Lori Avocato - Dead On Arrival

“Anything?” I whispered.

He seemed engrossed in a paper that he’d taken off the top of the pile. It appeared as if it had been thrown into the chair without being tucked inside one of the many folders.

“TLC carried dead bodies,” Jagger said.

I raised my eyebrows. Probably looking like a curious kid, I said, “They can’t. They can’t carry dead bodies.”

Jagger looked at me. Was that an “are you stupid” kinda look? I studied him a few seconds to make up my mind, but he saved me the time when he said, “You’re absolutely right, Sherlock, but look at this.” He held out the paper toward me.

Thankful it wasn’t an insulting look, I shined my flashlight onto the paper. “Oh, my goodness. They carried dead bodies.”

“Many times.”

I looked at Jagger. “Why would an undertaker call an ambulance instead of transporting the dead body themselves?”

Jagger gave me a kinda “psychiatrist” look. That was a look that said, “What do you think?” much like a shrink would do to get the patient to talk on and on until they cured themselves.

I paused to think. Why the hell…

“Well,” I said, “if they were too busy. That’s it! They must have had calls simultaneously, and if TLC didn’t get their bodies for them, they’d lose that customer to a competitor. There are only three funeral homes in Hope Valley, so the competition is pretty fierce.” I sat back on my heels and noticed Jagger smile in the dim lighting.

My heart danced in my chest.

“So, TLC made extra money. But what about the EMT and paramedics? They had to be involved-”

Jagger handed me a stack of papers from the folder on top. “Check out the names.”

I flipped through the fraudulent papers, noticing the same four names over and over.

“These are all fake names.”

Jagger pulled up to the drive-in window at Dunkin Donuts and once again ordered for both of us without asking. I couldn’t even complain, because tonight was a Boston Cream kinda night. I needed the chocolate-and he knew it.

Once he handed me my order, he drove us to the back, the spot where we always parked-where no one would pay much attention to us-pulled in and shut off the motor.

He took a sip of his black coffee. “You’re sure none of those names struck a chord with you?”

“Did they with you?” I bit down on my donut. Cream shot out the other end, landing on Jagger’s dashboard. “Whoops. Sorry.” I wiped at it, furious that it was all wasted. I really needed sugar and chocolate.

“Nope.”

“Well, we’ve both worked at TLC the same amount of time and both of us are attuned to noticing things-”

He turned to me.

“Shut up. We both are. You just have more experience than me.” I finished off my donut before I aimed the rest of the cream at him.

Licking my fingers, I watched him take a few sips of his coffee and then set the cup in the holder. “Damn it,” he said. “We have to get to Pansy before she leaves this world.”

My body shivered at the thought. “True,” I said, “but whoever killed Payne and stabbed her might also be trying to get to her.”

“Is trying to get to her. Is trying,” Jagger corrected. He cleared his throat and looked as if he were debating whether to tell me something.

“What?”

“Hmm?”

“Come on, Jagger. Spill. You know more.”

“A few hours ago, one of the cops sitting guard outside of Pansy’s room was hit from behind-”

“Shit!”

“Yeah. He wasn’t knocked out completely and before whoever the culprit was could finish the job, an orderly came off the elevator.”

“Did they see anything? Anyone?” I moved closer and leaned toward him as if that would pull words out of Jagger’s mouth. “Huh?”

“Naw. The attacker disappeared so fast, neither the injured guard nor the orderly could even say if it was a man or woman. All they agreed upon was the color of the scrubs.”

“What color?”

He looked at me and said, “Blue.”

I really didn’t relish dealing with a murderer. This fraud stuff was bad enough, but it seemed the stakes grew higher and higher in each of my cases. Evidently greed led to more than just stealing.

It led to murder.

Yikes.

“I’d think a woman might have to smack a guy’s head a few times to knock him out.” I looked at Jagger-wanting agreement.

He shook his head. “Feminists would smack you for that one, but you might have a point.”

I was considering the word “might” as agreement. “Yeah. Hey, what do you think of Sky?”

Jagger’s eyebrows grew together.

“Oh, stop that. Yeah, he’s a hunk, but I’m talking suspect here. I found him in Payne’s office after the stabbing.”

“What do you think?”

I wanted to curse at him, but this was Investigation 101, Jagger style. “I’d be surprised, since he seems like such a great guy, but that doesn’t discount him. Then again, what would his motive be?”

Jagger merely looked at me.

“Right. We don’t have any. But it might be worth looking into.”

He didn’t nod, smile or concur. That, in Jagger-ese, was affirmation enough for me.

“You get any more of those phone messages?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Maybe the caller stopped so they wouldn’t get caught.”

Jagger just sipped his coffee.

We finished our drinks and donuts and Jagger started the engine. I looked at my watch and wanted to say I was tired and had to get up early to do my ride along tomorrow during orientation, but knew he was correct.

No time like the present to beat the “Angel of Death.”

“We’ll stop by your place to change,” Jagger said as we headed south out of the Dunkin Donuts parking lot.

“Change?” I looked at myself all in black and thought, not only did I look perfect for spying, but hot too. Okay, that was my opinion.

“We can’t go walking around the hospital like this, Sherlock.”

Duh. Damn it, I hated when he got the drop on me like that. I should have figured that out myself, and would have, if it hadn’t been such a long day.

And long it was. Seemed like ages since I had “necked” on the beach with ER Dano. I sighed.

“You all right?”

Oh…yeah. I looked at Jagger as we stopped at my condo. “I’m fine. Just fine.” How I wanted to hop into my bed when I got inside though. Suddenly I pictured Airbrush Lady. Well, that was his prerogative.

“Be quiet so we don’t wake Goldie or Miles,” I said to Jagger as I unlocked the door. Wasted words, sure. Jagger was never a ball of energy or a chatty kinda guy anyway.

But what a guy!

Spanky looked up from the couch and smiled sleepily at…Jagger. Good, I thought, you little traitor. Good that you fell asleep down here waiting for me. The little guy always slept in my bed unless I wasn’t there. Served him right.

I turned on the living-room light and walked toward the stairs. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

Jagger was already on the couch with Traitor Spanky fast asleep on his lap!

When I walked into my room, the bed stood out as if it’d grown a hundredfold. It called to me. “Pauline,” I heard it say, “just sit on my edge for a second. It won’t hurt to do that. Only a second. My pillows are so soft.”

Trying to ignore it, I went to my closet, where I shuffled through the many sets of scrubs hanging there. What color would be most inconspicuous? Something rather dull. Rather drab.

Gray.

I certainly wouldn’t stand out in gray. It’d match my eyes and make me look pale and tired-as if I were working the night shift. Perfect. And I sure didn’t want to wear blue, like the person who’d attacked the guard.

I dressed quickly and sat on the edge of the enticing bed to put on my socks and clogs. Typical nursing shoes nowadays. Had to have comfortable feet in a job where one stood so much. I leaned back to pull my sock up…