Chapter Sixteen
The Next Crime Scene
Saturday
Almost Noon
In a way, they were lucky because they weren’t catching bodies left and right. That was always a plus when it came to chasing a killer. That little bit of breathing room might just keep them from losing their minds.
For them, it absolutely could be worse, and while there was a reason to celebrate, this was still anything but good.
Both Bishop and Honor knew that this was going to be a touch-and-go situation.
As in their boss might want to touch this and make it go to the FBI to be investigated. That was the last thing they needed. How the hell were they going to explain that to any Feds that tried to pick this up and run with it?
Psychics?
Missing ghosts?
Dead depressed women?
Just with that alone, it sounded like some crazy plot from a novel, and not real life.
For their sanity, and their jobs’ sakes, they needed to keep this under control.
Somehow.
All they could hope now was when they got called into his office, and they would be because that was how the captain rolled, he’d buy the ‘the ME marked it all as suicide’ explanation.
What other choice did they have but to lean into that explanation?
Truth be told, their backs were to the wall on this one, and it didn’t look as if it was going to get better any time soon.
As Bishop and Honor pulled up to the house with the address that Maura and Jagger had sent them, it was a fairly quiet neighborhood.
Cute houses.
Pretty streets.
Oh, and a dead body in a tree.
If that didn’t scream Salem, they didn’t know what did.
Parking at the curb in front of the one house, they had bad news for whomever was trying to sell the house beside the victim’s home.
Housing prices were about to go down once the nice neighborhood was flagged with a dead woman in a tree.
Call it a hunch.
No one wanted to live by a suicide house—or no one in their right mind did.
As they got out, OF COURSE, one of the neighbors was outside, watching them.
“Can I help you?” the man asked.
Clearly, he was new to the town, because it was rare that anyone didn’t recognize them.
To introduce herself, Bishop pulled her blazer back to reveal the gun and shiny gold badge beside it.
“We got a well-visit call on this address. What can you tell us about your neighbor? Have you seen her recently?” she asked, as she was scanning the neighborhood to see if anyone was watching them.
He considered it.
“I haven’t lived here long, and only met her once or twice, but she seems nice. I haven’t seen her today. Normally, she’s outside with her cat in the sun.”
Why weren’t they shocked that there was a black cat in the window, looking at them? That was the most Salem thing in Salem.
Bishop was curious.
“And you are?” she asked, pulling out her notebook to make it look like she was taking information for a report.
He shared.
“Victor Lang.”
She scribbled his name down.
“Well, Victor, we’re going to check on your neighbor. Have a good day,” she said, dismissing him.
The last thing she wanted was to have idle chitchat with some resident when there was a body swinging in the breeze behind her house.
“Oh, thanks. You too!” he said, going back to his business so they could do their job.
That was when both women started walking up the sidewalk, and they hoped the man didn’t question why there were two other people with them.
Oh and that they were two people they didn’t introduce and with good reason.
If there was ever a time for the Littlemoons to go invisible, this would be that time.
Thankfully, they were silently following and not saying shit.
The fewer questions that were asked, the less would get back to their boss.
A boss who was NOT a fan of them.
“I’ll go this way. Knock on the door,” Bishop said, getting Julian and Tori to help.
“Can do,” Julian stated.
Honestly, they were more than happy to assist.
“Try and look less…PI-y,” Honor stated.
The two of them stared at them.
“Uh, how are we supposed to do that?” Tori asked, amused.
Honestly, Honor didn’t care.
For the two cops, while the neighbor was watching, they wanted to make sure he bought the whole ‘well-visit call’ thing so word didn’t spread like wildfire.
People liked to talk.
That didn’t always work to a cop’s benefit.
Going to the door, they knocked. The whole time, both Bishop and Honor made it to the backyard, making it seem like they were looking inside to see if they could see anyone.
In the back, oh, they absolutely saw someone. It appeared Maura and Jagger had most definitely found a body.
The victim was hanging there, swinging in the breeze. They’d also nailed it regarding her neck being broken. It was at a weird angle, and with her eyes wide open, it was garish.
Going over to her, Bishop pulled on a glove and then touched her leg.
“It’s cold and stiff. She’s in rigor,” she stated.
That meant she’d been dead for close to twelve to twenty-four hours.
So last night.
As Tori and Julian headed around back, they saw her, and both of them had their doors open, hoping to find anyone who might be able to help them.
And there were none.
Once more, it was a dead zone, as in not a single dead person to be found.
They.
Were.
All.
Gone.
“Well?” Honor whispered, as if she was sneaking around and not one of the two people actually allowed to be there.
Her sister-in-law shrugged.
“Nada,” Tori said. “She’s not here. In fact, no one is here. There’s not a ghost having a tea party, playing cricket, or humping in the corner.”
Both cops stared at Tori like she’d lost her damn mind to say that.
So, she apologized.
“Sorry, I miss Trey, and I actually miss the dead being inappropriate.”
Bishop lifted a brow.
“Do they actually hump in the corner?” she asked, curiously.
Julian just laughed.
“Yeah, like the nasty ghosts they are. You’d be shocked what we see.”
Well, in that case, the two cops were glad they weren’t seeing them.
“I don’t like that it’s a dead zone. It’s like this thing is Hoovering them up like they’re crumbs on a carpet,” Tori admitted. “I’m glad our dead are safe,” she added. “I don’t like how this feels.”
Yeah, well, none of this felt good to any of them. Now, though, they had a bigger problem.
They had a dead body and no idea that it was going to happen.
Cops didn’t like to be surprised.
“See if the door is unlocked,” Honor said. “It looks as if we have a repeat performance of that one death. Celest Harrow hung herself too.”
That she did.
If this killer was recycling deaths, it was about to be a LONG weekend for them.
And the FBI.
Because their boss was absolutely making that call.
At the door, Bishop found it unlocked, and she pulled her gun to go in and clear the place. Tori was right behind her, wanting to see if she picked up some sort of spirit.
As they left, Julian kept his voice down.
“How are you going to call this one in?” he asked. “Your boss is NOT believing you happened to show up here with us out of sheer coincidence.”
Oh, she was aware.
Honor knew there would be questions, and since she already lied and said it was a well-check call, that was what it was going to have to be.
When lying to your boss, KISS.
Keep.
It.
Simple.
Stupid.
So, here went everything.
“I need you to call nine-one-one, and tell them your neighbor hasn’t been seen in a day. Then, suddenly tell them you see a cop with a badge and will tell them. Hang up, and I’ll call it in, and go from there.”
Julian laughed.
Oh, and Honor didn’t.
She pointed at him.
“You love every second of this. Stop enjoying it! That’s an order.”
That only made him laugh even more.
God.
He loved his sister-in-law. Honor was a mixed bag of chaos, and he loved that for Booth.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, saluting her.
That made her sigh.
Her job was so much more difficult with the Littlemoons, but when she went to Tori and asked her to help keep Mary Ann, her mom, safe, she didn’t bust her balls.
So, this was repayment.
Any other time, she’d boot their asses off a scene and tell them they were on their own to sneak around when she couldn’t see them.
“You’ll survive this,” Julian stated. “Promise.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I can’t wait until I get a drunk driver who eats a tree with his face. I need a palate cleanser from all of this nuttery,” she admitted.
Yeah, that was a whole other crazy, but he let it go.
It was clear that Honor was a woman on the edge. She had a string of bodies, all mimicking suicides, and a powerful psychic had just delivered another.
No one wanted her stroking out on this one.
Putting on a fake accent, a bad one, he told the nine-one-one operator exactly what Honor told him to do.
When he hung up, she gave it a minute and then pulled out her phone to call it into dispatch.
“Yeah, some crazy guy just flagged me down regarding his neighbor. I’m going to check it out and see if she’s okay. He’s telling me he hasn’t seen her in a day, and that’s odd. Put Detective Monroe and myself working this, and then we’ll be back to working our cases.”
She paused.
“Nah, it’s probably nothing. No need for a beat cop. We’ll handle it. You know…protect and serve.”
Then, she hung up.
Julian went there.
“Crazy, huh?”
She nodded.
“Like a leprechaun in a field of clover as he’s looking for his pot of gold, my friend. You and your wife are the definition of it in my book.”
Eh, she wasn’t wrong.
Their lives were a little chaotic.
Before she followed her partner into the house, she gave it five minutes and then called in the body and asked for the coroner.
It looked like Bodhi’s backup was coming to a scene. Someone was NOT having a quiet Saturday. While they’d prefer Bodhi…the crazy you knew, getting him to show up there wasn’t happening.
The dude needed to sleep, too.
After hanging up, the two of them headed into the dead woman’s home, and once inside, they found the two people looking around.
“That house is clear,” Bishop said. “We found her name,” she said, holding a wallet in her hand. “We have Destiny Darthmouth,” she said, showing them the driver’s license belonging to the dead woman in the tree.