Half Past Dead Read Online Free PDF

victim had been dumped in the heavy underbrush. She hadn’t simply wandered off and died. It was murder. But what had killed her?
    He’d instructed the coroner to take extensive photos and collect tissue samples. Now it was time to call in a favor. He phoned a guy in the New Orleans coroner’s office.
    By noon the samples and the body were being driven to New Orleans by one of his deputies. There was little else Justin could do for now. There had been nothing at the crime scene. Spring rains had washed away what trace evidence there might have been.
    â€œCome on, boy,” he said to Redd.
    The dog cautiously popped his head out from under the big wood desk that had belonged to Sheriff Parker for over thirty years. Redd had spent last night at the vet’s and this morning at the Dog Spaw. Nothing could be done to save his fur. Redd’s coat had been given a boot-camp cut. The groomer had been able to trim his ears so they were still a little fluffy, but his tail had to be shaved, too.
    â€œYou’re a sight.” Justin stroked the dog’s head, and Redd wagged his tail. “Come on. We’re outta here.”
    Redd trotted at his heels. He seemed to sense he was Justin’s dog now.
    â€œIf you need me, call me on my cell,” he told Nora Adams.
    â€œYes, indeedy,” she replied.
    Nora was older than the pharaohs and looked like one. She had dyed black hair pulled straight back into a golf-ball-sized bun that emphasized her thin face and taut skin. She’d been the receptionist/dispatcher since Justin had been a child.
    With little crime and five deputies who did their best to raise revenue by catching speeders and writing up DUIs, Justin figured Nora pretty much ran the place. Well, hell, that was about to change. But he wasn’t rattling her cage until he’d settled in.
    â€œDo you want me to have Sheriff Parker’s cruiser tuned up for you?”
    â€œGood idea,” Justin said, and waved as he walked out the station’s door.
    He didn’t plan to use the cruiser, but it wouldn’t hurt to have another car in good repair. Something was always going wrong with patrol cars, and with the budget crunch in Twin Oaks, he wasn’t likely to get any new equipment.
    He opened the door to his pickup, saying, “Get in.”
    Redd hopped in the passenger side. Justin walked around, opened his door, and lowered the window for Redd before he climbed in. Like all dogs, Redd loved to hang out the window, nose to the breeze.
    He pulled out of the space marked Sheriff Parker. “I guess we’ll have to find a house with a fenced yard for you.” He thought about it for a moment. He didn’t like leaving a dog alone in a yard all day. There wasn’t any reason he couldn’t take Redd with him most of the time. “Deputy Dawg,” he told Redd, but the dog was too busy sniffing the fragrant honeysuckle in the air to pay attention.
    Justin’s cell rang. It was Mayor Peebles.
    â€œAny news on the homicide?”
    â€œNo. I’ve sent the tissue samples and photographs to New Orleans along with the body. A friend owes me a favor.”
    Peebles was uncharacteristically silent for a moment. Justin knew what he was thinking. The evidence was going to another state.
    â€œHe’s going to rush it for me. You know the state crime lab takes forever.” Justin didn’t add anything about how sloppy their work was.
    â€œHave you ID’d her?”
    â€œNot yet. The coroner thinks she was Hispanic. We’ll see if my friend agrees.”
    â€œWe’ve got a lot of illegals these days that spilled out of Texas. Most of them work at the casino.”
    â€œI’ll ask around out there.”
    â€œOkay. I called to give you a heads-up. David Noyes wants to interview you about the case and your new job.”
    â€œHe’s a reporter at the Trib? ”
    â€œNope. He’s the new editor. Came here about a year