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.She snatched it up and sashayed into the kitchen, and made one full turn before deciding her first instinct was the best.With a great dramatic flare, Addie pulled open the door of the small ice box and dropped the bundle onto a cool rack.She was just straightening up when she felt Jess’s hands on her waist.She closed the door and caught her breath when he spoke close to her ear.“Now you’re thinking like a criminal, darlin’.”.The smooth, cold bricks of the morgue floor sent their penetrating chill through Jess’s cotton shirt within seconds after he lay down.He rocked his head from side to side and then looked straight up at the maze of pipes that hung from the ceiling.“So this is where you found him?”Gus looked back and forth from Jess to the bookcases that formed the ‘walls’ of Ollie Twickenham’s office and shook his head.“Close.”Jess was grateful — for Gus’s sake — that someone had done a thorough job of scrubbing away the blood.But now there wasn’t even a trace to help him recreate the scene.He had to rely on Gus for that.“That’s not good enough, Gus.I need to know exactly where he was.”“Okay, okay.Umm.His right foot was caught right here and his knee was twisted back.”“Like this?” Jess scooted down the cold floor and arranged his leg as Gus had described, with his foot caught in the corner of the lowest shelf next to the office entrance.“Yes, yes, that’s it.Only his whole foot fit in there.”“You casting aspersions about the size of my boots, pal?” Jess laughed as he sat up and pulled off his right boot.Even without the boot his foot barely fit into the space.Gus was still uneasy returning to the scene and ignored Jess’s attempt at humor.“It still doesn’t look right, though, I mean, something’s still different.” Gus was nervously stroking his bald spot again.Jess closed his eyes and pictured what the scene might have looked like based on Gus’s description.“Of course, his head would have ended right about here.” Jess put both his hands on the third button down from his collar.“That’s it!” Gus snapped to attention, clarity suddenly descending on him with Jess’s observation.“And his arms weren’t clear up there.They were down here.” He pointed to a place just beyond the butted feet of the two bookcases facing Ollie’s cubbyhole.Gus rubbed his forehead, feverish now as he recalled the scene.“His left hand was clear under the case.”Jess bent his knees and slid his torso closer to his feet.“Here?” he asked as he slipped his left hand beneath the bottom shelf of the bookcase.“So then.” Jess was about to ask about the position of the right hand when he felt something beneath the back of his hand.Arranged as he was, it was physically impossible to turn his hand over, so he carefully pulled his left arm back and rolled over to reach under with his right.What he withdrew was a scrap of paper that looked like it had been torn off a larger sheet.He brushed it off and looked for the traces of age he’d expect to see on paper that had sat for a while beneath the shelf.But while the scrap showed normal yellowing along its two straight sides, the torn side did not.This was a fresh tear.The word ‘bridge’, trailed onto the scrap from the torn edge, followed by a flowery company monogram.“That’s probably been there for decades, Jess.”Jess rocked himself up to one knee and held the scrap up to the dim light.“Nope.Don’t think so, Gus.Look here.”On the bottom corner, printed lightly in pencil were the initials O.T.T.followed by a slash and a second set of initials.J.S.P.There was no mistaking it.Gus and Jess both recognized Ollie’s precise hand.And there was no doubt in either of their minds that Ollie had intended for Jess to see whatever was on the page this scrap belonged to.He’d branded it with both their initials.Jess tore a clean page from the small notepad he carried in his pocket.He folded the page around the scrap and slipped it into the small pocket that held his pocket watch.He was just pulling on his boot when Gus pulled out a handkerchief and mopped his brow.It was chilly here in the basement morgue, but Gus had broken a sweat.The whole ordeal of recreating the scene was getting to him.“You know, Gus, I think we’ve done as much as we can here today.Shall we head on up?” He clapped a hand on Gus’s shoulder and turned him toward the door.Gus pocketed his handkerchief and cast a grateful look to Jess and they headed for the staircase.Walking two abreast, they filled the narrow aisle, and just as they emerged from the end of the aisle, Jess stepped on something hard that didn’t crumble, even under his heavy boot.Jess bent to toss aside the offending lump and was surprised to find a shiny white cube peppered with black dots.Half of a pair of dice.He chuckled.“Hope losin’ this didn’t break someone’s lucky streak.”Gus started up the steps and said casually, “Old Ben and the boys were raising a ruckus down here on payday and Twick chased them out.They were hoppin’ mad [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]