Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (24 page)

“
Gold coins,” Sandy
said.

Pete backed away from the trunk.

“
Is it stolen? I can’t be
around anything illegal, Sandy,” Pete said. “You know that. I won’t
risk losing Molly and the kids again. One more time
and…”

“
It’s mine,” Sandy said. “I
earned it when I was a kid. But you can’t tell anyone.”

“
Why?” Pete
asked.

“
The Feds will think it’s
my father’s money,” Sandy said. “No one knows this is
mine.”

“
Where did you get it?”
Pete asked.

“
From my father. He gave me
a jar every Christmas. Said it was my college fund.” Sandy
shrugged. “He thought it made everything even. It
didn’t.”

“
You’ve been so against
your father and his money,” Pete said. “Why did you get
this?”

“
I don’t know,” Sandy
shrugged. “I guess I wanted it for the baby.”

“
You work, Aden works,”
Pete said.

“
I just had to get it,”
Sandy shrugged. As if to explain it, Sandy said, “They’re building
a house on the site next week. Someone else will live there by the
end of the month.”

“
Sandy, this is filthy
money,” Pete said. “And very bad karma.”

Biting her lip, Sandy nodded.

“
And so unlike you,” Pete
said.

“
I’ve been thinking about
helping kids that are, right now, in the position I was in,” Sandy
said. “It’s something Jill’s mom, Anjelika, said to me. And after
seeing the baby yesterday, I felt I should go ahead and do
it.”

Nervous, Sandy glanced at his face to see
his reaction. Pete laughed.

“
That’s the Sandy I know,”
Pete said.

He helped her carry the jars into the
studio. Sandy locked them in a secure filing cabinet in the
back.

“
I’m in,” Pete said. “In on
your thing.”

“
To help kids involved
child pornography and prostitution?” Sandy asked.

“
Whatever you need, I’m
in,” Pete said. “I know Molly will want to do your books. I bet
Aden would be in. Jill and the girls will want to help. This is a
great idea Sandy.”

“
I’m too scared to ask
them,” Sandy said.

They heard the bell indicating a client was
at the door to the salon.

“
Don’t tell, okay?” Sandy
asked.

“
Not a word,” Pete said.
“I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“
I’m sorry for a lot of
things,” Sandy said. “Do you think Aden is a little
cat-like?”

“
A cat?” Pete
asked.

“
Never mind,” Sandy
said.

“
Sandy?” Pete
said.

Sandy turned around to look at him.

“
You have a smudge of dirt
right…” Pete pointed to her left cheek.

“
Thanks,” Sandy
said.

Wiping the dirt from her face, Sandy went
out to start her day.

~~~~~~~~

Friday afternoon — 2:46 P.M.

“
Right this way,” the
uniformed officer said to Delphie.

He led her into the Coroner’s office.

“
The Coroner will be right
with you,” he said. “You can sit there.”

Delphie nodded. She felt pretty stupid.
While Seth had asked her to help with his investigation, she was
sure the Coroner would think she was some creep. She blushed and
looked down at her hands in her lap. A police station wasn’t a
place for a woman named after a flower who wore flowing gauze
dresses. She was about to leave when Seth O’Malley came into the
office.

“
Oh great,” Seth said.
“They told me you were here. The Coroner is downstairs doing the
autopsies. I’ll take you.”

“
She’s doing all of them?”
Delphie asked.

“
Everyone is doing one or
two,” Seth said.

“
What?”

“
I didn’t tell you?” Seth
asked.

“
Tell me what?”

“
There were six bodies,”
Seth said. “Each body seems to have been placed one at a time.
Except the two that were together. Those are the oldest. Coroner
estimates they were killed in 1972.”

“
So many,” Delphie
said.

“
And Delphie, you should
know that this is the third stash of six bodies we’ve found. The
other sites were exactly the same. Bodies laid out together. Buried
one at a time over decades.”

“
So many souls,” Delphie
said. Realizing she had just said something flakey, Delphie
blushed. She added, “I mean, that’s a lot of work for
everyone.”

Seth’s eyes scanned her face. He smiled at
her.

“
Don’t be intimidated,
Delphie,” Seth said. “The Coroner is very forward thinking. She
said she was excited to meet you.”

Standing at the door to an autopsy room,
Seth stopped to look at Delphie.

“
Plus, we need all the help
we can get. I told her you were willing to help out. Of course, I
had to do a background check on you, Chastity Bell.” Seth winked at
her. “But you check out.”

Delphie gave her most sincere nod and Seth
laughed.

“
You let me know if it’s
too much. This is pretty gruesome work.”

“
What do you want me to
do?” Delphie asked.

“
Help us identify the
bodies,” Seth said. “If you can.”

“
If I identify the bodies,
I make a contract to follow this until it’s resolved.”

“
A contract?” Seth
said.

“
With the soul. That’s how
it works,” Delphie said. “Will you let me follow this all the way
through?”

“
Of course.” Seth touched
her arm. “And I will protect you as much as I can. No one will know
you’re helping us.”

Delphie nodded.

“
You let me know when
you’ve had enough?”

Delphie nodded.

Seth moved forward through the doors. She
heard him greet the people inside. For a moment, her fear kept her
on the other side of the door. Stepping through the door, she would
be agreeing to help them determine who killed all these people.
This would be the biggest project she’d taken on since Celia died.
Maybe the biggest project she’d ever taken on. Sam thought it was a
great idea. But Sam would.

Delphie blinked.

She would do this thing. She would use her
gift for the benefit of victims like herself. She would have to be
brave. Luckily, she had Sam, Jacob, and everyone else to support
her. Plus, Valerie was coming home for the weekend. Delphie smiled
at how great her life was now.

She heard Seth call her name and stepped
into the next phase of her life.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and
FOUR

Complete

Friday afternoon — 3:15 P.M.

No matter what Seth said, this lady coroner
thought Delphie was a nut. Not that Delphie blamed her. Delphie
thought of herself as little nutty. She smiled at her own joke. So
far, the coroner wanted her to stay out of the way on a stool in a
small corner of the autopsy room.

“
Miss.. uh…” the coroner
started.

“
Please call me, Delphie.
Short for Delphinium.”

“
How did you get that
name?” the coroner asked.

“
My best friend gave it to
me when my birth name felt foreign and my use name was toxic,”
Delphie said.

“
Your birth name?” The
coroner lifted the heart from inside the body in front of her. She
set the heart on a scale.

“
Chastity Bell,” Delphie
said.

“
Your use name?” The
coroner made a note of the weight and returned to the
body.

“
The Oracle Taber,” Delphie
said.

“
I see what you mean,” the
coroner smiled at Delphie.

At least she was trying to be nice.

“
Is it helpful to know more
about me? I live on Race Street. I grew up in Leadville. My
boyfriend is Sam Lipson. I’ve known him since childhood. He was my
best friend’s husband. My best friend is Celia Marlowe. She died
almost ten years ago. I haven’t worked as much since I had a stroke
a couple of weeks ago. And yes, Valerie Lipson lives with me when
she’s in town. And yes, you’d like her. She’s coming home for the
weekend tonight.”

The coroner blushed.

“
Or maybe you want to know
a little about you?” Delphie asked. “Your cat, Princess Fifi the
incredible, was taken by your ex-husband,” Delphie said. “He shaves
her hair down and calls her Morris so you won’t realize it’s
Fifi.”

“
Princess Fifi?” the
coroner’s eye became slits. “Where are my…”

“
Your keys are in your lab
coat pocket,” Delphie said.

“
I thought so too but they
aren’t,” the coroner said. “I’ve looked through every coat in the
building.”

“
Not the one behind your
door in your office,” Delphie said. “Shall we get them?”

“
Go get them.” The coroner
stuck out her chin in defiance.

“
How about if I go and you
can get to work?” Seth O’Malley asked.

The coroner continued working on the body in
front of her until Seth came back with the keys. She nodded to
Seth.

“
You saw them when you were
in my office,” the coroner said.

“
No,” Delphie said. “I
could tell you other things about you but I bet you don’t want your
personal life spread all over the morgue.”

The coroner grit her teeth. She opened her
mouth to say something then thought decided not to.

“
Can we get started?” Seth
asked. “I’d like to catch this guy. If Delphie can help, why do you
care?”

“
You can start with the
other sets of bodies,” the coroner said. “We’ve only identified
three of the eighteen bodies we’ve found. We can’t figure out what
they have in common.”

“
They’re children,” Delphie
said.

“
I thought that too,” the
coroner said. “But they aren’t. Some of them are at least
twenty.”

“
They’re run-aways. Street
kids, I think they’re called,” Delphie said. “They seem to be
connected to some teen runaway agency. Uh. Urban
something.”

“
Urban Peak?” the coroner
asked. “Does the killer work there?”

Delphie shook her head back and forth.

“
I’m sorry but you have to
find all the bodies before you find the killer,” Delphie said.
“That’s just how this is going to go.”

“
How what is going to go?”
the coroner asked.

“
This investigation,”
Delphie said.

“
All the bodies?” Seth
asked. “Eighteen bodies aren’t enough?”

“
It’s definitely enough but
that’s not all of them,” Delphie said.

“
Oh,” Seth said. “We’ll
find…”

“
Yes, all of them,” Delphie
said.

“
Does he work at Urban
Peak?” the coroner repeated.

“
I don’t think so,” Delphie
said. “But I can’t see him well… yet. Right now, I need to bring
some peace to a few families. Do I have your permission to do
that?”

“
Knock yourself out,” the
coroner said.

The coroner pointed to one of her assistants
and he led Delphie to an area of body lockers. Fascinated by the
process, Seth trailed after Delphie.

“
Do you mind taking notes,
Seth?” Delphie asked. “I don’t want to hold onto the information.
If you take notes or we record it, I can tell you everything. I’ll
never remember what I said.”

“
I’ll take notes,” Seth
said. “Was her cat really called Princess Fifi the
incredible?”

“
It was a pure bred white
Persian cat,” Delphie said. “A total diva. I’m going to start with
this one.”

“
That’s not one of the
bodies,” Seth said. “That body was found…”

“
You need to find the
others,” Delphie said.

“
What others?”

“
There are five other
bodies waiting for you,” Delphie said. “Buried in the same pattern
as under my chapel.”

“
Good God, Delphinium,”
Seth said. “How many bodies are we going to find?”

“
A lot,” Delphie said.
“This person has been killing lost children for
decades.”

“
I’m going to…” Seth
said.

“
Go ahead,” Delphie
said.

“
I’ll send in a patrolman,”
Seth said.

“
Don’t worry, I can record
into my phone,” Delphie said.

Delphie took out a brand new Blackberry.

“
You’re using your cell
phone? A Blackberry?”

“
Jacob gave it to me a
while ago,” Delphie said. “Sandy taught me how to use it when I
thought I was dead. She said dead people needed fancy gadgets. I
never figured out why. But she seemed to know what dead people
needed, so I believed her.”

Seth smiled at his Goddaughter’s
manipulation.

“
She’s a good girl,”
Delphie said.

“
You’re all right here?”
Seth asked.

Delphie nodded. She gave him a little wave
when he left the room. Taking out her reading glasses, Delphie
pushed button after button on her phone until it started to record.
Smiling at herself, she set to work identifying the bodies.