Murder in Misery (Spook Squad) - By Ashley K. Broome Page 0,4

frozen until enough time passed. Almost everyone in the room grew tense as she tugged the arm again and grimaced at the state of rigor. She looked up for permission to pull the limb out of rigor as well as she could manage and Doctor Biggerson nodded. With steady hands she worked until the muscles popped and crunched. She maneuvered the arm until she could see the bundle of bloodied green blankets.

“I need a tech,” Keegan’s voice was almost a whisper but Dr. Biggerson and a crime scene unit tech crouched beside her. His camera clicking away as she and the doctor worked to document this as well as they could. As soon as they moved his body away from the bundle Keegan pulled back the blankets.

She heard someone run from the room, the tell-tale sound of someone emptying their stomach in the hallway. Connor lay wrapped in his father’s arms. His face was spattered with blood and his clothes soaked down to the skin. There was a claw like gash crossing across his chest and out of nowhere Connor let out a mewling cry.

Her reaction was immediate. She pulled Connor from the protective hold and towards the nearest bathroom. She grabbed the towels from the rack and wrapped the baby in them. It didn’t take more than a few moments for paramedics to crowd the living room and wrap the infant in blankets as they carried him from the house and out to the ambulance barking out orders and radios crackling.

All the crime scene techs and detectives stared after the paramedics as they rushed from the house and into the ambulance.

“How’d you know?” Detective Hollis’ voice cracked as he spoke. Keegan could feel the guilt for not knowing the baby was there the entire time, for not doing something for him earlier. Every minute he spent wrapped in his father’s arms was another moment that he stepped closer to death.

She could already feel death beckoning from the corners of the room. As soon as they whisked the child from the room death followed Connor to where ever he was going. One of the worst things about being a necromancer was finding a victim on the edge of the living and the dying. It was even worse finding a baby, who had not had the chance to experience life give in to the bliss that death offered.

“I didn’t,” Keegan rolled her lips together, trying to stave off the tears, “Certain supernatural species have been known to sacrifice everything in order to save their children. The way he was curled up meant one of two things. He was trying to protect himself or he was protecting someone he loved. He wouldn’t have left his neck exposed like that if he was protecting himself, not if he and the woman had been together very long. The question is, why did they die and who or what did Connor need to be protected from?”

After submitting her clothes from the crime scene into evidence and changing into a spare set she kept in her locker Keegan couldn’t manage to sit still. She paced the square footage of the basement underneath the police headquarters that housed the SIU, Supernatural Investigative Unit. There were only four desks, and as many file cabinets but the amount of book cases housing materials on supernatural beings lined each wall of the room.

She hadn’t quite settled down behind her desk before her cell phone was ringing and the Captain was requesting conference with her and Detective Hollis. She trudged up to the third floor. The door was open and Matt was already sitting in one of the chairs in silence staring at his hands as they waited for her.

She knocked out of respect before stepping into the room.

“Close the door Detective.” Captain Perry directed her to sit. As soon as she sat down Keegan knew that Connor hadn’t made it. She had never seen Matt look so hollow before. His normally bright eyes were dark brown, his skin had turned ashen and it seemed like he was about to puke.

“This case is going to require both of your departments to work together and to do so efficiently. I don’t want to hear about any squabbles between your men. I know the history between the SIU and homicide. You don’t get alone and you don’t trust each other. In all honesty, you can’t stand each other. I don’t care what your issues are. They don’t matter anymore. For the sake of