Rest in Pieces Read Online Free PDF

really bad. Gossip was bread and butter in small towns—unless people were scared, and then their bread and butter stuck to the roof of their mouths.
    “Was Molly … you know …” I tried to use my hands to gesture whole, but I kept pantomiming a ball and didn’t know why so I linked my fingers and rested them in my lap. “You know, um…intact. Did they find all of her?”
    His look went from concerned to skeptical—like he was humoring crazy Aunt Laverne who’d had one too many eggnogs and was now convinced that Tom Cruise had stolen her reading glasses.
    “I’m pretty sure her body was in one piece.” He nodded and smiled like yep, I was a nut job. “Oh … wait.” He sat back. “There was something strange. I overheard the Chief say something about her dog.” He thought about it for a minute. “Oh yeah, he said that the dog must have been loyal because he’d found it dead right by her side.”
    “He found Molly and her dog dead?” That was odd. Did her dog overdose, too? Or maybe he’d died first and she was so heartbroken that she pulled out the heroin she just happened to have lying around and injected it? Or was it a murder suicide—she killed the dog first and then herself?
    “Was the heroin found near her body? For that matter, how do you know it was heroin?” Since I couldn’t look for needle tracks on plastic arms, I was interested to find out how exactly they knew about the heroin.
    “I don’t know.” He crossed his arms and looked like he was humoring me. “Look, we don’t determine cause of death, the city coroner does. So regardless of what was found at the scene, we don’t have anything to do with cause of death.”
    “Oh.” I guess that made sense.
    “Is there anything else you can tell me about the case?” I hated to keep pressing, but I needed the info.
    “Leave it alone. She died of an overdose.” He shook his head. “There really wasn’t much of a case. She was found dead and the toxicology came back positive for heroin. Open and shut.”
    Au contraire. This case was anything but open and shut. Nothing made sense. And the more questions I asked, the weirder things got.
    “So, how’s Max?” Ben tucked his thumbs into his belt on either side of his belt buckle as if to point out the stunning array of gadgets on his belt.
    “He’s good. Loves soccer and swimming.” I sat forward, preparing to stand. Ben had always played with Max when the department had gotten together at my house for barbecues and parties.
    “Maybe I could come by sometime, kick the ball around with him?” Ben smiled. Again with the pity.
    “Sure.” I tried to sound enthusiastic. Max needed a father figure around, but pity wasn’t the basis for any kind of relationship. I analyzed his face, and realized I saw more than pity in his eyes: there was guilt.
    It hit me like a ton of bricks; he’d known about David’s affair. Good Lord, who else knew? I sighed and shook my head. Everyone … except me. Wasn’t the wife always the last to know?
    I made a big show of checking my watch. “I really need to go. I only have fifteen minutes left on my lunch break.”
    Thank God Lakeside Hospital was only five minutes away.
    “Sure, I understand.” He rose. “It was good to see you.”
    I stood too. “You bet, and thanks for your help.”
    Not that he’d been all that much help—well, except for the dog. I nodded to myself, thinking. As a hospital employee, I had access to all kinds of medical information. Getting Molly’s medical records was just a phone call away. I was starting to perk back up. If I was a villain in an old movie, I’d stroke my mustache in anticipation, but I don’t have a mustache, and today I wasn’t the villain, so I just grabbed the cupcakes, my mocha latte, and headed to the door.
    “How about dinner tonight?” Ben called after me.
    I turned back to him. “Look, you don’t need to feel guilty. It doesn’t matter about David and the bimbo. It’s over and done.