Dying Echo A Grim Reaper Mystery - By Judy Clemens Page 0,5

shots until all that remained was a photo of two people, smiling, sitting behind a table, their heads close together. They were at a restaurant, where a waitress or someone at a close table had been called over to take the picture. The remains of a meal could be seen on the mostly empty plates in front of them.

“That’s her, I take it?” She tilted the photo toward Don.

“It is.”

She looked pleasant enough. And pretty. She was smiling, but Casey recognized something in her eyes—a haunted shadow, telling a deeper story of the woman’s life. Casey was surprised to see that Alicia looked older than Ricky by several years. But again, maybe that was her experience showing through. Some past hurt or brokenness that colored her, even when she thought she could be happy.

The other person in the photo needed no explanation, except for what he was doing there. He looked happy. Relaxed. Familiar. And yet a stranger.

Casey sat back. “So. Tell me what my little brother has got to do with all this.”

Chapter Three

Don took the photograph from Casey’s hand and looked at it for a long moment before setting it on top of the pile. He scooted all of the pictures together and rapped them gently on the desktop to even them out. Finally, he pulled the folder across the desk, laid the photos on top of the papers, and closed it. “She was his girlfriend. They’d been dating a few months.”

“That hardly makes her his girlfriend.”

Death laughed. “So what does it make her? A friend with benefits?”

“Casey.” Don’s voice was gentle. “They were an item. He really liked her.”

She closed her eyes and let the idea sink in. “Okay. So they were going out. The cops can’t possibly think he did this to her.”

Don stayed quiet for so long Casey had to open her eyes to see what was happening. He looked gray in the office light, and the bags under his eyes seemed to have darkened in the past minute.

“No,” Casey said. “No way would Ricky do this.”

“I know that. And you know that. But the cops have leads, and evidence, and…” He shrugged. “They think they have their man. They’re not checking out anyone else.”

Casey looked at Death, who now hovered behind Don, eyes on Don’s cell phone, which lay alongside his briefcase on the edge of the desk. “What exactly did she say?”

“She didn’t say anything, Casey,” Don said. “She was dead.”

The phone in Death’s hand changed to imitate Don’s. Death poked at it uncertainly. “She said nothing about Ricky. Except to tell him good-bye. Everything else was about the Three.”

“The Three…”

Don’s brow furrowed. “What is this with the number three? Are you talking about the evidence? The three main things they’re banking on? But how did you even know about those?”

“I didn’t. I…What’s the evidence?”

“First, the final number called from her phone. According to the phone company, who had to check her records since her phone is missing, the last number dialed was Ricky’s, at about nine o’clock. The call lasted almost thirty seconds. Enough time for a brief conversation.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. Anybody could have dialed that number using her phone. And if she was his girlfriend it shouldn’t have been unusual for them to talk on the phone.”

“Second, there were…” He cleared his throat. “Used condoms in the trash. They’re guessing Ricky’s DNA. They’ll know for sure soon.”

“Again, meaningless. You said she was his girlfriend, right?”

“Third.” His eyes met hers. “Ricky was seen leaving her apartment Thursday night around eleven. The landlord was going to bed. He noticed movement on the street and saw Ricky’s car. Ricky got in it and drove away.”

“And the landlord felt the need to call the cops?”

“Only after he found Alicia’s body the next day. In fact, he didn’t remember about seeing Ricky at all until several hours later, long after he found her. He was in shock, I think, from seeing her that way.”

“So he offered up my brother as a sacrifice?”

“He was doing his duty, Casey.”

She shook her head, knowing he was right, but still angry. “He didn’t see anyone else after Ricky that night? Nobody else came to her apartment?”

“Like I said, the guy was going to bed. Ricky being at Alicia’s apartment wasn’t exactly unusual. The landlord didn’t think anything of it. He turned out the lights and went to sleep.”

And let the real bad guys arrive unseen. “Great.” Her mind spun. “Okay, those three pieces of evidence are all circumstantial. Phone