You Belong to Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

finger.’ She looked up at Fitzpatrick who watched her intently, and she realized she was holding her breath. Detective Hot Cop, Ruby had called him. Indeed . Quietly she exhaled. ‘It’s got a ring on it.’
    Drew Peterson crouched beside her and she could focus again. ‘Can we get it off once he’s on the bag?’
    ‘We can try.’ She probed the victim’s legs through his trousers, then grimaced again. ‘Multiple breaks. His knees feel like mush. This guy was tortured.’
    ‘I hate tortures,’ Stevie muttered.
    ‘I imagine he hated it worse,’ Fitzpatrick said dryly.
    Lucy stepped back from the body. ‘Alan, Ruby, he’s all yours.’
    Ruby was a pro, but Alan looked queasy enough to have Lucy worried. She was watching to see if anything fell from the body to the ground as they moved him, when a new shiver ran down her back. Where she’d been freezing, she was now warm. Fitzpatrick stood behind her, his body blasting heat.
    ‘I found the Pughs,’ he said softly. He’d bent down so that he spoke in her ear, and she could feel the tickle of his breath against her neck. ‘They’re both fine.’
    A combination of relief and awareness had her knees wobbling but she held herself straight, keeping her eyes on Ruby and Alan. ‘Thank you. Where are they?’
    ‘The emergency number the super had was Mrs Pugh’s sister. They’ve been there for two days. I’m sending a squad car by to check, just in case.’
    ‘Thank you. I’ve been out of town a few weeks and when I got back last night it was too late to check on them. I didn’t know they were gone, but it makes sense they’re there. Barb visits her sister often.’
    He was quiet a moment, still standing way too close. ‘Who knew you were gone?’
    She thought about the two weeks of silence the other tenants had enjoyed in her absence. ‘Everybody in the building and at work. I went to a training symposium, then lectured at a university in LA.’
    ‘You didn’t post anything on your Facebook page about being away?’
    She looked over her shoulder, annoyed. ‘Of course not.’
    His nose was about two inches from hers. This close she could see that his eyes were dark, dark blue, not black as she’d thought before. ‘Some people do,’ he said.
    ‘Some people are stupid. I am not.’
    ‘ Ugh! ’ Alan’s grunt had everyone looking back at the body. The victim’s hands had fallen from his pockets as they’d placed him on the gurney. Luckily the hands had flopped straight down, falling on the unzipped body bag, so no evidence had fallen to the grass.
    ‘Like you said,’ Fitzpatrick said grimly when they’d surrounded the gurney. ‘Just his ring finger, complete with a ring. Missing the tip.’
    ‘His teeth appear broken too,’ Lucy added. ‘I don’t think you’re going to find ID.’
    ‘The ring on his finger’s the ID,’ Stevie said. ‘Whoever did this left it behind for a reason. Can you get it off?’
    Lucy tugged at the ring and held it up to the morning light. ‘University of Maryland Medical School,’ she read.
    Fitzpatrick frowned. ‘Wonder what the doc did to get his knees capped?’
    Lucy dropped the ring into the evidence bag Drew held open, then gingerly pulled the victim’s sleeve back, revealing a gold wristwatch. ‘It’s a Rolex.’ She removed it and placed it in Fitzpatrick’s outstretched gloved hand.
    ‘Not a robbery,’ he said and studied the back of the watch. ‘Inscription says “Thanks for the memories.” They spelled “memories” with an extra “m”. Wait.’ He squinted at the inscription, then rolled his eyes. ‘Make that “Thanks for the mammaries.” ’
    ‘I’d say you’re looking for a plastic surgeon,’ Ruby said dryly, and Lucy felt an appalling urge to laugh out loud. Gratefully, she stifled it. This was not funny.
    ‘A plastic surgeon who really got on someone’s wrong side,’ Fitzpatrick said.
    ‘Dr Trask?’ Alan said quietly. ‘He’s got something in his mouth.’
    The object