Corpse Suzette

house. I’ll bet you it had something to
do with this program. She probably nailed him with other women, using that
program.”
    “And get this,” Tammy
added. “It was uninstalled. That’s why I couldn’t find it before. It was
uninstalled and all files relating to it deleted. With this new program of
yours I was able to dig it out. This thing rules!”
    “I’m so glad it’s helping,”
John said. “And you’ll find as you work with it, you’ll be able to uncover even
more. It’s the equivalent of going through someone’s personal garbage.”
    “Without getting potato
peels, tomato sauce, and kitty litter all over you,” Savannah said, recalling
some of her less favorite searches.
    “Hey,” Tammy said, leaning
forward and studying the screen. “I just noticed something else. Something that
could be important.”
    “What’s that?” Savannah
asked.
    “As I said, the snooper’s
program was uninstalled and all the pertaining files deleted. I can see right
here when that was done.”
    “When?”
    Tammy looked up at
Savannah. She lifted one eyebrow. “It was done three days ago.”
    Savannah caught her breath
for a moment, then nodded. “Yeap, three days ago was the day our old buddy
Sergio kicked the bucket.”

Chapter

17
     
     
     
    W hen Savannah hurried into
the kitchen to tell Dirk about the snooper software on Sergio’s computer, she
found him exactly where and how she’d left him, his arms folded on the table,
his head on them. He looked like an over-sized kindergartner taking a “rest
break.”
    And while Dirk might be a
bit lazy from time to time when it came to domestic chores like cleaning or
microwaving a TV dinner, he never slacked on the job. He lived for his work,
and he tended to be a pit bull when it came to never letting go until the job
was done.
    He had to be sick.
    She walked over to him and
put her hand on his shoulder. Giving him a gentle shake, she said, “Hey, buddy.
You asleep?”
    His only response was a
muffled groan.
    “Dirk?” She ran her fingers
though his hair. “Sugar, you okay?”
    He raised his head slightly
and looked up at her with glassy eyes. “I don’t think so,” he muttered. “To be
honest, I feel like shit.”
    “To be honest, you look a
bit like dog poo, too. Here, let me feel your head.”
    She laid her hand across
his forehead and was not surprised at how hot he was. “You’ve got a fever, big
boy,” she told him. “You’re sick.”
    “I don’t get sick when I’m
on a case, and especially not a homicide.”
    “Oh, yeah? Well, you’d
better revise that motto of yours, ’cause you’re burnin’ up with fever there.”
    “I’m just tired and run
down. I’ll be all right.”
    “Yes, I’m sure you will be,
once Dr. Savannah has taken care of you. I’m going to get you some aspirin to
bring that fever down and put you in bed.”
    Dirk squinted at his watch.
“It’s six o’clock. I ain’t going to bed at six. I was going to go back over to
Du Bois’s place and—”
    “I was going myself
anyway,” Savannah said. “I’ll go for both of us, and you’re staying home. I
reckon you caught your death o’ cold, standing out in that rain today. You’re
not going out in it again.”
    “Yes, I am.”
    “Over my dead body, boy.”
    He started to rise from his
chair, but she put one hand on his shoulder and shoved him back down. She was
surprised at how easily he complied.
    Dirk was many things.
Compliant wasn’t one of them.
    “What’s going on in here?”
Ryan asked as he and John walked into the room just in time to see the
mini-skirmish.
    “Dirk’s sick,” she said.
“He’s been running himself ragged, and he’s plumb worn out. He’s got a fever.
I’m going to give him some aspirin and put him to bed.”
    “So she says,” Dirk
mumbled.
    John leaned over Dirk,
studying him closely. “Any other symptoms?” he asked Savannah.
    “Other than general
cussedness and standard orneriness... just fatigue and fever.”
    “I’ve known several people
who’ve come down with something like this lately,” Ryan said. “It’ll knock you
off your feet for weeks if you don’t nip it in the bud early.”
    He looked at John, and they
both nodded.
    “Fix him up, John, like you
did me,” he said.
    Dirk scowled. “What? What
are you talking about? Fix me up how?”
    John left the table and
walked over to the kitchen counter where Savannah kept a perpetually full bowl
of fresh fruit. He picked out a large