Revenge Read Free Page B

Dressed in a color-blocked sheath of dove gray and burgundy with open-toed stilettos in a deeper shade of gray, Sylvia rounded the desk and crouched next to the victim.
    Maybe the idea that they were sort of friends was a bit premature. Before Jess could levy a witty comeback, Sylvia asked, ‘You get settled in your temporary apartment?’
    ‘I did. Thank you for asking.’ The belted ivory dress, her favorite, Jess had opted to wear for this middle - of - the-night outing suddenly felt like a flour sack compared to the sleek-fitting one Sylvia wore. Then again, it might not be the dress. The woman was gorgeous, tall and statuesque. Things Jess would never be.
    ‘Carrie Bradley mentioned she saw you and Dan out shopping on Saturday.’
    ‘Carrie Bradley?’ Jess didn’t know the name. On Saturday, Dan, Chief of Police Burnett – her boss, she amended – had taken her to a few local thrift stores in search of stuff for her apartment. She’d found a surprisingly nice sofa and chair, along with a coffee table, a chest of drawers, and a bedside table. For now, she was set.
    ‘Carrie’s redecorating her master bedroom,’ Sylvia explained. ‘She donated everything in the room to the Second Life thrift store. She saw you there.’
    ‘Oh.’ Great. There was nothing like having Burnett’s uppity friends know that she shopped at the same place they donated. ‘That’s nice,’ Jess said with about as much enthusiasm as the guy on the floor had for his current predicament. ‘I’ll have to remember that next time I redecorate.’ She could redonate the stuff. Ha - ha.
    Sylvia made a noncommittal sound. ‘I guess you found everything you needed.’
    ‘For now, yes.’ No point going overboard with the decorating since she didn’t know how long she’d be living in the garage apartment. Not that she was in any hurry to start house hunting. Her house in Virginia was still on the market and she needed the cash from that sale before going more deeply in debt. Besides, the elderly man who was currently her benevolent benefactor seemed nice enough. Good, trustworthy landlords were hard to find. This one went to church every Sunday. Her sister told her so.
    That reminded Jess, she should check in with Lily to see how she was feeling. Waiting on the results of all those tests to determine what was going on with the crazy symptoms plaguing her was driving them both crazy. Not to mention Jess was also supposed to drop by their estranged aunt’s house to pick up that medical history she’d compiled. The weekend had slipped by and Jess had completely forgotten.
    Or maybe she’d forgotten on purpose. Seeing her aunt again ranked about as high on her looking-forward - to list as getting a mammogram. Why she even referred to the woman as her aunt was a mystery. Lily was the only family Jess had. End of story.
    ‘I was the new kid on the block at the coroner’s office when his sister died,’ Sylvia said, her attention on the victim as she measured the body’s core temperature.
    Another of those deep frowns puckered Jess’s forehead as she elbowed aside the distracting thoughts of her sister and Dan’s snobby friends. She rubbed at the creases with the back of her hand. ‘Whose sister?’
    ‘Your new landlord’s. He took care of his sister until she died. She was a total invalid. MS, if I recall correctly.’
    Burnett had told Jess that Louis hadn’t been married. Lily had gotten the part about him being a widower wrong. Based on what Sylvia had just told her, Lily probably thought the sister had been his wife. Not that it mattered to Jess but Burnett had insisted on doing a background check. He didn’t like the idea of Jess living over a stranger’s garage. Which was ridiculous. Most any landlord in the city would be a stranger to her.
    Wait a minute. The frown was back. If Mr Louis had never been married, who owned the ring she’d found in his garage? Had his sister been married? Probably. Maybe he even had nieces and