Hothouse Orchid (Holly Barker 6)

He turned and walked out of the house and to his car. Once there he got out his cell phone and called Lauren Cade.

“Sergeant Cade.”

“This is Jimmy, Lauren. Bruno is dead in his house. Would you do me a favor and call the ME and the criminalist and bring them over here?” He gave her the address. “Maybe Hurd might like to be here, too.”

“Will do, Jimmy, and I’m on my way.”

Jimmy hung up and opened the trunk of his car. He lifted the lid over the spare tire and removed a paper bag, then closed the lid again. He took a roll of yellow crime scene tape from the trunk and walked back to the house. He went inside and walked down the hall to Bruno’s bedroom, then stood and looked around for a moment. He went to a closet and opened the sliding door. Bruno’s uniforms and some civilian clothes hung neatly inside. On the top shelf was a shoe box.

Jimmy put on some latex gloves and took down the shoe box, which was half full of some old photographs, some showing Bruno in army uniform. Jimmy opened the paper bag he had brought and shook the contents into the shoe box, then he put the top on, replaced it on the shelf and put the wadded paper bag in his pocket.

He went back outside and taped the entrance to the house, then he ran some more tape across the driveway between two trees. He went around to the rear of the house and taped the rear entrance as well, depositing the paper bag in his pocket in a garbage can by the door, under some beer cans. Then he walked carefully around the backyard, checking the ground.

He returned to the front yard in time to greet Lauren, who was followed shortly by the ME and the criminalist.

“Hurd’s on his way,” Lauren said.

Jimmy told them of his arrival at the house and the discovery of the body. “I didn’t touch anything,” he said, “so we’ve got a good crime scene here. Come inside, and I’ll walk you through where I was.”

He led them to the study and pointed out the note on the desk, next to the typewriter. “Read that,” he said, then waited while they did. “The bedroom is down the hall to your left. I walked inside, looked at the body and walked around the bedroom. There’s a Glock on the floor beside the bed and a shell casing on the floor between the bed and the chest of drawers. I’ll wait here while you do your work.”

Lauren looked into the room from the door but did not enter. “He ate his gun?”

“Looks that way,” Jimmy said. “Come on, let’s have a seat in the living room while they do their thing.”

As they sat down, Hurd Wallace entered the house, and Lauren briefed him while Jimmy called police headquarters and told the secretary what had happened.

“I guess you’re in charge, then, Jimmy,” she said. “Chief Bruno never got around to hiring a deputy chief, and you’re the senior officer. You better call the city council people and let them know what’s happened.”

“All right, I will.”

Hurd spoke up. “We don’t need a search warrant now, so let’s go through this place thoroughly.”

“What are we looking for, Hurd?” Jimmy asked.

“Any evidence that might connect Bruno to these murders. Jimmy, you take the kitchen; Lauren, you take the bedroom.”

“I don’t want to go in there, Hurd,” Lauren said. “I’ll take the study and the second guest room.”

“All right,” Hurd said, “I’ll take Bruno’s bedroom as soon as the body is out of there.”

42

Jimmy went into the kitchen and carefully searched every cabinet, the pantry and the refrigerator, then he walked back into the hallway.

Lauren was coming out of the study. “Nothing I could find in there,” she said, “except the suicide note.”

They stood back and allowed the ME and a forensics guy to wheel the corpse past on a gurney.

“I’ll be right back and give you my preliminary,” the ME said.

Hurd, Lauren and Jimmy waited in the hallway. “What did you find?” Hurd asked.

“Nothing in the study, except the suicide note,” Lauren said.

“The only thing of any significance in the kitchen was half a case of Famous Grouse Scotch and a refrigerator with at least a case of beer in it. Looks like Bruno was drinking a lot.”

“There’s half a bottle of Scotch and a glass on the bedside table,” Hurd said.