Her face crumpled, and I felt a pang of remorse. I knew what it was like to be out of a job and down on your luck—only thing was, I hadn’t done anything to deserve my fall from grace. I’d lost it all just because of what I was. She’d brought this all on through her own actions—though I still felt some pity for her. She was young and dumb, and we’d all been there at some point.
Her full bottom lip quivered, and she averted her eyes. “I just wanted to sabotage the show. I didn’t kill her.”
Daisy’s tail wagged. Truth.
Peter cleared his throat, voice gentle. “That’s understandable. How’d you get up on stage? Was there someone else who wanted to punish Bel Hahn?”
She sniffled. “That weird crew guy with the awful chin beard and—” She fluttered a hand over her head. “—ugly beanie thing. He let me under the runway and helped me climb up through the trapdoor when Bel walked out.”
Peter and I exchanged looks.
“Do you know his name?”
She grimaced at Peter. “Ew, no. Like, I don’t talk to people like that.”
Peter nodded. “Thank you for your time, Ms. Johannsen. You’ll be kept in custody while you sober up, then you’ll be released—but don’t leave the island.”
She whimpered. “Fine, whatever. Can I get some coffee now?”
Peter rose, and I followed his lead. “Sure.” He nodded. “I’ll have someone bring that to you shortly.”
I glared at her just before we left, not quite ready to drop my tough cop persona. “But there won’t be any sugar or cream.” Burn.
Once back outside in the stone hallway, Peter bent his head close to mine. “We need to speak to that crew member. If he was able to get Cid on stage, it means he had access to Bel Hahn, as well.”
I nodded. “He may have just been helping Cid out since she looks like she does, but… maybe he too had something against Bel.”
Peter grinned. “Exactly. But first, let’s see if the coroner’s report is back. This might be a dead end if it really was just a heart attack.”
I nodded and followed him around the corner. I had a hunch this House of Hahn business was connected to Li Fan’s death at the sweatshop and was eager to find out what the autopsy had revealed.
12
THE AUTOPSY
“Gabriel.” Peter smiled at the middle-aged man in the white lab coat as he held the door for me. “This is my friend, Jolene. She’s working as a consultant for the department.”
I grinned. He’d called me his friend. I mentally rolled my eyes at myself—was I going soft? Did I want us to hold hands and sing around the bonfire now?
I dipped my head in greeting, and Gabriel, who stood over a body-shaped thing draped in a white sheet, waved a hand at me—a hand covered in a bloody glove.
“Good mornin’.”
“Morning.” My words were laced with uncertainty, and my stomach turned. A foot protruded from the body-shaped thing under the tarp. Snakes. It was a dead body. Not sure what I expected in the coroner’s office, but it was too early for bodies.
The coroner turned his tan face toward the door and cast a sympathetic look at Daisy, who remained behind in the hall. “My apologies, Miss Daisy, but we can’t have ya contaminatin’ our morgue, now can we?”
The dog whined and lowered her haunches, tail wagging.
“Thanks a million for yer understandin’.”
Peter let the door swing shut behind him and edged around the metal table in the center of the room to stand beside me. The body lay between Gabriel and the two of us, under a bright light.
Cabinets and a metal sink lined the perimeter stone walls of the chilly, dark room. A cold fog rolled past my ankles, hiding the toes of my boots in mist. Not creepy down here at all….
Peter shoved his hands in his pockets. “Have you finished with the Bel Hahn autopsy?”
“We nearly have.” Gabriel nodded at the body on the table. “We’ve confirmed she died of a heart attack, she did.”
Peter frowned. “So natural causes then?”
“Ah, not so fast, lad.” Gabriel grinned, his teeth white against the tan of his skin, and wagged a finger. “Look here.”
He pulled back the sheet, and I turned my head to look away, gripping Peter’s shoulder as I did so. I froze, realizing I was holding his arm, then let my hand drop.
Peter turned to look over his shoulder at me and lowered his voice. “You okay?”
I nodded. “I think it’s just a little early… or maybe late, since I’ve been up all night, for dead bodies.” I shrugged. “I’m usually better with death and gore when I’m well rested.”
He grinned. “It’s okay—it took me a while to get used to, also.” He grimaced. “Not that I’m comfortable with it exactly but…”
“Have ya got a squeamish stomach in you?” Gabriel chuckled. “The morgue’s no place for that.”
I gulped. He was right. And shell, I was street smart. I should be able to handle it. I leaned over and peeked around Peter.
Gabriel held the sheet back with one hand and pointed with his other at a black spot on the woman’s ribs. “See here?” He made a circle with his index finger around the splotchy black and purple marks, the edges spreading like veins. “Looks like a bite—I’m guessing a spider bite. It caused our lady to have a heart attack.”
Peter and I exchanged looks.
I lifted a brow. “Two women show up dead the same night, both involved in the fashion industry, killed by spider venom?”
Peter let out a humorless chuckle. “And one of them has a giant spider familiar?”
I shrugged. “Either Bel Hahn just had really bad luck and was bit by a lethal spider, or she was murdered—likely by the same person who killed Li Fan.”
Gabriel lifted his thick, dark brows. “What’s this now?”
Peter’s hands moved as he spoke. “We had another death last night. Contact forensics—they should have samples of the
