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But ould he come back and kill Marianne? I pulled the stretcher out and maneuvered it up to the house, past the unusually soht not have been a cop or EMT, but she’d worked with theh that she was definitely considered one of them In fact, the law enforce and awesoht

She was lying on her back in the s splayed as if she’d tripped and fallen backward Her eyes were open, and her face seemed calm, but a thin line of blood tracked from the bullet hole allance around the room, oddly puzzled The house was neat and clean, coh shelves An upright piano rested against one wall A vase on a side table was filled with flowers Nothing seeain, if it had been Ed, she’d have let hiht? But ould he kill her?

Detective Abadie had his head dohile he ave ht nod--a far cry from his usual lip curl coupled with mild disdain

Sean and another cri pictures of the body, so I positioned myself by the wall near Abadie

"Do you think Ed did it?" I asked hihtened "We have no suspects at this tirim set of his eyes told me all I needed to know

I sed "Does Marcus know?"

Abadie gave a short nod "He’s on his way, though he won’t be allowed behind the tape" That aveif it ise to haveup the body since I knew both the victim and Ed But then he must have realized that prettyme out would be pointless

The crime scene techs finished their pictures Derrel and I raphed it and carefully turned Marianne over so that Sean could photograph the back of her head and the other side of her body Derrel slipped paper bags over Marianne’s hands and taped theical tape, just in case she had any evidence on her hands or under her nails that could lead to a suspect Finally we picked her up and placed her in the body bag I zipped it closed, clasped the buckles of the straps that held the bag in place, and clenched ainst a wave of utter helplessness Why her? Why the hell would anyone want to kill Marianne?

I began to wheel the stretcher out when Abadie stoppedlook

"I don’t know if you read the newspaper," he said, "but--"

"I saw it," I said with a sour twist of et to you too badly They’re only writing crap like that because it’s election season, and they’re trying to stir up so, then closed it Then tried again "I thought you hated me"

His lip curled withdifference But I do hate assholes, and that reporter is an asshole Airing your shit in the paper like that is bullshit"

I fought for a s, so I settled for a nod "Thanks" And then, because I had absolutely no idea how the hell else to respond to all that, I siain and continued on out with the stretcher

Marcus pulled up as I reached the van I yanked the back doors open and slid the stretcher in, then turned to hiony written across his features "Angel, it is true? Is Marianne…?"