Murder Most Fantastical - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Dead is Dead

The jousting lead was a bust, although it did show me a hidden side of my junior detective.

“Sir, the Doctor Dunn sent over the coroner's report for that girl. Would you like to take a look at it?”

“Thank you, Bobsy. Put it on my desk and I'll go through it as soon as I finish this doughnut.” Yes, I was still referring to him as Bobsy. I mean, who picks a name like that? I licked the jelly from my fingers and reached for the folder Earhart had placed in my tray.

“I didn't know there were doughnuts.”

“Cheever brought them in.” Earhart turned to the break room. “But there aren't any left.” I popped the last piece of sugary fried dough into my mouth and opened the report.

A heavy sigh came from Earhart's direction. He shuffled with his head down over to his desk. For someone who spent his weekends making people laugh, he certainly was a downer the rest of the time.

The photographs of the cut-up victim led to the near reappearance of the doughnut I had so recently enjoyed. Coroner's reports really needed to come with warning labels for people who had just eaten.

I flipped the pictures over so I wouldn't have to look at those gaping holes. Or the blood. Or the organs. Or the bones. Or the ---

“Detective Summerton, are you all right, sir?”

“Fine, fine.” I waved my junior detective off and swallowed. For the record, doughnuts don't taste as good the second time around.

The report itself didn't have much to it that I didn't already know. Cause of death was the obvious stab wound. She had died between nine and eleven the night before. The only new information was her name and address.

“Do you know where Serendipitous Way is?”

“Isn't that down near Memory Lane?”

I squinted at Earhart, unsure if he was making a joke at my expense of if he was serious.

“You know, sir, the street full of memorabilia shops.”

“Of course I know what you're talking about.” I huffed and stood, dusting sugar particles off my jacket. “I wanted to make sure you knew where it was since that's where we're headed.”

“What for?”

“Our victim's, one Natasha Nix, last known address was 10 Serendipitous Way. We're going to see if anyone there knows anything that could help us.”

“Or if any of them are jousters?” Earhart asked, pulling on his coat.

“Don't be silly, Earhart. It's a residence, not a barn.”

“Of course, sir. And sir?”

“Yes?”

“Can we stop for doughnuts on the way?”

I raised an eyebrow in his direction. “No, I don't think so. I'm still full from the ones Cheever brought in.”

Another heavy sigh from Earhart as he trudged out the door to the car. I followed behind, trying to figure out what people found so funny about him.

Maybe it was just his name that made the audiences laugh.