Scattered Graves

able to state a reason when the police asked if they touched the body.
It was warm. Peeks hadn’t been dead long.
He wore a suit, good quality, and as far as she could tell with him sprawled out on the floor, it fit. She gently lifted his coat to see if his gun was there. It was. She saw the holster for his cell phone. It was empty. She wondered if he had it in his hand under his body.
Diane gently replaced the edge of his suit coat in its former position. She stood up and glanced at the corner of a fruitwood hall chest on which there sat a bust of Alexander the Great. Didn’t need Freud to figure that one out. The chest had fingerprint dust on one corner near the bust.
She wanted to go through the house, particularly the kitchen, but the house was a crime scene—again— and she knew better than to contaminate it. But she was tempted. Colin and Garnett stood quietly looking at her. She imagined they could read her mind, and she wasn’t sure they would stop her if she decided to go through the house. But she didn’t. It was a crime scene.
‘‘Did you hear anything at all?’’ said Diane.
‘‘Nothing at all,’’ he said.
Diane heard sirens draw close, then abruptly stop. They were here. She turned to Colin. ‘‘When it’s re leased again, I want to go through the house.’’
He nodded. They waited as the police came through the door. The first person in was Curtis Crabtree. Diane guessed he was playing detective today. Behind him was Janice Warrick. Partly good , thought Diane. Janice was a friend of Garnett’s. Shane Eastling, the medical examiner, walked in behind them, then Lloyd Bryce and Rikki Gillinick.
‘‘What happened?’’ Janice was the first to speak.
‘‘I need all of you to get out of my crime scene,’’ said Bryce.
‘‘Just a minute,’’ said Janice. ‘‘Right now it’s our crime scene. And I want to know what happened.’’
Colin spoke up first. ‘‘We came here to walk through the crime scene, and this is what we found.’’
Diane noticed that Colin didn’t elaborate. Neither she nor Garnett said anything. But they couldn’t go with this story for long. Garnett and Janice made eye contact. She knew there was more. Diane looked at Bryce standing holding his case, doing a slow fume, then at Curtis. He had a smirk on his face as he looked from Garnett to Diane.
‘‘Eastling,’’ Curtis said to the medical examiner, ‘‘look at the body and tell me what you can. Bryce, you have the scene after that.’’ The sound of his voice indicated he was in charge and no one had better argue with him about it.
‘‘I’ll talk to the witnesses outside,’’ Curtis added.
He said it as if he were going to beat them up. This isn’t going to be fun , thought Diane. All in all, she’d rather be having her teeth pulled.
Two policemen were outside. Diane didn’t recognize one. The other was Pendleton. He also gave Diane the evil eye. Janice came out after a moment.
‘‘Gunshot to the back of the head,’’ she said. ‘‘Like Jefferies.’’
Curtis nodded. ‘‘What the hell happened?’’
Garnett began speaking. Colin shot him a look, but Garnett went ahead. He always had such contempt when suspects hid behind lawyers, as he often put it. Diane guessed he was unwilling to do the same—even if there was good reason.
‘‘I got a text message for me to come to the house,’’ he said.
Colin opened his mouth to speak, but Garnett waved him off.
‘‘I thought it was from my lawyer. It was not. I got here and found the body. I called the police immedi ately. Diane and Colin arrived a few minutes later. That is all I know.’’
‘‘Well, it looks like you are in a bit of hot water,’’ said Curtis. ‘‘You were arrested for killing the mayor. And through some miracle or jurist malpractice you get out on bail, and the first thing you do is go kill the chief of police.’’
‘‘I didn’t kill him,’’ said Garnett.
Curtis called over to the two policemen and told them to take Garnett into custody. Colin didn’t try to stop them. Diane assumed he was going to make his case to the judge, deciding that Curtis wasn’t a person to be reasoned with. Diane agreed.
‘‘Don’t say anything until I get there,’’ said Colin.
‘‘He’s already said enough,’’ said Curtis.
Colin ignored him and started for his car.
‘‘Just a damn minute,’’ said Curtis. ‘‘I’m not finished with you. The chief of police has been murdered and I find you on the