Six Killer Bodies (6 page)

on the scenes of most of the crimes, we’re in a good

position to help figure out who’s behind these kil ings.

Until we have something else to go on, I’m operating

under the belief that it’s Michael Lane.” She held up a

picture of Michael. “The body of the first victim, Shawna

Whitt, was found about the same time he escaped from

Northside Hospital.”

“Remind me how she was kil ed,” Hannah said, skimming

through the notes.

“It looked like she’d died of natural causes, but before we

moved the body, Coop found a charm in her mouth—a

bird, like this one.” She pul ed out a silver charm and set it

in the middle of the table.

“Is that the charm?” Wes asked in alarm.

“No. I bought it from a kiosk in the mall.”

“Could be a chicken,” Hannah added.

“The Whitt woman’s cause of death was ruled natural

causes,” Carlotta said, “and her body was cremated.”

“Natural?” Chance asked. “How did they explain the

chicken charm in her mouth?”

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds. Finally, Wes said,

“No one did.” He shot a glance toward the kitchen

window.

“So Coop could’ve put it there himself?” Chance asked.

“No,” Hannah said firmly.

“I was there,” Carlotta said. “I saw him pul the charm out

of the woman’s mouth. Now, what very few people know

is that later, I found an entry Shawna Whitt made on a

Web site set up for people who were charm fans. So, she

was into charms, even though a bracelet wasn’t found in

her home. She’d also asked for recommendations for

online dating services.”

“So she could’ve met the creep there,” Hannah said.

Carlotta nodded. “Then we have the second victim, Alicia

Sil s.”

“Carlotta, Wes and I went to pick up her body,” Hannah

said to Chance.

“How’d she die?”

“It looked as if she’d fallen from a stepladder and hit her

head,” Carlotta offered. “But when we moved the body, a

charm shaped like a cigar fel out of her mouth, like this

one.” She dug the charm out of a baggie, then set it next

to the chicken.

“The autopsy stated she died of blunt force trauma,” Wes

supplied, “but the M.E. couldn’t determine if it was from

the fall or if someone had hit her.” He glanced toward the

window again, as if he was afraid someone would appear.

“Was Coop there?” Chance asked.

“No,” Wes said. “He called and asked me to do the

pickup.”

“Did he give a reason?” Chance pressed.

Wes scratched his head. “I just remember him saying it

would be better if I did it.”

Silence boomed around the table. Carlotta decided not to

mention that Peter believed Randolph had had an affair

with the woman years ago—not yet anyway.

She cleared her throat. “The third victim was Pam

Witcomb, street name Pepper. She was stabbed in a room

at the High Crest Motel.”

“Pepper?” Chance asked. “I know a prostitute named

Pepper.”

Hannah glowered.

“Might be the same woman,” Carlotta said, although she

found it hard to believe that Chance knew only one

Pepper. “She hung out on Third Street and West

Peachtree.”

“Dang,” Chance said. “I think I might have lost my virginity

to her.”

Carlotta gave him a tight smile. “Not relevant, but thanks

for the image. Anyway, the charm in her mouth was a car.

I don’t know the exact one, but let’s use this one for now.”

She set the generic car charm with the others.

“How did you know Pepper hung out on Third and West

Peachtree?” Chance asked Carlotta.

“I met her one night while I was waiting for Coop—” She

stopped and swallowed. “To pick me up.”

“So Coop saw her, too?”

“I…suppose so. But they didn’t talk or anything.” Stil , a

disquieting sensation began to niggle at the back of her

mind.

“What about the fourth victim?” Hannah asked quickly.

“She was an assistant to the District Attorney, wasn’t

she?”

“Right. Cheryl Meriwether. She was found shot to death in

her home. The charm in her mouth was a gun.” She set a

charm of a handgun on the table.

“Did Coop know this woman?” Chance asked.

Wesley shrugged and looked to Carlotta.

“Not that I know of,” she said. Although he had attended

her memorial service….

“Since she worked in the D.A.’s office, he might have

known her from…before,” Wesley said, his eyes darting

back to the window.

“Before what?” Hannah asked.

“Coop made a mistake a few years back when he was the

Chief Medical Examiner,” Carlotta said. “The story is that

he was drinking and driving and came upon a car accident.

He stopped to help and declared a woman at the scene

dead.”

“Except she wasn’t dead,” Wes supplied. “And because

she didn’t receive medical care right away, she almost did

die. Coop lost his job.”

“Jack said he had to spend some time in jail,” Carlotta

murmured.

“So maybe he knew this Meriwether chick from then,”

Chance said.

“Maybe,” Carlotta agreed quietly, making more notes.

“What about the next victim?” Hannah pressed, sounding

desperate.

Carlotta took a deep breath to clear her head. “Number

five was Marna Col ins. She died in her home of cyanide

poisoning. The cop who was first on the scene told me

there was no sign of forced entry, and that the M.E. pul ed

a handcuffs charm from her mouth. I don’t know if it

looked like this one, but it’s the only one I could find.” She

set the silver charm on the table.

“Next was Wanda Alderman. Suffocated, again in her

home. They didn’t realize she was a victim at first because

she’d swallowed the charm, a barrel or a keg. It was found

during the autopsy. Again, I didn’t see it, but this was the

only barrel charm I could find.”

Carlotta stopped and massaged her temples. “The seventh

victim was the burned body that was dumped in front of

my scooter on the street.”

“They stil haven’t made an identification?” Hannah asked.

“No. And Jack said it could take a while.”

“What kind of charm was in the mouth?” Wesley asked.

“I don’t know, but I’l keep trying to find out. Wes, can you

keep your ears open at the morgue?”

He nodded.

“So the kil er meant for you to run over the body,” Chance

said to Carlotta.

She nodded. “I’m assuming.”

“What kind of car was the body tossed out of?” Chance

pressed.

“I can’t say for sure.” She’d played the last seconds before

the accident over and over in her mind so many times. Her

memory was starting to return flashes of vehicles, but she

couldn’t be sure if they were simply vehicles at the scene

in the aftermath, cars she’d seen in commercials, or even

figments of her imagination. “It might—” Carlotta

swallowed, having never uttered the words before. “It

might have been a white van.”

In the silence that fol owed, Chance looked around the

table. “What does Coop drive?”

“A white van,” Wes mumbled.

“And a Corvette,” Hannah added quickly.

Carlotta fought a growing tide of alarm. “Wesley, since you

picked up the last two victims that were found together,

what can you tel us?”

“The eighth and ninth bodies were Georgia State students,

two girls.” He squinted, as if he were trying to recal

details. “Amy Hampel …and DeeAnn or Diane Easton, I

think. They were parked, smoking a joint from the looks of

it. Died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Our UNSUB stuffed

a rag in their tailpipe, then stuffed charms down their

throats.”

“UNSUB?” Chance asked.

“Unknown subject,” Wes supplied. “Police speak.”

“And the charms in their mouths were books,” Carlotta

said.

“Both of them?” Hannah asked.

Wes nodded. “Maybe because they were students?”

“Is Coop into co-eds?” Chance asked.

“I think he’s just into Carlotta,” Wes said with a laugh.

Hannah flinched.

Carlotta bit her lip, recalling the slinky blonde who’d been

all over Coop the night she’d seen him drinking at Moody’s

cigar bar.

“Was the car found near his house or where he works?”

Chance asked.

Carlotta exchanged a glance with Wes, then said, “No, but

it was found close to a cigar bar where Coop sometimes

hangs out.”

Chance threw up his hands. “I don’t even know the guy

and I’d convict right now.”

“Don’t say that,” Hannah said. “Coop isn’t a kil er.”

“Okay. But assuming that’s true, how the heck are we

supposed to help him? Unless someone else walks into the

police station and confesses, the guy is sunk.”

They all looked at Carlotta. Her face felt hot. “Well…the

way I see it, we have two choices. We can either try to

prove that Coop didn’t do these things, or we can find the

person who did.”

“Michael Lane?” Wes asked.

She nodded.

“How are we supposed to do that?” Hannah asked.

“I don’t have all the answers yet. Meanwhile, let’s divvy up

some of these leads and unanswered questions. I’m going

to keep trying to track down where the charms might have

been purchased, and I’m going back to the beginning to

look into the background of the first victim. Hannah, can

you and Chance find out where someone would get

cyanide?”

They nodded. Carlotta figured with Chance’s drug

connections, he’d have the answer in a couple of phone

calls. “Also, Chance, can you ask around and find out if

Pepper’s friends know anything about a man who might

have been stalking her?”

He struck a serious pose. “Wil do.”

“Wes, I need for you to stay on top of the identification of

the burned body, and find out what you can about Coop’s

case through Liz.” She gave him a pointed look.

“No problem.”

Carlotta tried not to think about his methods for gleaning

info out of Liz. “I’m also going to try to figure out where

Michael might be hiding.” She closed her notebook. “Call

me if you find out anything.”

Hannah and Chance got up to go. “Do you need a ride?”

Hannah asked.

“That would be great, thanks.” She looked over to find

Wesley chewing on a fingernail, stil seemingly fixated on

the kitchen window. His eyes looked dilated. Carlotta

sighed. She couldn’t put off the drug talk any longer. “I

need a minute to talk to Wes.”

7

Carlotta studied Wesley with growing concern. The fact

that he was so distracted by the kitchen window to the

point of not noticing when his buddy Chance said goodbye

told her how much the drugs were messing with his

concentration. Was he hallucinating?

“Wesley,” she said sharply.

His head came around. “Huh?”

“How did the reception go the other night?”

“Uh, not so wel .”

“What happened?”

“Meg’s dad doesn’t like me.”

She smiled. “No father likes a guy his daughter likes. What

matters is whether Meg likes you.”

“I don’t think Meg likes me anymore, either.”

“Why not?”

He sighed. “Because I was stupid. I let her dad make me

mad and I left the reception without tel ing her.”

Carlotta’s eyes widened. “You just left her there? I can’t

believe she’s stil speaking to you.”

“Only to say mean things,” he said morosely.

“Have you apologized?”

“Not exactly.”

She arched an eyebrow. “What are you waiting for?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Not as complicated as you men want to make it,” she

countered. “If you like this girl, buy her flowers and tel her

you were an idiot.”

“I’l think about it,” he hedged.

Carlotta crossed her arms. “We need to talk about

something else.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “What?”

“Um…we have fire ants.”

“Huh?”

“In the front yard, apparently. Mrs. Winningham is about

to have a fit. Can you take care of it?”

He pushed his hand into his hair. “I’l figure something

out.” His glance slid back to the window. “I really need to

get going, Sis.”

She caught his arm. “Wait, there’s something else.”

He sighed. “What already?”

“The fact that you’re taking Oxy.”

He looked surprised, then recovered with nonchalance.

“I’m not, I told you.”

She reached for her purse and pul ed out the piece of

paper that Coop had given her, then extended it to him.

“This says different.”

“What is it?”

“The results of a drug test. On you.”

He glanced over the sheet. “A drug test? But how? What

did you test?”

“Your hair.”

“But how—” He stopped, his face going stony. “The haircut

you gave me the other day.”

“Right.”

His face went red, then he flailed his arms. “I can’t believe

you’d do something like that behind my back!”

“I had a feeling you were lying to me.”

The veins in his neck bulged. “You had no right! It’s none

of your business.”

She blinked at his bel igerent response, but held her

ground. “You’re my brother. I’m not going to stand by and

let you do something that could kil you, or at the very