lungs and an enlarged liver, it looks like heart failure was an ongoing condition for quite some time. She probably had numerous minor heart attacks and didn’t realize what they were.”
I frowned. “But she was so young. How could she have heart problems?”
“ The usual culprits: high blood pressure and cholesterol off the charts. Heredity was likely a factor.”
I mulled it over. So Lindy had a damaged heart and died of it, but a heart attack can be induced. I couldn’t dismiss what she told me, the man who touched her on her forehead, the jolt to her body. She lingered, I saw her, and that only happened with the violently slain. She was murdered.
He had to be a demon - the one who attacked me in Lindy’s apartment? No, not the same guy; her attacker had yellow hair. Caesar? Recalling how he looked me over in the car, I shuddered.
“ Tiff?”
I blinked. “What did you find out about Lawrence?”
Mike’s voice went gruff, which meant he was embarrassed. “I got a lot on my plate, Tiff. I passed it onto Royal Mortensen. You can talk to him when we get back.”
“ A little boy is missing and you passed it on ?” I growled. “And who is Royal Mortensen?”
“ The new guy. Transferred in from San Antonio.”
“ San Antonio to Utah ? Whose bad side did he get on?”
Mike glared at me. “It was voluntary. Roy’s record is impeccable.”
“ When did he make detective?”
“ Six years ago. He served two years in New York City, one in Seattle, three in San Antonio. Two commendations. He’s a good guy, Tiff.”
I made a derogatory noise in my throat. Why would a career cop want to leave the hustle and bustle of a big city for little old Clarion, where nothing much happened? Well, not ordinarily. “Sounds like he didn’t stay too long in one place. I give him six months.”
I pulled the folded drawing from my pocket and handed it to him
“ What’s this?” he asked as he unfolded it. Next minute: “Where did you get it?”
“ Under the fridge. Oh, and your guys didn’t notice the refrigerator magnets either.”
He stared at it a good long time.
He finally looked up. “Refrigerator magnets?”
“ The type where each is a different word and you put together poetry or sayings. These particular ones were stuff like Mommy, cuddles, baby, hugs, etcetera.”
His mouth became a thin line. “Tiff, we had no reason to think a child lived there, and nothing obvious to clue us in on it.”
“ But you didn’t go back and check after I told you about Lawrence,” I pointed out relentlessly.
Mike sighed and fished in a pocket for a plastic bag, carefully inserted the drawing, and sealed it.
“ You better not give me a hard time over contaminating evidence, either .”
But he didn’t. For the rest of the brief flight he looked through the window, brow knotted, and ignored me.
Chapter S ix
The copter took us over the Wasatch Range. To the north of us, the Northfork Road from Clarion wound down Fork Canyon to the Salt Lake Valley. We cleared Mount Lomond and dropped to a lower altitude, and followed Interstate 15 to Salt Lake City. The smaller cities along the path of I-15 are so close together, they could be one vast metropolis, but when you near Salt Lake you know it; pollution is a dirty orange-brown smudge over the city.
The copter set down on the mall’s parking lot, which was cordoned off. A gaggle of reporters hung over the ropes. I turned up my collar and ducked my head as I hopped to the tarmac. Bulbs popped in an explosion of light, but we were around the copter and headed inside the mall, and I didn’t think they got a good picture of any of us.
The mall was empty and eerily silent, the only sound the creak of police-issue leather shoes and holsters. Dazzled by the reporter’s flashbulbs, the place seemed darker than it should as my eyes tried to adjust. We walked down a long corridor to get to the food court. Every store was lit up, but empty, sending out glittering
I frowned. “But she was so young. How could she have heart problems?”
“ The usual culprits: high blood pressure and cholesterol off the charts. Heredity was likely a factor.”
I mulled it over. So Lindy had a damaged heart and died of it, but a heart attack can be induced. I couldn’t dismiss what she told me, the man who touched her on her forehead, the jolt to her body. She lingered, I saw her, and that only happened with the violently slain. She was murdered.
He had to be a demon - the one who attacked me in Lindy’s apartment? No, not the same guy; her attacker had yellow hair. Caesar? Recalling how he looked me over in the car, I shuddered.
“ Tiff?”
I blinked. “What did you find out about Lawrence?”
Mike’s voice went gruff, which meant he was embarrassed. “I got a lot on my plate, Tiff. I passed it onto Royal Mortensen. You can talk to him when we get back.”
“ A little boy is missing and you passed it on ?” I growled. “And who is Royal Mortensen?”
“ The new guy. Transferred in from San Antonio.”
“ San Antonio to Utah ? Whose bad side did he get on?”
Mike glared at me. “It was voluntary. Roy’s record is impeccable.”
“ When did he make detective?”
“ Six years ago. He served two years in New York City, one in Seattle, three in San Antonio. Two commendations. He’s a good guy, Tiff.”
I made a derogatory noise in my throat. Why would a career cop want to leave the hustle and bustle of a big city for little old Clarion, where nothing much happened? Well, not ordinarily. “Sounds like he didn’t stay too long in one place. I give him six months.”
I pulled the folded drawing from my pocket and handed it to him
“ What’s this?” he asked as he unfolded it. Next minute: “Where did you get it?”
“ Under the fridge. Oh, and your guys didn’t notice the refrigerator magnets either.”
He stared at it a good long time.
He finally looked up. “Refrigerator magnets?”
“ The type where each is a different word and you put together poetry or sayings. These particular ones were stuff like Mommy, cuddles, baby, hugs, etcetera.”
His mouth became a thin line. “Tiff, we had no reason to think a child lived there, and nothing obvious to clue us in on it.”
“ But you didn’t go back and check after I told you about Lawrence,” I pointed out relentlessly.
Mike sighed and fished in a pocket for a plastic bag, carefully inserted the drawing, and sealed it.
“ You better not give me a hard time over contaminating evidence, either .”
But he didn’t. For the rest of the brief flight he looked through the window, brow knotted, and ignored me.
Chapter S ix
The copter took us over the Wasatch Range. To the north of us, the Northfork Road from Clarion wound down Fork Canyon to the Salt Lake Valley. We cleared Mount Lomond and dropped to a lower altitude, and followed Interstate 15 to Salt Lake City. The smaller cities along the path of I-15 are so close together, they could be one vast metropolis, but when you near Salt Lake you know it; pollution is a dirty orange-brown smudge over the city.
The copter set down on the mall’s parking lot, which was cordoned off. A gaggle of reporters hung over the ropes. I turned up my collar and ducked my head as I hopped to the tarmac. Bulbs popped in an explosion of light, but we were around the copter and headed inside the mall, and I didn’t think they got a good picture of any of us.
The mall was empty and eerily silent, the only sound the creak of police-issue leather shoes and holsters. Dazzled by the reporter’s flashbulbs, the place seemed darker than it should as my eyes tried to adjust. We walked down a long corridor to get to the food court. Every store was lit up, but empty, sending out glittering
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