jo groaned.
“Yeah,” Kate nodded. “I think the fact that people call him Worm, gives a good indication. And, yes, he knows his stuff and is a great assistant ME. But face it, Jo, when he stares at you with those eyes he does look creepy.”
“He just doesn’t have any social graces,” Jo countered. “I don’t think his mother ever told him it’s not polite to glare at people.”
Kate raised a brow. “Given this some thought have you?”
Jo drank the rest of her wine. “If I’ve got to deal with Worm and a headless body tomorrow, I’m going to bed. Did you lock up already?”
“Tight as a drum and I’m right behind you. I’ll probably be gone before you tomorrow. I’m going to try and see what else I can find out about Danny. So if you do go looking for Christian after work, don’t go alone.”
Jo nodded and sighed. “Come on guys, I need bed.” As she flicked off the lights in the kitchen, Bella and Blitz made a mad dash for the bedroom.
The next morning, Jo was surprised to find Kate still in the kitchen. “I thought you were leaving early?” she said reaching for the coffee.
“Well, I did, or I was. We have another problem.”
“What now?”
“Someone slashed the back tire on your car.”
“What?” Jo sloshed coffee on the counter as she set her mug down. “What about our fancy security?”
“Remember I said I thought there were still some dark pockets? Well Andy’s already here. He thinks whoever did this actually bellied in, hit your back tire then bellied out again. Your car is parked closest to Mrs. G’s property and that edge wasn’t lit as well as it should have been.”
“Well damn, what now?”
“I’ve called it in. Andy can put the donut on for you and he said he’d take the tire over to Brian’s shop and drop it off. He’s feeling really bad this happened.”
“He’s feeling bad,” Jo’s voice began to rise. “He’s feeling bad? I’ve got a dead body with no head, I need to ward off Willard the Worm, and now I have a slashed tire from some maniac that thinks I can identify him, and Andy’s feeling bad?”
“Do you want me to drive you to work?”
“No, I don’t want you to drive me to work. I want my life back before this idiot causes more damage. And I can change my own damn tire. Do you know how much a new tire is going to cost? And hell, Brian will probably make me get two new ones so the car is balanced. Crap, I hate this shit.”
“Not the best way to start the day.”
“No kidding,” Jo grabbed her coffee and walked stiffly to the front door. “Hey, Andy, change that tire for me.”
He saluted.
Hitting the remote on her key chain, Jo popped the trunk. Bella nudged her leg and Jo let out the breath she was holding. “It’s okay, girl, I’m not mad at you.” She gave the dog’s head a rub and scratched behind her ears only to have Blitz try to squish in between. “And good morning to you, too,” she said giving him a pat. “Okay,” straightening she looked over at Kate. “I guess I’m glad you were around, but why didn’t you wake me when all this started?”
“You had a bad day yesterday and today isn’t going to be much better. Besides it wasn’t that long. You going to be okay if I take off now?”
“Yeah. What’s Andy going to do about the security?”
“He’s adding some more sensors. Going to put one near the top of each of the palm trees. That way there will be no dark spots and the entire front of the house will be covered. Anyone tries something like this again and all hell will break lose.”
“Heck, anyone tries something like this again and I’ll. . . no never mind. Go ahead and get out of here. I’m leaving as soon as he changes the tire.”
“Good luck with the body,” Kate called going down the steps.
“It’s not the body I’m worried about,” Jo mumbled to herself. Then grabbing her bag and giving each of the dogs another quick pat, she closed the door behind her. Worm, here I come, she thought. And today is not the day to mess with me.
* * *
Jo stopped at the door to the morgue and gathered herself. Not so much for the headless body that awaited her, but in preparation for the live man. Keying in her code she pushed open the door and stepped inside. The aroma of citrus disinfectant could never quite disguise the scent of death that danced in the air. Jo moved forward and pushed open the next door. As expected, Worm was waiting and he didn’t look happy.
“Morning Wor - Willard,” Jo said, trying not to breath too deeply.
“Kate said you’d be in early. I got coffee.” He looked pointedly at the trashcan where two empty coffee
cups now rested.
“Sorry, there was a little problem with my car.”
“Then you should keep up with the maintenance better.” He turned away clearly not interested.
“Look, someone slashed one of my tires.”
“What?” Worm’s head snapped up so quickly Jo wondered how he didn’t get whiplash.
“Yeah, it’s been quite a morning. Here we thought we had this handy-dandy security system but the jerk found a dark spot, according to Andy.”
“Getting a security system just because some punk slashed a tire seems a little overkill to me.”
“Until we find the guy who’s messing with me that’s the best we can do.”
Willard turned and gave Jo his full attention. “What do you mean messing with you?”
“According to Brian, someone worked on the brake line in my car, a snake was dumped in my living room, and this morning a tire was slashed. I’m not having a good day, so could we get on with this?”
“He shouldn’t have done that.”
“There I agree with you. Look, sorry about the coffee.”
Worm shrugged, “No problem. I drank them both.”
“Well at least it didn’t go to waste. Let’s get started, okay? I’d rather get this over with so I can get to work.”
He nodded and indicated she should follow him. When he reached the bank of steel drawers, he paused. “He’s not very pretty. Did Kate tell you?”
Jo started to pull in a breath then caught herself. “Okay let’s just do this.”
Willard opened the drawer and a puff of cold air escaped into the room. Then he pulled the tray out and carefully removed the covering from the top of the body.
Jo felt her stomach begin to roll. Not pretty was a huge understatement. Missing a head and most of one arm, the rest of the body had been a picnic for the fish.
“The tattoo looks similar,” Jo struggled to keep her voice even. “But between the wound and your Y cut….”
“I was able to get prints from two of the remaining fingers.” Willard lifted the hand and brought the fingers nearly to his glasses for a closer look.
Jo felt her stomach start to flip. “Could you get an ID?” she said quickly taking a step back. If she was going to boot, she wasn’t going to boot on what was left of the body.
“Yes, his name was Jared Rodriguez and from a quick glance he had a long sheet.”
Jo forced herself to move closer and took a really good look at what was left of the tattoo. “I can’t really say if this was the guy or not. The man I saw was Hispanic and the tattoo is sorta in the same place. But since you have an ID I’ll do a search for his picture.”
“I already did.” Willard replaced the cover and, to Jo’s relief, shoved the tray in and closed the steel door. “I have it on my desk.”
“Then…. ” Jo swallowed her words. If you’ve got a picture, she thought, why did I need to look at a mangled body? Why, of course, to punish me for not being here to drink your damn coffee. “Then let’s get to your office.”
At his desk, Willard handed her the photo he’d printed.
“It’s a match,” she said looking at the face that stared back at her. “He’s the one I saw laying on that picnic table. You said he had a sheet?”
Willard nodded. “Would you like to go to lunch today?”
“Can’t.” Jo didn’t bother to look up but continued to stare at the picture. “We’re short handed due to vacations. I probably won’t even stop for lunch.”
“Well, that’s not right. If you work through lunch can you leave an hour early? We could go for coffee again.”
“No can do. I won’t be able to leave early even if I do miss lunch. Like I said we’re swamped. Besides, if they haven’t found Christian Witmore by then, I’ll be helping with the search again.”
“I see.” His voice was tight. “Is that where you got all those bites?”
Jo looked down at her arms. “I’m trying not to think about them so they won’t start to itch again.”
“You should have worn a long sleeved shirt.”
“Well, I didn’t know that I’d end up doing a search for a missing child when I got dressed yesterday. Look, thanks for the picture. This really helps, but I’ve got to run.” Jo turned and still looking at the picture walked out of the morgue. She completely missed the cold stare that followed her out.
She’d been right. The probation office was swamped. By noon she had lost count of how many clients she’d processed. But when her door edged open, she was surprised to find Kate standing there. “Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you were out digging up clues about Danny.”
Kate dropped into her visitor chair. “That’s on hold for the moment. Live missing child takes precedence over dead murder victim. We’re all working on the search for Christian. A few leads have come in but nothing that’s been of value.”
“So what are you doing here?”
Kate reached into her purse and extracted a foil wrapped sandwich. “Brought you lunch. I know you didn’t get breakfast and I had to run by the house so,” she reached in her bag again and withdrew a can of Pepsi.
“Oh, man, peanut butter. You are a saint.” Jo took a big bite even as she popped the top of the soda. “Thank you.”
“Well, I also come bearing gifts.” She reached in again and pulled out a jeweled broach.
Jo’s face pulled into a puzzled frown as she chewed. “You brought me jewelry?”
“Actually it’s from Andy. He feels really bad about what happened.”
“Then he should get me a new tire not a piece of jewelry,” Jo took another bite of her sandwich.
“I have a matching one,” she indicated the jeweled clip that was hooked on her bag.
“Great, we’re a matched set.” She pushed the piece back toward Kate. “Here, you keep them both. That’s not really my style.”
“Just watch.” Kate picked up Jo’s piece and pressed the center stone. Immediately the matching broach on her bag began to vibrate and flash.
“Whoa, what’s that doing?”
“It’s a security device,” she said handing the broach back to Jo. “You wear that one and I have this one. You get into trouble with this wacko and you just press the red stone in the middle. It sets off an alarm in my piece.”
“That’s way cool,” Jo picked up the broach and studied it more closely. The dull gold medallion was the size of a quarter and held a red stone in the center. “You’d never know by looking at it.”
“That’s not all.” Kate removed her piece from her bag and handed it to Jo. “It also has a homing device. Andy programmed my phone so if you press this, my device vibrates and flashes a warning, then I plug in a code on my phone and it lets me know where you are.”
Warming to the idea, Jo pressed the red jewel and felt Kate’s piece begin to vibrate in her hand. Kate pulled out her phone, hit a few numbers, and then turned it for Jo to see the readout.
“Yep, I’m in my office,” she said. “That’s so cool. But Kate,” she held up the broach and then looked down at her rumpled black pants and white shirt, “it really isn’t my style.”
“So put it in your purse, or better yet, stick it in your pocket.”
“That I can do.” Jo shoved the broach into her pants pocket and handed Kate’s back to her.
Kate slipped her phone and the broach back in her bag then stood. “Okay, I’m off. I’m heading over to the school to interview the teachers and maybe some of the kids to see if anyone has any ideas where Christian might have gone.”
Jo scratched absently at a bite on her arm. “I really hate thinking that little guy spent the night outside. It makes me itchy just to think about it.”
“Well, we’ll find him. It hasn’t been 24 hours yet and that’s crucial.”
“Good luck. Look, I’ll tag you when I’m finished here and if you haven’t found him by then I’ll join in the search.”
“That’s a plan,” Kate waved from the doorway then was g
one.
* * *
As Kate walked to the teacher’s lounge, angry voices could be heard even before the secretary pushed the door open for her. “Oh dear,” the secretary gasped.
Betsy Johnson and Diana Harkins stood nose-to-nose and for an instant Kate wondered if she was going to have to physically break up a fight.
“I’m not going to discuss it, Diana,” Betsy Johnson said turning away. “Mr. Phelps put me in charge and I’ve canceled it.” The other teachers in the room sat transfixed by the scene playing out before them.
“You can’t cancel my Field Day,” Diana snapped. “It’s tradition. You know that. It’s an important way for the students to bond with each other at the beginning of the year.”
“I’ve spoken with Mr. Phelps and he agrees with me,” Betsy fired back. “It’s too damn hot to be outside.”
“Um, excuse me,” the secretary piped in. “Police here,” she gestured to Kate. “The officer needs to speak with each of you regarding Christian Witmore.”
“Then start with her,” Betsy Johnson said flatly. “I’m done with this. Field Day is canceled and that’s that.” Betsy turned and walked out of the room.
Kate took a seat at a small table and looked pointedly at the PE teacher.
“What the hell,” Diana stomped over and plopped down. “I’m sorry. What a way to meet us.” She extended her hand. “I’m Diana Harkins. I teach Physical Education.”
Kate glanced to the door and then back to Diana who was twisting the top off a bottle of water. “What’s up with that?”
“You want one?” Diana lifted the bottle. “We have plenty in the cooler.”
“No, thanks.”
“That,” Diana said hotly, “was our third grade bitch, I mean teacher, who thinks she’s in charge of the world.”
“And she’s in charge of your Field Day?”
Diana shook her head then reached in her pocket and pulled out a small bottle of over-the-counter eye drops. “Wait, give me a moment.” She efficiently squeezed drops into each eye and blinked several times. “Sorry,” she said replacing the cap and shoving the tiny bottle back in her pocket. “Eye allergies. What did you ask?”
“How is it Ms. Johnson is in charge of your event?”
Diana rolled her eyes. “In a moment of weakness I went to Mr. Phelps, he’s the principal, and asked him for some help with Field Day because there’s a lot of planning and preparation. I said I didn’t think it was right that I was the only one doing all the work. Next thing I know, he’s put Ms. Bitch in charge.”