And coupling the lie with my new anxiety over having left the inn’s grounds for the first time in a month… I had to take deep, even breaths to calm down. A part of me wanted to turn and glance over my shoulder, as if Kyle would materialize out of nowhere and attack.
“Gossip Chronicles,” Gamma said, in answer to the medical examiner’s question. “You can look it up if you’d like.”
“No, that’s OK. I’m ready to talk.”
“Great! Charlotte, if you please?”
I brought my phone out of my pocket and opened it to the recording app. “Mind if we record the conversation, Mr. Briggs?”
“Sure, yeah. That’s fine.”
“Fantastic, thank you. We appreciate you talking to us.” I hit the button to record and let Gamma take the lead in the interrogation. Because that was what it was, though Dr. Briggs didn’t know it. My job would be to watch him carefully and take note of his changes in behavior as the questions were asked.
“As I understand it, Dr. Briggs, there was a theft from the coroner’s office not so long ago.”
“On Tuesday evening,” Dr. Briggs said. “Mr. Jordan Ames’ body went missing from the morgue.”
“At around about what time would you say that happened?” Gamma asked.
“I’m not sure,” the doctor replied, and he stopped rocking from side-to-side in his chair. A look of intense concentration came over him. “Not entirely sure, at least. It had to have been in the evening after we’d all left.”
“What time is that?”
“At around 6pm for me. I’m the last one here and the one to lock up.”
“I see. And you don’t have cameras watching the building at all?” Gamma asked.
“No. We’ve never needed them before now.” Dr. Briggs resumed rocking from side-to-side. “It’s such a crazy thing to happen, you know. The police are investigating it, thoroughly, though, so there’s no need to worry. They’ll figure out who did this and who killed the victim.”
“Did you have a chance to examine the body before it was stolen?” Gamma offered him a smile. She was charming as could be, and her British accent helped her too. Likely, Dr. Briggs felt it was a meeting with the Queen. “You understand, people are quite interested in what happened to Mr. Ames.”
“Right, yeah,” Dr. Briggs said, and again stopped rocking. He resumed only a moment later, though. “Look, I’m not at liberty to disclose details about an ongoing investigation.”
“Of course. Of course.” Gamma kept that smile in place. “Did you see anything on the day it happened? You know, before you left the office, I mean? Anything suspicious at all?”
“No, not really. Although…” Dr. Briggs grew still.
“Yes?”
“I did notice a black SUV circling the building when I was on my lunch break. I didn’t think it was strange at the time, but in hindsight—well, you know. It’s 20/20.”
“Yes, I see what you mean.” Gamma feigned a pause in the conversation. “Would you say the coroner’s office is quite safe? Do you have an alarm or anything of the sort?”
“No alarm, but we’ve got locks on our doors and windows, like usual. Funny thing is, there was no sign of a break-in, really. No sign at all. Which was strange since I distinctly remember locking up after myself.” Dr. Briggs leaned in, catching my grandmother’s gaze on. “It’s almost like… now, this is silly, ha. But it’s almost like he came back to life and walked off. If not for the fact that he’d been locked in the freezer, I would’ve said we had a zombie apocalypse on our hands.”
What is with people and zombies?
“Thank you for your time, Dr. Briggs. Our readers will appreciate this information.”
We left the stuffy office behind and passed a very intrigued receptionist—she craned her neck to watch us all the way into the parking lot.
“What do you think?” Gamma asked.
“That he’s… suspicious. But I can’t put my finger on why?”
“Agreed.” Gamma sighed. “We’ll have to tell your boyfriend and grandfather about this black SUV, you know. Just to be safe.”
Boy, I wasn’t looking forward to that conversation with Brian. He’d be furious I’d taken matters into my own hands again. But we’d do what we had to do. Anything to solve the case and bring safety back to the Gossip Inn.
11
The meeting with Brian was set to take place in my bedroom—not the library, as it was still sealed off—that evening. I paced back and forth in front of my dressing table, Cocoa Puff watching me from my pillow. Occasionally, he would meow his concern, and I’d stop pacing to stroke his furry head. It wasn’t right to stress him out like this.
My grandmother had been in contact with the mystery man she’d sent the tiny pea-sized pill to and… nothing yet. No results to report back.
I had a feeling that whatever that pill had contained would turn the investigation on its head but brainstorming what the fluid might’ve been wouldn’t get us anywhere.
A knock rat-tatted at the door.
“Come in.”
Brian entered, looking painfully handsome in his plaid shirt and blue jeans today, and locked the door behind himself. “You called?” he asked, sardonically.
“Sorry I’ve been so quiet lately,” I said. “I’ve been busy.”
Brian’s features softened. “Busy.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m not sure I want to know what you’ve been busy with.”
“You know me,” I said, and left it open-ended. He did know me, and he hadn’t been particularly happy with my interference in cases in the past. He was about to be even unhappier.
“What did you want to talk about?” He came over and gave me a cursory peck on the cheek and a hug. “Is it serious?”
“Yeah.” I sat down on the edge of my bed and gestured for him to sit on my dressing table chair. Cocoa got up and came over, then dropped himself into his comfy sleeping position next to my thigh.
“All right.”
“I think we need to discuss it on a call with Grandpa,” I said. “Especially since he’s had to go on a little mini-break lately.” Meaning Grant and the NSIB task team
