Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,24
when she’d been adopted, she felt like she was more of a pretty little trophy for her parents to show off to their socialite friends at their country club functions. In fact, the only person she ever remembered being there for her, pushing her to be a better person had been her best friend Abby Whitson, now Edgars since she’d married last year. Abby had looked beyond the surface and seen what she’d really been, a scared, smart girl who used her looks to manipulate people into liking her.
“Oh, believe me, I am,” Kirk F said, bringing her back to the present. “Do you and Jeffers need me to do anything else?”
She glanced into the small room where at least five people besides Aaron and Jaylon milled about like worker ants. “No, I think we’ll be here a while.”
“Why? The coroner should just take him to the morgue, right?” Again, Kirk F paused. Brianna almost heard the wheels turning in his head on the other end of the phone. “Unless he was murdered. Was he?”
Again, Brianna took a deep breath before answering. “Aaron believes he was, yes.”
“Fuck,” he said, for once not schooling his language with her. “That’s messed up.”
Brianna couldn’t agree more. “I know. It’s so sad, really.”
“Why would someone want to murder a homeless man? It’s not like he has anything they’d want. Well, except for Stanley.”
“You’re right. It doesn’t make any sense.” She looked into the other room again, staring at the sitting figure of Art. “We won’t know more tonight. You might as well head home. I’ll see you at the hospital in the morning.”
Once Kirk F hung up, she called the hospital and asked for Paula’s room.
“Hello?” Paula sounded a little groggy.
“Hey, Paula, it’s Brianna. I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Paula said in a whisper.
Brianna’s heart clenched in pain for her friend. “I’m so sorry, Paula, he is.”
“H—how?”
“We’re not sure yet.” No way was she telling her over the phone that Art had been murdered.
Soft whimpering sounded over the phone. Then she could hear Nana comforting her. “There, there, missy. I know it hurts to lose a friend.”
“Miss Brianna, she’s gonna need to rest before you tell her more,” Nana said into the phone a moment later. The older woman’s firm voice implied there would be no further discussion tonight. Brianna was thankful again that Paula wasn’t alone and had such a fierce gatekeeper at her side.
“I couldn’t agree more. We’ll be here late. Are you still good to spend the night? Sleeping in a recliner?” She didn’t want to stress Kirk F’s grandmother out too much.
“Child, I’m just fine. The nurses have been real quiet coming in and out and they’ve got me fixed up with extra pillows, blankets and a big pitcher of water. And I sleep in my recliner at home half the night anyways. You be careful out there and we’ll see you in the morning.”
The phone went dead, and Brianna had to smile. Nana had spoken.
Stanley lifted his head from her lap and his tail wagged. Brianna looked up to see Aaron, Jaylon and Anita moving her way as other technicians lifted Art’s body onto a black draped stretcher. The trio peeled off their masks and gloves as they approached her.
“What did you decide?” she asked as they stopped in front of her.
Ramos glanced at Aaron, who nodded. “Like I said, Brianna is the one who brought us this case, she deserves to know what we’ve found.”
“Well, like I told you guys,” Ramos said glanced at Aaron and Jaylon, “this isn’t our murder scene.”
“You know this because there’s no blood around him and he’d been cleaned?” Brianna looked at Aaron. “You and I already determined that.”
“True. But there’s more.” He arched his brows and tilted his head to the tech to continue.
“We’ll have to wait for the coroner to do the final examination, but not only was the victim and his clothes cleaned and then posed in this spot, there is no blood.”
“We knew that. Everything was clean.”
“You’re not listening,” Aaron said. “There is no blood. None around Art. None in him.”
A shiver ran over Brianna and she settled a hand into Stanley’s warm fur. “You mean whoever killed him drained out all his blood? What? They embalmed him after they killed him?”
“He wasn’t embalmed. There’s just very little lividity,” Ramos said. “Technically almost all the blood was taken. There’s always a little left in the liver, the bone marrow or microscopic capillaries.”