Jamie Brodie 02 - Hoarded to Death

other, on the balcony outside the door.
    "What is it?" Pete was panting.
    "There's a body!" Jennifer was actually slightly calmer than Raven, who seemed to be hyperventilating.
    Pete stepped into the apartment and I stuck my head around the doorframe. Even from the door, I could smell it.
    I'd spent enough time in emergency rooms after asthma attacks to recognize that smell.
    Blood.
    A lot of it.
    I backed up. Pete took another step in and looked, then backed out, closed the door, pulled his phone out, and dialed 911.
    When they answered, Pete said, "I'm with a friend and we've just found a body inside her apartment."
    He gave the rest of the information; while he was still talking we heard the sirens. Two patrol cars from Pacific Division arrived. They got things in hand quickly. One of the cops started talking to Pete, one to Jennifer, and one to Raven. The fourth cop went in the apartment, did a quick check, came back out and called the detectives and the crime scene unit.
    The detectives arrived in less than twenty minutes. Jonathan Eckhoff was tall and sandy haired, around my age, wearing jeans, desert boots and a leather jacket. Cesar Belardo was older, probably in his late forties, with the beginnings of a paunch. He was shorter and dark-haired, wearing rumpled slacks and a sport coat. They disappeared into the apartment for a while, then came back out. Eckhoff came to where Val, Pete, and I were sitting on the end of the Jeep again. He took our names; when I said mine, he looked at me closely, then said, "Are you related to Kevin Brodie at West LA?"
    "Yep. He's my brother. Jennifer Graham, whose apartment this is, is Kevin's ex-wife."
    Eckhoff's eyes widened. "No kidding."
    "No kidding."
    "Huh." Eckhoff looked back at Jennifer, who was talking to Belardo, then back at me. "Okay. What's going on here?"
    I gave him the whole story; Pete told him about looking into the apartment, seeing the dead guy, and closing the door to preserve the scene. Eckhoff nodded. "Did you recognize the guy?"
    "I thought it looked like Wally, the guy who's missing from the junk crew. He had a key to the apartment because he was supposed to meet the cameraman here earlier this morning."
    "Okay." Eckhoff put his notepad away. "So, this Graham girl is your ex-sister -in-law."
    "Yeah."
    "And she's one of these hoarders?"
    "Yeah. You saw inside the apartment. It was twice that bad yesterday."
    Eckhoff looked mystified. "I've never understood the hoarding thing. Why do they do it?"
    Pete answered. "It's a mental illness. Related to obsessive compulsive disorder. It takes a lot of therapy to get them to change."
    I tipped my head at Pete, and said to Eckhoff, "Psychologist."
    "Ah." Eckhoff grinned. "But you're not the shrink for the show."
    Pete laughed. "Oh, God, no. I couldn't work with these people all the time."
    "What kind of people do you work with?"
    "College students. I'm on faculty at Santa Monica College. I'm just here to help with the cleanup." Pete was watching Eckhoff; I could tell he'd come to a decision. "I was Kevin Brodie's partner when we were officers in West LA. When he made detective, I went to grad school."
    "Aha." Eckhoff looked impressed. "I wondered; most people would have gone farther into the apartment than you did. I thought maybe you were just a big CSI fan."
    Pete laughed. "Can't stand that show, to tell you the truth."
    "Me either." Eckhoff laughed too. "So you were sure he was dead when you looked at him."
    "He had a big hole in his chest. I was sure."
    "Okay." We all watched as the crime scene and coroner’s vans pulled into the parking lot and the attendants started unloading their equipment. Eckhoff turned back to us. "Let me check with my partner, but I think you all can go. We'll probably come talk to you later today, but we can do it at your place."
    "That sounds good." It was 10:00 , and I was getting tired of sitting around. "We're not going anywhere today."
    "Cool." Eckhoff gave us one of his cards. "So we'll see you this afternoon, then."
    The three of us went home, stopping on the way to get a few groceries. We ate lunch and were settled in the living room, watching an NFL game, when Eckhoff and Belardo came to the door.
    Belardo hadn’t spoken to us at Jennifer’s apartment. When we introduced ourselves, he gave Pete and me a look of barely disguised disgust. Pete gazed at him impassively; I narrowed my eyes a little to let him know that I’d noticed. It was guys like Belardo that helped speed