Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,15
was taking care of Stanley. His owner’s name is Art and he’s a homeless person. Paula got sick trying to find him.”
“Ah, I get it.” He turned his focus on Aaron. “And you think he might be in the morgue?”
Aaron shrugged, wiped his mouth with his napkin and set it beside his plate. “I’m starting there as a process of elimination.”
“The dude’s homeless. Could be he just disappeared.”
Pulling out a credit card from his wallet, Aaron slipped it inside the black folder with the bill. Brianna wanted to argue with him that she could pay for her own meal, but she hesitated this time because he wasn’t just buying her dinner, he was paying for Kirk F’s too. She glanced up at him. If he was smiling because he’d finally gotten his way in their battle over meals, she’d kick him in the shin. He wasn’t. He’d fixed a very serious expression on their younger friend, shaking his head.
“I don’t think so. My experience with homeless people is if they attach themselves to a dog, they’ll do whatever they can to provide for them. Often caring for them better than they do themselves. From what Paula told us, Art was that way with Stanley.”
Kirk F leaned back in the booth and ran his hands over Stanley’s back. “So, if he isn’t around to take care of the pup, something bad must’ve happened to him.”
“Right. We start by eliminating where he isn’t.”
“Why the county morgue?” Brianna asked.
Aaron waited for the waitress to take the bill and leave the vicinity before answering. “Any death not in a hospital or the person isn’t under a doctor’s care, like at home in hospice, is automatically considered suspicious. This goes for any John Does. The body is transported to the county morgue and an autopsy will be done.”
“So, you think Art is dead and might be in the morgue as a John Doe?”
Again, Aaron waited before answering as the waitress brought him back the bill and credit card, along with a travel cup of hot chocolate for Nana. Leaving a nice tip on the bill, he slipped his credit card back into his wallet and took a long drink of his coffee. “What I think is something has happened to Art. If he is dead and his body has been found, then we’ll find it at the morgue.”
“And if it’s not?” Kirk F asked.
“Then we start searching other places. Which makes your nana taking over hospital duty with Paula a good thing.”
“Besides keeping her butt in the bed? Because, trust me, if the doctors want your friend in bed getting medicine, Nana ain’t gonna let her feet hit the floor except to pis…er go to the bathroom,” Kirk F said with a sheepish grin towards Brianna.
She grinned back at him. After having him underfoot in her apartment for six months, she’d gotten to know him quite well and still the kid guarded his language in her presence. Something she was sure came from his nana’s influence. Speaking of which, she narrowed her eyes at Kirk F. “This is Wednesday. Isn’t Nana supposed to be going to bingo tonight?”
“That’s what I asked her when she got all grandma ninja on me. She said when a body in need needs healing, bingo can wait.” He grinned at them both. “And usually nothing comes between Nana and her bingo nights.”
“Having her stay with Paula is a bonus for us,” Aaron said, grabbing his coat and sliding out of the booth. “If we strike out at the morgue, then we’ll divide and conquer.”
“Divide up how?” Brianna said, scooting out of the booth and pulling on her coat. Then she took Stanley’s leash from Kirk F, grabbed Nana’s hot chocolate, and headed to the exit, the two men following in her wake.
“We’ll make copies of the sketch you made of Art. Then Kirk F can hit the local hospital emergency rooms while you, Stanley and I visit some of the shelters. There’s too many to hit them all in one night.”
“Damn, bro. Why you be dragging me to the morgue then? I don’t like dead bodies,” Kirk F groused, suddenly sounding like a young nineteen-year-old.
“If you’re gonna be a cop, you’re gonna see dead bodies.” Aaron said as they walked through the parking lot. “And you might as well start with finding a body in the morgue. Besides. If Art isn’t there, we won’t be seeing any dead bodies.”
At her car he opened the passenger’s side door for her, deposited