Jamie Brodie 02 - Hoarded to Death Read Online Free PDF Page B

aftercare funds for her to get some extensive therapy, because she's going to need it." He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me against him. "It's a good thing we're so normal."
    I laughed. "Speak for yourself, sir! I consider myself to be extraordinary, not normal."
    Pete chuckled. "Oh, you're extraordinary all right."
    Val laughed. "What do you think will happen to Jennifer?"
    “ Realistically? The relapse rate for these people is pretty high. Although it is a good sign that she's changed her name. It might indicate that she's ready to make other changes in her life. But it's not a good sign at all that the only people she had to help her with this were her ex-husband's family.”
    Val rolled her eyes. “Yeah, she didn’t want her actual friends to know.”
    I sighed. "It's sad. Kevin married her for some reason. There must be a very valuable person in there somewhere."
    Pete nodded. "They had a lot in common, on the surface. She liked outdoor stuff. She'd rollerblade while Kevin ran, she hiked with us, they'd go camping down at San Onofre. And she loved baseball. Knew how to keep score and everything. They went to Dodgers games all the time, and she never missed one of our LAPD baseball games. But she did display some OCD symptoms. You know who she reminded me of, in a way? The counselor on Glee. Everything had to be in its place and lined up correctly. And she always had wet wipes with her and wouldn't touch any man-made surfaces until she'd wiped them down."
    "Weird that she'd end up a hoarder."
    "Well, yeah, but you can see how she had everything stacked up neatly at first. And it's a vicious circle that these folks get into. The hoard starts getting out of control, and it makes them feel even worse about themselves than they already do, so they hoard more, which makes them feel worse...and on it goes."
    We went to bed early because we had to be up early. I dreamed that I came home from work one day to find , to my horror, that Pete had filled the townhouse with baby clothes.

    The next morning we were scheduled to meet at Jennifer's apartment at 5:30 again. We made record time through McDonald's drive through and got to the apartment with five minutes to spare, only to find that nothing was happening. Raven, Mike, and Raven’s assistant were huddled together by the TV truck with Greg the cameraman discussing something intently. Jennifer, Susannah, and Dr. Hayman weren't there yet. The junk guys were all milling around a little, shivering in the damp morning air and drinking coffee. Stan the Junk Man was on his phone, pacing the parking lot. He looked mad. Every so often he'd hang up, call another number, and get mad again. I looked around and realized that Stan’s guy Wally was missing.
    Pete had packed a cooler full of Cokes. He put up the tailgate of his Jeep, and we sat inside the cargo area with ou r feet dangling over the bumper eating our Egg McMuffins and drinking Coke. After about ten minutes, Raven separated herself from the group by the TV truck and came over to us.
    "Hey, guys. Sorry we're running a little behind schedule. Stan's assistant was supposed to be here at 5:00 with the key to the apartment, and he hasn't shown up yet."
    "Stan's assistant… Wally is Stan’s assistant? Why would he have a key?"
    " Wally was going to meet Greg to get some shots of the apartment before anyone else got here, to use as the visual starting point for the second day's cleaning. Greg showed up but Wally wasn't here. So Greg called Stan, and Stan's been trying to get hold of Wally, but his phone goes right to voice mail. So, we're waiting for Jennifer to get here, so she can let us in and Greg can get his preliminary shots."
    I glanced at Pete for confirmation. "I don't remember Jennifer ever being late for anything."
    Pete shrugged. "Neither do I."
    "I don't think it's Jennifer, I think it's Susannah. Jennifer stayed with Susannah last night. They called me a few minutes ago; they're on the way." Raven gestured to