A Specter of Justice by Mark de Castrique Page A

attention.”
    Efird continued to stare at his note pad, yet to write a single word. For all his experience, the death had really shaken him.
    â€œWhen Molly…” he paused a second and started again. “When the victim came over the bridge wall, did you see a flash of someone else? A hand? A sleeve?”
    â€œNo. I’m sorry. It happened so fast. And then camera flashes bounced off the mist like blinding lightning.”
    â€œNewly sent the tour bus to the station,” Efird said. “Maybe we’ll get lucky with the photos. That was quick thinking confiscating the phones and cameras. Thank you.”
    â€œI didn’t know Molly very well,” I said. “Do you have any idea why someone would kill her?”
    Efird shook his head. “No. Probably some psycho who saw an opportunity to create a spectacle. Or some religious nut who considers the spiritualists to be devil worshipers. We’ve got plenty of backwoods preachers who see Satan at work behind every bush.”
    A sharp rap sounded on the driver’s window. I turned to face Nakayla through beads of raindrops.
    â€œNewly’s ready to lower the body,” she said. “He wants to know if Detective Efird’s finished.”
    Efird closed his note pad and opened his door. “You can observe.” He hurried away without waiting.
    I pulled an umbrella from the backseat and shared its shelter with Nakayla.
    â€œLearn anything?” she asked as we walked to the bridge.
    â€œNot really. Just that Efird’s upset. I’ve been with him at other crime scenes, but he’s never been this distraught.”
    â€œYou don’t know about him and Molly?”
    I stopped, forcing Nakayla to halt under the umbrella beside me. “No. What?”
    â€œThey were a couple. She and Efird dated for several years.”
    â€œJeez, no wonder Newly sent him up the hill away from the body. Had they broken up?”
    â€œAbout four months ago. Right before we started planning the ghost tour. Molly said it wasn’t pleasant.”
    â€œShe broke up with him?”
    â€œYes. She got into this spiritualist stuff and went to some psychic who claimed she was in a doomed relationship. You know Efird’s been divorced twice.”
    I didn’t, but I wasn’t surprised. Law enforcement takes a tough toll on marriages. “What did Molly mean by wasn’t pleasant?”
    â€œI guess he took it hard. She didn’t say he was violent or anything like that. Shirley or Lenore know more. They were all good friends.”
    â€œThat’s going to be touchy.”
    â€œYes. Former boyfriends make prime suspects. Efird needs an alibi.” Nakayla grabbed my hand holding the umbrella. “Come on, let’s go. They’ve got another ambulance in position.”
    We stopped by the rear bumper and watched the EMTs wheel out a gurney. They maneuvered it directly under the dangling corpse so that the body could be lowered faceup.
    â€œYou ready?” Newly asked.
    One of the techs nodded. The rope had been anchored by a grappling hook lodged in a crevice in the stone wall. Someone had chiseled it in advance so that the hook could be securely wedged.
    â€œOkay, Al, Ted,” Newly shouted. “Extract the hook and let the rope down slowly.”
    Newly and the two techs gently guided Molly onto the gurney with as much dignity as they could. Efird stood apart, almost at attention. One of the techs retrieved a folded sheet from the ambulance while his partner and Newly secured safety straps across Molly’s torso.
    As the tech with the sheet started toward the body, Nakayla stepped from under the umbrella.
    â€œWait a minute.”
    I followed behind her.
    â€œWhat?” Newly asked.
    â€œHer gown. It’s not the costume she was supposed to wear.”
    â€œIt looks old-fashioned to me,” Newly said.
    â€œIt is. But I borrowed one from the North Carolina Stage Company