Page 44 of Locked In

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

The sound of the sirens grew louder, and red and blue flashing lights strobed off the windows. Flynn quickly sent a text to Shah and then tucked his phone away.

A second later, there was a banging on the door. “Police,”

Flynn mumbled a curse. His headache was back and the last thing he wanted to deal with was cops. God, his evening with Harper had been so spectacular, and had deteriorated from there.

He opened the door. A uniformed police officer stood there. He was Flynn’s height but with a much heavier build. The guy’s hat was pulled low, making it hard to see his face. “Evening sir. Someone reported a possible death?” The voice was deep, and Flynn thought the cop was possibly his own age.

The sound of more sirens reached his ears and he glanced over the cop’s shoulder. An ambulance was arriving along with a second patrol car.

Flynn decided no words were necessary at that moment and just moved back out of the way.

The cop came in and stopped, staring at the dead body. “Shit,” he murmured.

Flynn immediately lowered the cop’s age. No officer with any kind of experience was going to say that in front of people. He bit back a sigh. On the bright side, if the kid was new to all this, it would make Flynn’s job much easier.

The cop keyed his radio. ‘Dispatch. It is confirmed, we have a dead, ah that is we have a…Just send the detective, please, Ruth.”

A response crackled over the open line, “Roger that.”

The two ambulance attendants arrived at the door and moved into the foyer. It took everything Flynn had not to roll his eyes. He leaned on the wall by the coat closet and crossed his arms over his chest. Part of him wanted to kick the attendants out because they were wrecking any possible evidence and he needed to find out who did this. But, the way he saw it, these rookies trashing his crime scene helped him keep the local cops from getting anywhere intheirinvestigation. He needed them to shut it down very quickly. One way was if they couldn’t find anything. The other way, well he didn’t want to think about that just yet.

Mrs. Carruthers emerged from the salon and entered the foyer. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

The cop turned and looked at her. “Ma’am, I’m gonna need you to step back into the other room.”

Pointedly ignoring the cop, she said, “Oh, for goodness sake. You’re too late to help her,” she gestured toward the body as she spoke to the two attendants, “and you’re destroying any evidence there might be here in the foyer. Go back outside.”

Dammit. Exactly what he hadn’t wanted to happen. Flynn scowled at Carruthers.

The two attendants looked at her and then back to the uniformed cop, who said, “Confirm she’s dead and then go back out.”

The taller of the attendants leaned down and touched the dead woman’s neck. “No pulse. She’s dead.” He stood and shrugged. Then he and his partner picked up their gear and went back out into the rain.

Shah appeared next to Mrs. Carruthers. His gaze met Flynn’s.Interesting.Where the hell had he been? Did he spend the night in hisroom? If so what took him so long to get down here? They were going to have to have a chat but not now.

The cop took note of Shah. “Sir, ma’am,” he said addressing both Mrs. Carruthers and Shah. “Please go back to the other room.”

A second uniformed cop entered the foyer. “Detective Merritt is on the way,” he announced and then took in the dead body. Flynn figured this guy to be older, maybe late forties. He was on the short side at maybe five feet six inches but his muscular build more than made up for it.

The first cop turned to Mrs. Carruthers. “Ma’am, do you know how many people are currently on the premises?”

Her sigh was full-on exasperated. “Officer…?”

“Watson,” the first cop said.

“Officer Watson, I am Mrs. Carruthers. I run the Rainy Day Club here at Everlasting Manor.” She looked at the second officer. “And you are?”

“Sergeant Vincent.”

“Sergeant,” she nodded. “I can certainly tell you how many people are here.” Then she pointed to Ravi. “This is Mr. Shah, our head of security. I’m sure he can help you with any questions you might have.”

Shah cleared his throat. It was hard to look official wearing a pair of sweatpants and a ragged T-shirt. It didn’t help that his hair was standing on end. He used one hand to try and smooth down his hair as he offered a tight smile to the officers. “I will be happy to answer any questions I can.”

Vincent shook his head. “Mr. Shah, why don’t you take Mrs. Carruthers back into the other room? Once Detective Merritt gets here, we’ll get you…sorted out.”

More uniformed officers arrived. If Flynn had to guess, it was probably all the cops currently on duty. He stayed in the corner, nonchalantly leaning against the wall, trying to look invisible. It was dark in the corner so he was in the shadows. No one seemed to notice him.

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