Harlequin Intrigue April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Carol Ericson (short books to read TXT) 📖

on to her like a lifeline, probably confiding things to her about Kelsey she hadn’t thought of in years.

That proved it. Kyra Chase was just cold toward him.

They stopped at the door to the morgue, and Jake pressed the button on the outside to announce their presence. A coroner’s assistant opened the door, and the chill in the room reached out to grab them. It didn’t repel Jake, though. It seemed to suck him inside the room.

“Hello, Detective McAllister, Ms. Chase.”

Jake’s gaze dropped to the attendant’s badge. “Sean, this is Mr. and Mrs. Lindquist.”

They had stepped inside, and David looked like he could use Kyra’s support even more than Marie could. Jake had witnessed a few grown men keel over in this space, and he didn’t blame them.

At least Sean had taken Kelsey from the drawer. Her body lay covered with a white sheet. They already knew it was Kelsey from the picture on her driver’s license left in her car. Her parents had provided a more recent picture, too.

Would he insist on ID’ing the body at the morgue if it were his daughter? Probably, and then he’d insist on fifteen minutes alone with her killer.

Sean cleared his throat. “Are you ready? I’m just going to show her face.”

He flicked back the white sheet, and Marie gave a quick gasp.

Jake’s eyes swept across the face of the young woman, all life drained from her body. He blinked, for a minute seeing light brown hair and freckles. “Is this your daughter?”

“Yes, that’s Kelsey.” Marie’s voice rang in the room, loud enough to wake the dead in their drawers.

David sniffed and staggered back, his shoulders rounding. The man was going to fold in on himself if Jake didn’t get him out of here.

He clasped David’s shoulder. “You can leave, Mr. Lindquist.”

“Wait.” David shrugged off his hand. “That can’t be her. That’s not my daughter.”

Uh-oh. He’d waited too late to get David out of the room. He was having a full meltdown.

Marie sobbed. “What are you talking about, David? That’s her. That’s our Kelsey.”

“Look at her nose, Marie.” David thrust out a shaky finger at his daughter’s face. “Where’s the diamond in her nose?”

Jake’s heart bumped in his chest, and his eyes met Kyra’s across the body. “Kelsey had a piercing in her nose?”

“They took it out, right? The coroner took it out.” Marie grasped her purse strap with both hands.

Jake nodded at Sean, whose red face matched the color of his hair. “We did remove her jewelry and we have that for you, but we didn’t remove any diamond from her nose. I didn’t even know there was a piercing there. I mean, later...”

Sean trailed off because he meant later, when they did the autopsy, that would be something they would note.

“We didn’t notice it at the crime scene, either, Mr. Lindquist. Could she have not worn it that day?”

“She just got it. She wouldn’t take it out so soon. She wore it all the time, right, Marie?”

“She did.” Marie’s bottom lip quivered. “But that’s Kelsey, David, with or without the nose piercing.”

Jake took two steps toward the door. “Thank you, Sean. Mr. and Mrs. Lindquist, are you ready?”

David stumbled to the door. He’d been ready to leave the moment he’d walked in.

Jake opened the door, and they filed out. The cool air of the hallway felt like a sauna after the morgue, and the stifling air smelled like a spring meadow in comparison to the room they’d just left.

As they reached the elevator, Jake touched David’s back. “Are you all right, Mr. Lindquist?”

“I’m okay. I never wanted to do this in the first place. We knew it was her, Marie.” David’s anger had given him life and color. As he straightened to his full height, he could almost meet Jake nose to nose. “We didn’t need to do this.”

They piled into the elevator, and Marie sagged against Kyra. As one partner gained strength, the other seemed to lose it. There was only so much strength to go around, and they had to take turns with it.

Jake replied, more comfortable with David’s anger than his grief. “I know that was hard, Mr. Lindquist, but we did get some valuable information. Kelsey was not found with a nose stud, so she may have lost it in the struggle with her killer or...”

Kyra hit the elevator button with her fist. “Or he took it.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Jake watched through narrowed eyes as Kyra handed her card to Marie and stepped away from the Lindquists’ car with a wave. Jake lifted his own hand, his heart still sore at their grief.

Kyra spun around on the toes of her low-heeled pumps like a ballerina and strode toward him like a boss, her blond ponytail bobbing behind her. She positioned herself in front of him, arms folded over her white blouse.

“Are you going to order another search of the dump site for Kelsey’s nose stud?”

“Of course, but as you noticed last night while you were tromping all over the area, the tape is gone and if the diamond was there it might be ground into the dirt by now. We’ll also comb her car for it. If there was a struggle outside or inside her car, it might turn up in the vehicle. She was most likely taken at her car, as her purse and phone were still there.”

“And if he took it as a trophy?”

Jake scratched his chin. “Definitely would be unusual for a serial killer to claim two trophies—the finger and the nose stud. Not unheard-of, I guess.”

“What about Marissa? Was she missing any jewelry?” Kyra hunched her shoulders as if she’d gotten a sudden chill despite the dry heat blanketing them.

Jake loosened his shirt collar. “Not that we know of. Have you talked to Marissa’s family, yet?”

“As they’re out of state, I haven’t contacted them. I plan to meet with her friends, if they request it.”

“We’ll check with her friends in LA about the jewelry.” A bead of sweat crept down Jake’s neck and found