Ring Around the Rosy Read Online Free PDF Page B

he
leaving her behind. She followed him through the station to his car and jumped
into the passenger seat. Dave looked as if he were about to object, but then
started the car and sped off.
    They arrived at the scene the same
time as several patrol cars. Maple trees lined the park, sheltering it and
making it eerily dark after sunset. Dave identified himself, and a police
officer directed him to the body.
    “Stay here.” Dave commanded.
    Susan waited until he focused his
attention on the victim, and then followed. No one noticed her because everyone
concentrated on the victim.
    Stopping a short distance away,
she stared at the body propped up against a drinking fountain. Water spilled
out of the bowl, splashed onto the victim’s head, and pooled around him. In one
hand, he held a brass candlestick. The other hand grasped a note, the words cut
out from magazines and newspapers. Jack be nimble, Jack wasn’t quick, OOPS,
Jack couldn’t jump over the candlestick. The letters were large enough Susan
could just make them out.
    The headline for the next story
popped out. Standing well away from the body, she watched Dave and the other
officers who had converged on the scene. Someone took out the victim’s wallet
and identified him — Jack Murphy. She knew him. Not well, but she had talked to
him a couple of times at Meliti’s Market.
    Two officers taped off the crime
scene. Another took photographs from all corners, moving closer to the victim
as the flashes from the camera lit up the night. Others scoured the area,
collecting evidence with gloved hands. Still other officers talked to the crowd
that had gathered, looking for potential witnesses.
    One of the witnesses said a man
wearing a gray shirt and carrying a bag had asked for directions shortly before
the police arrived. Several officers copied names and phone numbers and assured
them a detective would be in touch.
    Her stomach turned over as the
medical examiner took the internal body temperature with something that looked
like a meat thermometer. Nausea filled her throat, threatening to erupt and she
looked away. She needed to get out of there, needed her laptop or the newspaper
office. She had enough info for the story.
    Looking at the faces in the crowd,
she spotted Ray off to the side with his camera. “Ray,” she called, “what are
you doing here?”
    “I heard the call on my scanner.”
He snapped another picture. “I wasn’t far, thought I’d see if I could get some
pictures. Are you doing the story?”
    “If I can get to the office and
turn it in before anyone else.”
    “Well, come on, I’m on my way
there myself. This could be my big break, too, if I can get this film in before
the others.” They hurried into his car and sped away. “Hey, maybe your headline
will go with my picture,” Ray said on the way.
    Composing the story in her mind,
Susan didn’t’ feel like talking and only nodded in reply. What luck. First to
be with Dave when the call came, and then for Ray to show up. Chances of her
story being the first one turned in and printed looked good.
    Susan suppressed a chuckle. “Too
bad, Dan Hill!” Beat him out again..
    When they pulled in front of the
building and parked, she jumped out, waved at Ray, and hurried into the
newspaper offices without waiting for him. She flipped on a computer and
started typing.  
    Jack Be Nimble, Jack Wasn’t Quick the headline read.
    Was Jack killed with a
candlestick? Towering maple trees cast eerie shadows in the park where Jack
Murphy, 32, became the second victim of the Nursery Rhyme murderer. The coroner
will rule on the cause of death, but the victim suffered head injuries. Marks
on the victim’s neck suggest strangulation. The victim clasped the nursery
rhyme “Jack Be Nimble” in his hand.  
    Susan leaned back. Best to keep
the candlestick out of the story. The public didn’t need to know everything.
    Police received an anonymous phone
tip about the body, and a witness reported a man in a