The body was badly decayed, and insects and other scavengers had obviously been dining on it for a while.
The M.E. stood, dusting his gloved hands. “She’s been down here a long time, probably four to eight weeks. Some of the flesh has been eaten entirely away. They’ve got a serious rat problem here.”
“But it’s definitely a woman?”
The M.E. nodded. “I’d say between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. She was about five and a half feet tall, maybe a hundred and twenty pounds.”
One of the detectives nervously joked, “Hell of a way to lose weight, huh?”
“All right, all right,” Robert said. “Cause of death? Can you tell me that yet?”
“Strangulation. Her own scarf.”
“Is it one of the prostitutes?” another officer asked.
The M.E. shrugged. “Guys, as you can see, I don’t have a lot to work with here. I’ll get you facts as fast as I can.”
“Right,” Robert said, then swore. “Hell, we knew they had to be somewhere. Dead two months or so…has to be our last girl.”
Or Genevieve O’Brien? Joe thought.
“Unless it’s Genevieve O’Brien,” someone said, voicing his own fears.
Except that, despite the state of the body, Joe knew it wasn’t. There wasn’t so much as a hint of red in the hair. It was Betty. He didn’t need the M.E.’s report to settle that in his mind.
He prayed that whatever sixth sense Leslie had accessed during her “vision” was right and Genevieve was alive somewhere.
When he headed back toward the police car where Leslie was waiting, Joe discovered that she was giving a detailed report to one of the officers—and she was lying through her teeth. She had stepped behind the barricade to pull up her panty hose, stepped on the boards over the opening without realizing it, and they’d given way under her weight and she’d fallen down the steps. Then Nikki had dialed 911 and made certain Robert Adair was alerted.
Robert had followed Joe up to the surface and joined them over by the car. “Detective Langdon, are you done with these ladies?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Take them home, Joe. As soon as I have anything on the body, I’ll let you know.”
Joe nodded. “Thanks. You know, this may not even be one of our girls.”
“May not be,” Robert said with a shrug. “But their street is only a block away. Anyway, I’ll call you.”
“All right, you two,” Joe said to Leslie and Nikki. “Let’s go.”
“Joe, don’t be angry,” Leslie implored.
“I’m not angry.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, you’ve just found a murder victim, maybe helped solved a puzzle the police haven’t gotten a grip on in almost two years. Was it at great personal risk? Yes. But am I angry? No. But, Leslie, why the hell didn’t you call someone?”
“I was going to. I fell down the steps,” she said. “Honest.”
He sighed, setting an arm around her shoulders and staring at Nikki.
“We were going to call for help just as soon as we got a look,” she said.
Joe groaned. “I’m getting you back to Hastings House, and we’ll send out for pizza,” he said, starting down the sidewalk.
Leslie looked at him, puzzled. “Uh, sure.”
“I’d like to keep you off the streets and away from holes in the ground for a while. I’ve got to go back out, but you’re staying in. I’m going to hire an off-duty cop to watch Hastings House tonight.”
He was walking too quickly, he realized. Leslie and Nikki were both having to hurry to keep up. “Joe, why do we need a guard at the house? Adam will be there, Nikki will be there, and later on you’ll be there.”
“I don’t know when I’ll get there. And I want the code on the alarm changed—” why hadn’t he taken care of that before? he berated himself “—and another bolt added to the door. Also, I want a steel bar for the hatch cover in the dead room.”
“The dead room?” Nikki asked.
“The servants’ pantry,” Leslie explained.
When they reached the house, they didn’t have to explain to Adam what had happened. They found him in the kitchen, watching the news. He ignored Joe and looked directly at Leslie. “You knew she was down there?”
“Not exactly,” she said.
“Oh?” Adam persisted.
“But earlier, I heard crying,” Leslie said.
“You heard a dead woman crying?” Joe asked in disbelief.
She stared at him, standing tall and straight, hands on her hips. “Yes.”
“Nikki and Leslie can both…see things from beyond the grave,” Adam said delicately.
“You see ghosts?” Joe accused Leslie.
“Sometimes.”
He shook his head. “Matt? Do you see Matt?”
“No,” she said, but her voice quavered.
“Adam, let’s you and I go get some takeout,” Nikki suggested.
“Come right back, please,” Joe said, the words clearly an order, but his eyes stayed hard on Leslie’s.
She was silent as they left.
“You actually see ghosts,” he said at last
“Sometimes,” she repeated. “In this case…I heard crying. But, Joe—”
He waved a hand to cut her off.