tentative sip of the latte and then let out a small sigh as she curled her hand in and cradled the cup against her shoulder. She still didn’t look up at us. Instead, she shifted down to the next line on the form and continued writing. As she scribbled, she held her head tilted slightly and peered at her work through rectangular reading glasses that were perched low on the bridge of her nose. Her lips moved slightly, though no words were uttered, as she appeared to mouth the sentences she was putting onto the page.
I looked at Ben and gave him a quick nudge. When he turned to me, I shot him a questioning raise of my eyebrow. He simply furrowed his own brow and shook his head then turned back to her and continued to patiently wait. After a good three to four minutes had expired, the woman took another sip of the drink then laid her pen aside and looked up at him.
“Do you know what would go just perfectly with this?” she asked.
Ben lifted his arm and placed a small, white paper bag on the counter where the coffee cup had been. The side visible to me bore several translucent, greasy blotches where the contents came into contact with it.
“If I had ta’ guess, I’d say a fresh apple fritter, right outta the fryer, from Airway Donuts down the street,” Ben replied. “But like I said. I’m just guessin’. Oh, and ya’ might wanna be careful. I think it’s still kinda hot.”
The woman shook her head and smiled. “I know I’ve asked this before, but please explain something to me, Detective Storm. How is it that you, a city cop with whom I’ve only had dealings a handful of times, knows exactly what it takes to brighten my morning, when your counterparts here in the county who have to work with me on an almost daily basis don’t have the vaguest notion?”
“‘Cause I’m a hell of lot better detective than them,” he replied with a grin.
“I see,” she said, rolling her eyes. “If I recall correctly, that’s what you told me the last time. And the time before that.”
“Yeah, prob’ly,” he added with a shrug. “Lookin’ for a different answer, are ya’?”
“Is there one?”
“Between you and me, yeah. Just so happens I was pretty tight with Carl Deckert.”
“Ahh, finally the truth comes out,” she said with a nod at the mention of the former county homicide detective. “I guess I should have known. Although, he always brought me a cherry-cheese Danish with my latte.”
“Yeah, I know. But I overheard ya’ talkin’ one day when you were all excited about gettin’ one of the apple fritters they’d just pulled.”
“And you remembered that?” She chuckled. “So you really are a good detective.”
“That’s the rumor, but don’t spread it around. It’ll blow my cover.”
“Carl Deckert was a good man,” she offered sadly. “I hated when he retired, and I was very sorry to hear he had passed.”
“Yeah, me too. He was a hell of a copper,” Ben agreed with a solemn nod.
“Too bad the other county detectives didn’t learn from him the way you did,” she added.
“Yeah, well if it’s any consolation, Doc Sanders down in the city isn’t exactly my biggest fan. I think she’s immune to my charms if ya’ know what I mean.”
“Hard to believe,” she replied. “Of course, Christine isn’t easy to charm. But then, neither am I.” She took another sip of the latte.
“Nahh,” Ben said. “You’re plenty easy. You just ain’t cheap.”
“I’ll remember you said that,” she quipped and then focused on me. “All right then, don’t be rude, Detective. Introduce your friends.”
“Doctor Audrey Kingston, Chief Medical Examiner for Saint Louis County,” Ben said while gesturing back and forth between her and us. “Rowan Gant and Felicity O’Brien… Rowan an’ Felicity, Doc Kingston.”
I nodded and said, “Nice to meet you.”
Felicity did the same.
Ben had already focused his attention back on the doctor and offered, “Row is a…”
“You’re the Witch,” she said, interrupting him as she directed herself at me. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” I said with a pained smile.
She nodded. “I’m sure you do. The newspapers and television seem to take great delight in your exploits.” She shifted her nod toward Felicity. “Both of you.”
“Yes, they do at that… But, they also have a tendency to blow things out of proportion,” I offered. “So, don’t believe everything you hear.”
I felt odd making the comment. The very idea of stories about me being exaggerated was really a matter of perspective. The media definitely leaned toward sensationalizing everything where I was involved, but that was something I’d learned to live with. The fact that they’d almost tried and convicted Felicity on the airwaves and in newsprint was a different story. However, that was only one side of the coin. There were many things that actually did happen and, moreover, were vastly more shocking than even the media had managed to distort thus far. Fortunately, those particular events had remained out of the public eye for the time being, and if we were lucky, they always would.
Doctor Kingston nodded at me and parroted the complete maxim, “I believe that’s actually anything you hear… As well as, anything you read, and only half of what you see.”
“Exactly.”
She smiled and looked back to Ben. “So…since you arrived bearing gifts, I assume this isn’t a social call. What is it you need from me, Detective Storm?”
“Should be easy,” my friend answered. “Your people brought in a body early this mornin’, and we kinda need ta’ have a look at it.”
She shot Felicity and me a sympathetic frown. “I’m sorry. Is this an identification? Are you the next of kin?”
“No, actually,” I replied, shaking my head.
“Homicide investigation,” Ben explained, waving toward us. “They’re consulting on it for the MCS.”
“Ahh, then it must be something unusual.”
“You could say that,” he agreed.
“Well, if the body just came in early this morning, then we won’t have even started the post, so I don’t have any results for you.”
“Yeah, I know,” he replied. “That’s not really what we’re here for.”
“I see. So then exactly what is it you would be here for?” she asked.
He shrugged and gave her a half nod, “That part’s a little complicated, Doc.”
“I thought you said this should be easy?”
“It mostly is.”
She peered over the top rim of her glasses at Felicity and then me. “So is something I’ve heard but I’m not supposed to believe what makes this so complicated, Mister Gant?”
I nodded. “That about covers it.”
She shot Ben a slightly bothered look then rolled her chair a few feet to the right and absently remarked, “Well, if the body came in early this morning, then the paperwork should be right over here on…” Her voice trailed off for a moment, then she lifted a clipboard from the top of the neatly arranged stack. She pushed her glasses farther up on the bridge of her nose then read aloud, “Doe, John… Caucasian, approximate age early twenties… Found nude in a front yard in Briarwood…”
“That’d be the one,” Ben told her.
She scanned the rest of the page in silence then lifted it and looked over the one beneath. Finally she said, “It looks as though the death investigator is finished and any external evidence has been collected…” She paused, frowned, and then said, “That’s interesting…”
“What’s that?” Ben asked.
“Possible cause of death acute hypovolemia, but no blood found at the scene.”
“Yeah…” Ben grunted. “It was a dump. We got another stiff just like ‘im in the cooler downtown too.”
“Really? Same apparent C.O.D. and circumstances?”
“Yeah.”
She nodded, muttered, “Interesting,” and then went back to scanning the pages. We stood there in silence
