Buried In Buttercream

or who it’s from. Could be anybody, with all the people that pass through a place like this.”
    “Any good prints?”
    “A few. But how much you wanna bet most of them are yours?”
    “True. Did Dr. Liu transport the body yet?”
    “She just left with it. Said she’d get right on the autopsy.”
    “Good.”
    He nodded down the hallway. “How’re the troops?”
    “Hungry. I told them to eat cake.”
    “Suppose we’ll get some this time?”
    “About as much as we got before.”
    “That’s what I was afraid of.” He glanced at his watch. “I called Ryan a minute ago, asked him and John to come by here.”
    “Do they know yet?”
    “They heard it was a dead body, not who it was.”
    “Damn. She’s ... er ... she was ... a friend of theirs.”
    “I know.”
    Savannah heard footsteps behind her, and when she turned, she saw Ryan and John striding down the hallway toward them, worried looks on their faces.
    “I’d rather have a root canal than do this,” Dirk said.
    “I’ll do it,” she told him. “It would be better coming from me.”
    “What’s that?” Ryan asked as they approached. “What’s better coming from you?”
    “What’s wrong, love?” John said, taking her arm and looking into her eyes with sweet concern.
    She’d rather do anything than hurt these dear people. But ...
    “I’m sorry,” she said. “You may have heard that we had a ... fatality ... here in the hotel. Right here in the bridal suite, as a matter of fact.”
    “We heard that somebody collapsed in a pool or something like that,” Ryan replied.
    “It’s a little worse than that,” Savannah told them. “And I hate to have to tell you ... it was Madeline.”
    Both men gasped. “No!” Ryan said.
    “Are you certain?” John asked when he’d regained some of his composure.
    “Absolutely sure.” Savannah replied. “I discovered her myself. I tried to revive her, but she was gone. I’m really sorry.”
    “That’s terrible.” Ryan wiped a hand over his face. “What happened? Did she fall? Hit her head?”
    “She couldn’t have just drowned,” John added. “She was a very good swimmer.”
    When Savannah hesitated, Dirk supplied the answer. “She had wounds on her back,” he said gently. “We think it’s a homicide.”
    “Wounds? What kind of wounds?” Ryan wanted to know.
    “Dr. Liu isn’t certain, but she thinks they might be puncture wounds.”
    John’s face went dark as he registered the news. “Are you telling us that Madeline was stabbed?”
    “We’re afraid so,” Savannah said. “We’ll know more once the autopsy’s finished. Dr. Liu said she’s getting right on it.”
    Dirk laid a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “Man, I’m so sorry. This is tough, I know.”
    Ryan nodded, looking dazed. “It is. I mean, Madeline had her flaws. She was far from a perfect person in many ways, but we’ve known her a long time. It’s so hard to believe she’s gone. And that way ...” He shuddered.
    “We need to inform the next of kin,” Dirk said. “Who would that be? Her husband?”
    Ryan shot a quick look at John. “Uh ... that might be a bit complicated.”
    “Why?” Savannah wanted to know.
    John cleared his throat. “As it happens, she and her husband are going through a divorce right now. A rather nasty one.”
    “Oh, really?” Savannah could feel her antenna rising out from under the big hairdo that Marietta had given her that morning. “How nasty?”
    “Very,” Ryan said, “especially the custody aspect. They have a daughter who’s ten years old. It’s getting, well, ugly.”
    Savannah glanced at her watch. “Where would her daughter be this time of the afternoon?”
    “To my knowledge, Madeline doesn’t have any family of her own. I think her mother-in-law watches the little girl when Madeline’s working,” Ryan said.
    “That poor child.” John shook his head sadly. “This is going to be dreadful for her. She loves her mother so.”
    Ryan nodded. “Most people didn’t like Madeline. Quite a few even hated her. But say what you will about her ... she seemed to be a devoted mother.”
    In deference to her friends’ grief, Savannah didn’t ask who hated Madeline Aberson or why. Not yet.
    But sooner or later, she’d have to make it her business. Because one of those people on that long list apparently hated her enough to kill her.

    Savannah was expecting something a bit more posh than the simple modular home on its tiny lot in a not-so-great part of town.