I'm Watching You Read Free Page A

volunteer. "Ruby!"
    A heavyset black woman rushed out of the kitchen, a phone in hand. Ruby
Dillon, when she wasn't working at the nursing home as an aid,
volunteered nights at the shelter. About fifty, Ruby was a big woman who wore
her hair short and her pants and shirts oversized. Her dead-on honesty about
her own past mistakes, including time in prison and drug use, had earned the
residents' respect.
    "It's about time you got here. I've been calling you
for an hour," Ruby said, shaking the phone at her.
    "My power went out last night. The house phones didn't work
and my cell phone didn't charge. What's with the police?
What's going on?"
    "They came because of the body."
    Images of her mother lying dead in her backyard flashed in her mind. "Body? Please tell me it wasn't one of
ours."
    Ruby touched Lindsay gently on the arm. "No, no, honey. It
wasn't one of our residents. All our people are off to work or
school."
    Relieved, Lindsay closed her eyes. She had to choke back a sudden rush
of tears. "Who?"
    Ruby shrugged. "I don't know. But the body is male. I found
him when I was taking out the garbage this morning. He was propped up against
the trash cans behind the toolshed, his suit buttoned up and his hair combed as
if he were headed to Sunday church."
    Lindsay moved down the hallway into the kitchen and looked out the
window over the sink. The backyard was filled with a half dozen cops gathered
at the yellow tape. Most were uniformed but in the center stood a plainclothes
detective. His back was to her.
    The cops blocked Lindsay's view of the corpse. "Did you
recognize him?"
    Ruby folded her arms over her chest. "Who? The dead guy? No, ma'am. And I didn't look
in his face either. The devil can steal your soul if you look the dead in the
face."
    Lindsay dropped her purse on a well-worn kitchen table that was covered
with nicks and flecks of paint from a child's weekend craft project.
"I've seen my share of death. Maybe the devil has stolen my
soul."
    "Don't even kid about that."
    "Do the police know who the dead guy is?"
    "If they do, they're not telling me. A detective just
arrived minutes ago. I told him everything I know, but he was pretty
tight-lipped when I asked questions. He's the one who said to stop what I
was doing and track you down." Ruby's sharp gaze traveled over
Lindsay. "Are those the clothes you wore yesterday?"
    Lindsay glanced down at the faded jeans and pink cotton top. She
smoothed a wrinkle from her shirt. "Yes."
    Ruby cocked a dark eyebrow. "Where have you been? Lord, I hope
you've been with a man."
    The idea made Lindsay blush. "Nope."
    "Too bad. You certainly could use a man in your bed.
That no-account husband of yours hasn't paid you any attention this last
year."
    "We're separated, remember?"
    "No man in his right mind would leave you."
    Lindsay was unwilling to get into another discussion about her failed
marriage or her monastic, workaholic life. "I taught a yoga class
yesterday afternoon and then went home to work on this grant. I fell asleep in
my clothes on the couch. The power went out sometime last night and the alarm
didn't go off." If not for her roommate, Nicole, who'd been
awakened by a barking dog, she could have slept a couple more hours.
    Ruby grunted. "Well, if you ain't got a man, I'm glad
you at least got a good night's sleep. You work too hard. You're
burning the candle at both ends, if you ask me."
    This last year, since she'd separated from her husband, she had
stayed particularly busy, even by her own standards. "You'll be
glad to know that I slept like the dead."
    Ruby grimaced and glanced toward the heavens. "Don't be
making fun of the dead. The devil will come and get you."
    Lindsay pushed her hand through her hair. "Sorry. Morbid jokes are
a holdover from having lived with a cop."
    Ruby frowned. "Your husband is a cop?"
    "Yeah." This was another topic she did not
want to explore. "I'm going to talk to the police. I want to get
those squad cars away from my house before