Mr. and Mrs. Rossi - Chapter #5 - Free To Read

Harley steadied the camera in her hands. Suddenly, the one thing she used like another limb chilled her fingers. Did her temperature spike or something? True, June in Florida meant temperatures spiked the ninety degree mark by eight am, but at half past six she already felt the slow trickle of sweat drip down her back. She steadied her eyes on the man standing before him and gave a half smile.

She prayed Dante Rossi didn’t expose this stupid mistake of theirs. Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach and she hoped her eyes did not reflect the panic bubbling behind them. She didn’t need Steve Lundy picking up on her craziness or to blow this case.

Dressed in a pair of elbow length black rubber gloves and fitted with a headband magnifier, Robert, the coroner, cleared his throat. He rummaged through the pants pocket of the victim. “What a hell of a way to go?”

“Got a COD?” asked Dante.

COD? Special Agent? Who in the hell did she marry? Superman? He certainly did have the body of a superhero along with the alias style clothing. A suit and tie. Harley pressed her lips together to keep from licking them. Her fetish for a sharp dressed man bubbled. Steve interrupted her thoughts.

“Cause of death? The poor smo’ got hit and drug by a car.”

“And the driver didn’t stop?” asked Robert raising his red eyebrows, validating Dante’s suspicion.

“In the early hours of the morning?” Steve’s voice went up an octave, “In this neighborhood?”

If Steve was right and the kid was hit by a hunter, wouldn’t the hunter have been armed with weapons?

A squishy sound filled the room. Robert’s fingers felt around the bloody skull. “Well looks like the driver was able to get off one shot. Right here,” he dug his fingers under the chin. Just the tip filled the small bullet hole.

“Damn it!” Steve punched his meaty hands together. “Now I gotta go look for a shell casing. Harley, put the few elective courses you took in high school to work and take pictures. Hell,” he pushed his way out of the tent barking out orders outside, “and hurry up, I need your bilingual ass to come interpret.”

Harley squatted down to change cameras, grabbing her Cannon Rebel nestled in its case, her fingers brushed against the cold steel of her back-up gun — her favorite Sig Sauer P220, Scorpion edition. A girl had to protect herself. Ignoring everyone else, Harley viewed the scene through her lens. The face had been so disfigured, dental works were going to be needed, if there were any. People from this side of town didn’t worry as much about dental hygiene as they did day laboring. Could their John Doe have been getting an early start on day laboring? The ratted strips of shirt gave little information, but Harley recognized the crimson and gold colors of the shirt. This kid went to or supported someone from the same school as Hannah. She still wasn’t sure of the need for Dante Rossi’s presence but she still had a job to do. Dante, squatting down also apparently had a job to do.

Robert broke the silence. “Let’s just pray this was a mercy killing for this kid.”

“You can tell the age?” Dante said with a nod, clearly impressed.

Shaking his head Robert looked up and held the kids’ wrist. “I can tell that he’s under twenty-one. This is a tag for a rave all the local graduates have been coming into the hospital with all week. This colored wrist band is the only thing connecting all the kids who claim they were at different parties. It’s party central around here. Someone is making a killing off these kids, no pun intended.”

Since the graduation ceremony and bombshell, Harley hadn’t seen her niece. Hannah had all accesses to Harley’s townhouse whenever she wanted, and with her folks gone she would be staying at her place. Harley’s current job had her in and out with little time to check on the second bedroom upstairs designated for Hannah. Last night she hadn’t even bothered checking in at curfew time. Could Hannah be a part of this crowd? It was on the tip of Harley’s tongue, but Robert calmed her nerves.

“Alcohol poisoning, drug overdoses, a lot of confused kids and no, I didn’t see Hannah come through.”

“Hannah, as in your niece?” asked Dante.

Harley’s eyes stretched wide open, praying he would shut the fuck up. Robert’s green eyes cut between the two of them and the medical examiner did not miss a beat. Harley spent a lot of time with him at the morgue taking photographs for him. They’d gone out for drinks at Chet’s Place.

“You two know each other?”

“We met last night,” Dante boldly answered. The side of Robert’s cheek indented, his lips pressed forward as he ran his tongue over his front teeth. “Seems like I missed a good party last night.”

“Chet invited you,” Harley teased her old friend.

“I don’t trust Chet to serve me.”

“Smart move,” Dante laughed. His mouth opened wide showing a row of perfectly straight teeth. Her eyes caught a glimpse of his incisors and she shivered with the memory of them sinking into her collarbone.

Harley cleared her throat. “Can we talk about the body?”

“Okay. A young male in his teens dragged to death before eventually being put out of his misery. The way his jeans are imbedded with his skin and some parts missing, I would suggest we open the yellow police tape a lot wider. No telling how far he was dragged. Where’s Lundy? I need to tell him to move the people back.”

The sun from outside streamed in with a flash as Robert disappeared, leaving Dante and Harley alone. She inhaled deeply and glanced at her new husband.

“You’re in law enforcement?”

“I am. You too, eh?”

She brandished her camera. “I work for them.”

“But you’re strapped.” Dante’s head nodded toward her thigh. She cocked an eyebrow at him, impressed with her beer-goggle eyes.

“I have a permit,” she smiled, not wanting to give too much away. “Thanks for not saying anything in front of Steve. The last thing I need is for him to know I married you.”

“Most women scheme to get me to the altar.”

She understood why. The man, built like a Roman God and gifted in bed, seemed to be a great catch for some woman — just not Harley. “Too bad we’re getting it annulled. Otherwise you’d learn quickly that I am not like most women.”

“Intriguing,” He raised an amused brow and took a step forward. His muscled, long legs easily closed the gap with one stride. He stood about six-five, a cool foot taller than her frame.

A layer of desire spread between them. Snippets of their night together flashed into her mind. Her heart raced. An audible gulp escaped her throat, the lens of her camera kept as a barrier. “So you’ll agree to an annulment?”

Before she got an answer, a crude division of white light separated their bodies. Still barking orders to the men outside, Steve entered the area. When the flap shut behind him, eyes surveyed their stance.

“Tomasello,” he said, his voice an even keel while he kept his eyes on Dante, “I got the boys bringing out the cherry picker. I’m gonna need you to get up in the bucket and take some aerial shots down the street. Robert thinks there are pieces of the body down the road.”

Harley offered a smile for goodbye, grateful for the escape. Any longer and she would have given in to her desires. The sooner she got this stupid marriage annulled, the better.