Death's Door. Meryl Sawyer

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СКАЧАТЬ and eyes. His hair was indeed dark brown, almost black, but his eyes were a deep blue that had only appeared brown in the gloomy house.

      She told herself again there was no reason to be afraid. The man merely looked intense, the way anyone would at a murder scene. Yes, his size implied strength and threatened her even though she wasn’t the type to be intimidated. But she could see he was trying to help. And finding a dead body had to be as shocking for him as it was for her.

      The hollow thunk-thunk of blood in her temples made it difficult to think as quickly as she usually did. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a thought managed to register. Most women would say this guy was hot. Not that she cared. Being with Aiden had taught her that a handsome man couldn’t resist the temptation thrown into his path.

      “Whoever killed your friend is long gone,” the stranger told her in a concerned voice, but she felt trapped by his unwavering stare. “Did you call—”

      “They’re on the way.” She returned his cell phone.

      “We’d better go around front where the police can see us.”

      Madison started to move but couldn’t. He stared at her for a moment and Madison wondered if he expected her to again cut loose with a shriek loud enough to be heard in New York. She forced herself to put one foot in front of the other and headed toward the street, bringing the dog with her.

      “If only I’d gotten here sooner,” she muttered more to herself than to him. As sharp as a blade, a lone siren cut through the still air, coming closer and closer.

      “It wouldn’t have mattered. She hasn’t been alive for some time.”

      Madison stopped and Aspen plowed into the back of her legs. “How can you tell?”

      “I’m Paul Tanner with Miami PD.”

      “Oh,” she said simply, remembering the flies hovering around Erin’s body. A pinprick of a thought flashed through her brain the way obscure facts often intruded. A fly could smell a dead body a mile away. They’d been buzzing around Erin’s lifeless body for hours.

      A police car followed by an ambulance, lights flashing, screeched to a stop at the curb. Two uniformed policemen emerged from the squad car just as a gray sedan drove up. They waited until two men in suits got out of the second car.

      “Yo, Tanner,” called one of the men in suits to Paul Tanner.

      The man was who he claimed he was, she thought. How could she have mistaken him for a killer?

      “Her friend’s been strangled.” Paul lightly touched Madison’s arm. “The back door’s open. She came over to—”

      Madison realized everyone was staring at her, expecting an answer. “I came over to get my cell phone.”

      One detective remained with her while Paul led the other detective and the uniformed officers to the back of the house.

      “I went in and found Erin on the floor in the living room. Sh-she had this cord or sash around her neck.”

      “So she was dead when you arrived?”

      “Yes. It looked like she’d been strangled.”

      The detective jotted a few notes in the small notebook he held in his hand. His face registered no emotion. Obviously, dead bodies came as no surprise to him.

      “What is the victim’s full name?”

      “Erin Allison Wycoff.”

      “How’d you get in?”

      Madison ran through the story of the newly changed locks and how she’d found the hidden key. She was coming to her senses a little bit, her mind grasping the gruesome reality of the situation.

      The two policemen came out of the front door, followed by the other detective and the Tanner guy. From their impassive, almost frozen expressions, no one could guess the grisly scene they’d discovered in the house.

      “Medical examiner’s on the way. The tech van will be here to process the scene,” announced one of the men in uniform.

      The men gathered a few feet from Madison. She took a step back and bumped into Aspen. She leaned down and stroked his head. The men conferred for a moment, speaking so softly Madison couldn’t make out what they were saying.

      The detective with the notebook continued asking questions as the men moved closer. “When was the last time you saw the victim?”

      “Erin. Her name was Erin.”

      The men looked at one another. Hysterical female, they silently telegraphed.

      Madison took a deep breath, then told them, “I was with her on Friday night. That’s when I left my cell phone. I called her Saturday and Sunday, but I didn’t get her. I also tried to reach Erin on her cell. It kicked into voice mail.”

      “Did you find that unusual?” asked the detective.

      “No, not really. Erin often turns off her phone. She isn’t—wasn’t—the kind to talk on it all the time.” Madison couldn’t help blaming herself. She should have driven over yesterday instead of house-hunting for a home she could never replace. If she had, Erin might still be alive. Surely the killer wouldn’t have tried to murder two women. She could have saved her friend if she hadn’t been obsessed with replacing a home—and a life—that was gone forever.

      “When I couldn’t make contact this morning, I drove over here,” Madison told them.

      “Do you have any idea where she’s been or who she was with?”

      Madison shook her head.

      “Boyfriend? Parents?”

      Before she could respond, Tanner asked, “Do you know anyone who would want to kill your friend?”

      “No, no. Of course not.” She heard her voice crack and with it came the threat of tears.

      The men were silent for a moment, waiting for her to compose herself. A Miami PD van marked Crime Scene Investigation pulled to the curb. The uniformed officers went over to meet it, and Madison was left with the detectives. It seemed to be straight out of a CSI: Miami episode—only this was horribly real.

      “Erin doesn’t have a boyfriend. Both parents are dead. I’m all she has.”

      None of the three reacted—exactly—but they silently regarded her with keener interest.

      She suddenly realized how it sounded. “I—I mean, Erin has had boyfriends in the past, and she would like—would have liked—to find a guy. That’s why we went out clubbing on Friday night. But as far as family, I’m it. We grew up together.” She looked at Paul Tanner, feeling more of a connection with him than the other two men. His expression said he was measuring every word. “Our mothers met when they were pregnant with us. I’ve known Erin my whole life.”

      Two men and a woman in navy jumpsuits with Crime Scene Investigator stenciled on the back had emerged from the van with a video camera and bags of gear. The crime scene techs headed toward the open front СКАЧАТЬ