Page 29 of Ghostly Bother
"What about me?" Eden called from behind him.
"Yeah, Kyle went out for an early lunch and Brayden is in the middle of helping Gretta. You're stuck with me." Carrie gave him a small shrug.
He was aware that Carrie didn't like going on calls any more than he did, but it was necessary at times. "If only the mayor had approved our request for a budget increase, we'd have a death investigator to do all this for us." Lance made the comment, aware that Eden was listening.
"Hopefully the new mayor will be willing to help." Carrie swiped her badge to get into the garage.
"Can't be any worse." Lance climbed into the driver's seat, aware that Carrie didn't like driving the large van. He hit the button on the garage door opener and started the van. "Where are we headed?" He tried not to groan as Eden suddenly came through the side of the van and stood behind his seat.
"Apartments off Collins Street. The Elmbridge Apartments." She gave him the exact address. "Do you think we'll get enough funding to hire more people?" Carrie asked.
Lance focused on backing out the van, then paused to make sure the garage door closed behind them. "I sure hope so. We're way underfunded compared to other offices in the state and underpaid. With the growth the areas seen, we should have a couple more medical examiners and at least one death investigator. I know Sam wants to remodel and tighten security too. I doubt we'll see enough money to do everything, but without raises soon, we're going to lose people. I could move to the next county over and make twice what I'm making now. If I moved to a big city, I'd more than triple what I make."
"It's not my fault. You try and finance a whole city," Eden argued.
Lance wanted to swat at Eden who was speaking right into his ear as he drove since she hovered right beside his seat. "If we can get an honest mayor in office, one who doesn't pad her own pockets and give all the raises to just her staff, we might see changes."
"I admit I've looked around at other jobs, but I love you guys and can't imagine working with anyone else." Carrie put the address into the GPS.
"Hopefully, it won't be a decision any of us have to make. I know the police department is hurting just as badly. It could take time for the city to heal after what Eden Anderson did to it. It's going to be a slow process. I feel for anyone brave enough to step up and run in the next election." Lance enjoyed the comments,knowing Eden was listening and couldn't do anything about his comments or opinions.
"Hey, you sound as if I didn't do anything for this city." Eden stared at him. "I did a lot. I revamped the entire City Center. And there's that new skate park, and I approved the new hospital being built."
Lance raised a brow, recalling one of the companies she admitted to taking bribes from was the company that would run that hospital.
"I wouldn't want the job. It's going to be a mess to clean up. Has Angus said anything about the audit rumored to be going on?" Carrie asked.
"I know the audit was more than a rumor, but I haven't heard anything about what they found or even if they found anything. I'm sure that's a big question right now. Maybe the fear of the audit and information it would reveal is why someone killed her." Lance slowed as they neared the apartment complex. He saw police cars parked up ahead and pulled up behind them. "Grab the kit while I find out what we've got." Lance shut off the van and climbed out.
"On it," Carrie said.
Lance looked around and quickly noticed an apartment on the first floor with the door open and an officer standing just inside. He made his way over, taking in the complex around him as he went. It was a nice place. Each apartment had well maintained grass in front and small flowerbeds under the front windows. He was several feet away from the open door, when he caught the overpowering scent of decomposition. He'd done this enough to estimate how long the body had been in the apartment just by the smell alone. The body had been there for days, maybe even weeks. He braced himself for what he was about to walk into. He smiled at the officer. "I'm with the Medical Examiner's Office."
"Good. The sooner we get her out of here, the sooner I can get out of here." The officer sighed. "Looks like she's been dead a while. Family reported they hadn't heard from her in a week and that was unusual. We're talking to neighbors now, but it looks like she overdosed while shooting up."
Lance pulled out a jar of Vicks Vapor Rub and handed it to the officer. "Put some under your nose. It will help." He often carried the stuff with him, not so much for himself anymore, but for the others who weren't used to the smells of a decaying body.
"Thanks." The officer took it, smearing a little beneath his nose.
"What do you know about the deceased?" Lance asked as Carrie walked up beside them.
"Corianne Wallace, twenty-six." The officer read from a small notebook. "Family said she recently moved here from Oklahoma to take a manager's position at one of the stores at the mall. She was good about calling home every few days or at least texting her sister. When they didn't hear from her, they called her work and found out she'd stopped showing up. They called us to check on her."
Lance sighed. "Too young. Let's see what we got." He glanced at Carrie. "Possible overdose." He refused to diagnose anything until after an autopsy and lab work were done. He'd learned a long time ago that things were often not what they seemed when it came to death.
"Been dead a while." Carrie wrinkled her nose.
"I'm guessing at least a week." Lance walked farther into the apartment, following the noise of others talking. He paused in the doorway to a small bedroom, but it wasn't the body that had his attention, it was the ghost of a young woman that appeared to be sitting on the bed. He glanced at the body, confirming the ghost was probably that of the woman now lying on the floor of the bedroom. As badly as he wanted to talk to the ghost, heforced himself to ignore her for now. He knelt down by the body and nodded to Carrie to get to work.
"How gross." Eden floated into the room, then stopped. "Oh, I didn't expect her to be here."
The woman on the bed rose up, a look of shock on her face. "You're like me."
Eden made a snorting sound. "You mean dead?"
"Yeah, I guess." The woman glanced at her body.
"No guessing about it. You're dead." Eden moved closer. "Not surprised if you were doing drugs."
