Foal Play: A Mystery Read Free Page A

tied to metal spikes flapped in the ocean breeze. Seagulls perched atop the stakes and circled overhead.
    Colleen parked next to Bill. A gull on one of the stakes screeched in protest, then settled on the hood of her vehicle to view the activity. Sparky’s nose twitched out the window, catching a whiff of something potent mixed with the salty sea air. The dog let out several sharp barks of protest as Colleen forced him to remain in the car. She left the windows open and closed the door.
    Bill waved Colleen over to where he and Rodney Warren, Bill’s fresh-faced deputy, stood staring at a pool of ocean water. She trudged through the sand, ducked under the tape, and approached the two men. The wind shifted and then it hit her—the distinctly awful smell of decaying animal tissue. She hoped a stray horse hadn’t been killed. Colleen pulled her shirt up over her nose and mouth to keep from gagging.
    “What died?” she asked, trying to keep her breathing shallow.
    “Not what—who,” Bill said.
    Colleen raised her eyebrows in surprise. Bill stepped aside to reveal the body in the pool. Colleen slowly approached the water’s edge. The water lapped at her boots as she leaned forward and shielded her eyes from the sun to get a better look. The sight of dead bodies, human or otherwise, had never bothered her. In school she had actually looked forward to dissections in biology lab. The inner workings and structures of frogs, pigs, and crawfish had all fascinated her. It was only when the class began dissecting a cat that she refused to participate. She just couldn’t do it out of respect and love for Snowflake, her pet cat at the time.
    Most eyes would have been drawn to the body’s badly decomposed face and frozen grin, but what attracted Colleen’s attention was the skin. Even though it was bloated and peeling, Colleen knew it had been burned. Pieces of what had been clothing were now one with the charred flesh. She inched forward to examine the body more closely, but just as the smell of formaldehyde had gotten to her in biology lab, the stench of decay got to her now. Colleen stepped back before the odor of the rotting flesh warming in the mid-morning sun overwhelmed her.
    “Two kids found it this morning,” Bill said.
    “You think it was burned somewhere on the beach?” she asked, joining him upwind of the body.
    “Not likely. This body was dumped or washed in.”
    “An accelerant, maybe gasoline,” Colleen said. “When I talk to the coroner I’ll have a better idea.”
    Bill folded his arms over his chest, glanced up the beach a moment, then turned back to Colleen.
    “Look, Colleen, I called you out of protocol and professional courtesy. I don’t want you interfering.”
    “When do I interfere?”
    “When don’t you?”
    Rodney retreated and began taking photos of the body, an activity preferable to witnessing the confrontation between the sheriff and fire chief.
    “I’ll stay out of the way,” Colleen said.
    “I wish that were true,” Bill said and gazed out at the ocean.
    Colleen sighed. Okay. So maybe she had conducted some unofficial investigations of Bill’s cases in the past. She had only been trying to help. And if it hadn’t been for her unsolicited input and discoveries she was convinced that many of his cases would have gone unsolved. Bill was good at what he did, but as far as Colleen was concerned he was too “by the book.” Sometimes it was better to go with your gut.
    Colleen had developed a great respect for her instincts when, at the age of eight, she had detected her babysitter’s affair with her best friend’s husband. The affair would probably have remained a secret if all parties involved hadn’t lived in the same apartment building. Colleen’s babysitter lived on the first floor with her two children. Directly above the babysitter lived the babysitter’s lover and his wife, the babysitter’s best friend. And on the floor above the babysitter’s lover and his wife lived