Page 9 of D for Dead

somewhere and once they ID’d him, they would have the miserable task of breaking the news to his folks. It was a part of the job none of them enjoyed.

Raising his shades, he rubbed at his tired eyes. ‘How long before we can get him out of here?’ he asked.

Withers raked a hand through his greying-red hair. ‘Another hour, I guess. We can see you guys back at the morgue when you’re done here.’

Spotting one of his assistants arriving with his camera equipment, he excused himself and hurried over to greet her.

Jake glanced at Boaz, still sitting in the back of the squad car, cramming his face with cookies. ‘Guess we’d better get Officer Douchebag to tell us what he knows.’

‘There’s been a burial here recently,’ Rebecca said from behind him.

Jake turned to look at the grave she was studying. The freshly packed earth had been neatly smoothed, and lately. It didn’t look like the scene of a recent funeral. ‘No flowers,’ he noted, brain already on the same track.

‘And what about the gravestone?’ she said quietly.

Old, greying, weather-beaten with age. They both stepped closer, reading the inscription.

Maria Carpenter Beloved daughter

Taken too soon

RIP

1969 – 1985

A sliver of dread balled in the pit of Jake’s stomach. This grave had been dug over very recently. How long would a person be able to stay alive buried?

He looked grimly at Rebecca. ‘We need shovels.’

3

The book signing had been tediously slow for the first hour, with only one purchase and an elderly couple who had stopped for a chat, and Amy was beginning to think she had made a huge mistake.

One of the clerks had thrown her a couple of sympathetic glances between serving customers in the otherwise busy store, while she had sat at her book table, playing with her pen, trying her best not to look bored or embarrassed, and stealing glances at her wristwatch.

Perhaps she had been arrogant to think the small loyal audience who had been following her Zack Maguire series of murder mysteries would embrace her change of direction. Crime fiction fans wanted crime fiction. If Amy was no longer delivering it, there were plenty of other authors who were.

The series had run its course. She had six books under her belt and, while saying goodbye to her beloved characters had been anguish, she had been itching to turn her hand to something new.

Maybe a departure from genre hadn’t been such a smart move. Sure her new book was still a mystery, but it was supernatural instead of a straightforward smart and sassy police thriller. And of course it didn’t feature her recurring hero, Zack Maguire. Something a couple of her disappointed fans had already complained about.

Her publishers thought she was on to a good thing and had given the new novel their blessing. The Zack Maguire series of books had been moderately successful, but they were never going to make Amy into a household name, hence her decision to try something different.

Juniper’s largest independent bookstore, Too Many Books, had been more than delighted to host the signing. Amy wondered if they were maybe now regretting their decision.

Fortunately the first hour lull did not continue, and she was relieved to see faces, some new, some familiar, by late morning. By the time the signing was drawing to a close, she had sold over sixty copies of her new novel and the nagging doubts that she had made a terrible mistake had long vanished. She had thanked the store owner and was packing up her table when she heard a familiar voice behind her.

‘I can’t believe you went through with it.’

Oh crap.

Amy’s heart sank as she turned to face Nadine Williams. She forced a smile onto her face.

‘Hi Nadine, I was wondering if you would show.’

The woman hadn’t changed much since Amy had last seen her, which had to have been about a year ago, at the signing for the final Zack Maguire book. Her harshly bleached hair was still backcombed high off her forehead and her pointed face carefully, but heavily, made-up.

Right now she was staring at Amy, her eyes sharp and her scarlet lips drawn in a thin line.