Page 91 of The Woman Who Couldn't Scream
Kateri switched her attention to Lilith and Merida. “You’ll walk back together.”
“I’ll call a cab. We’ll share.” Lilith got out her phone and proceeded to do exactly that.
Rosa Sage got out her car keys. “We’ll stay with Mrs. Golobovitch and help her clean up, then we’ll take her home.”
Bette Abrahamson and Gladys McKissick nodded agreement.
“For the moment, I will keep the darling Lacey and she will protect me.” Mrs. Golobovitch rubbed Lacey’s adoring face. “Won’t you?”
“So Lacey is an alpha bitch?” Lilith asked.
Takes one to know one.“She is,” Kateri said.
Lilith gave her approval. “She will be your best protection, Mrs. Golobovitch.”
“What about you, dear Kateri?” Mrs. Golobovitch asked. “I worry about your safety. Will Stag Denali be with you tonight?”
“Who’s Stag Denali?” Lilith asked.
“Her boyfriend,” Mrs. Golobovitch told her.
“Really.” Lilith’s eyes narrowed. “Is he Indian?”
“Native American,” Kateri snapped. “Yes, he’s one of the People. But he’s not my boyfriend. We’re not committed.”
Everyone stared at Kateri, then looked at each other.
Mrs. Golobovitch began, “Dear Kateri, Stag is—”
Kateri spoke over her. “Moen’s coming for me to take me to the murder scene. I’ll be safe since I imagine I’ll spend most of the night at the police department. Someone needs to take the sandwiches to the women’s shelter.” She picked up the rotary cutter. “Mrs. Golobovitch, can I take this with me?”
Mrs. Golobovitch nodded. “Of course, dear. Just be careful. That is new, and very sharp.”
Kateri tested it on her fingertip and gasped when she drew blood. “Yes… isn’tthatinteresting.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Mike Sun had thoughtfully placed the body in a bag and zipped it up—which is why Kateri was able to stand beside it without vomiting. “Do we have an ID yet?”
Looking pale and sweaty, Bergen, Norm Knowles and Bill Chippen stood huddled together over the body.
Bergen said, “Nothing positive. Phoebe Glass at the Good Knight Manor Bed and Breakfast reported her maid as missing. She told us the woman, Susie, lived away from town with her philandering husband and four children. Mrs. Glass was worried not only for the maid, but for the children. She was so insistent… and we didn’t have anything to do except ticket jaywalkers… and Weston said why not come out looking?”
Kateri glanced over; Sean Weston sat on a fallen log, hands in his pockets, watching the scene.
Bergen wiped at his brow with his sleeve. “She wasn’t at the address Mrs. Glass gave us. The lady who lived there denied knowing this Susie. But the buzzards were circling on the hill, so we hiked up here. And found her in the trees.”
“Why don’t we have an ID?” Kateri asked.
Mike Sun sat on the ground filling out a form on a clipboard. “She has a bullet hole in her forehead, no face and her fingertips were removed.”
Moen paced back and forth on the path they’d taken. Kateri thought he couldn’t hear what was going on, but he paused and looked their way in horror.
Kid had good ears.
“Mrs. Glass believed this Susie was originally from Virtue Falls,” Bergen said.
“But Mrs. Glass isn’t local so how would she know?” Officer Chippen asked.
