Left to Vanish (An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book Eight)

dingy hall, allowing the glass door withthe golden lettering to swing shut behind her. Paige kept her lips pursed asAdele hastened over.
The younger woman was behavingstrangely. She seemed on edge, nervous even. The way she’d lashed out at SignoreHerrera was only one from a slew of alarming interactions. Paige studied Adele’sflustered expression as the younger woman approached. Adele was taller thanPaige by a few inches, and had an exotic beauty about her which Paige in heryounger years might have envied. Now, though, there was nothing about the darkclouds behind her eyes which Paige coveted.
Robert was dead.
Everyone at the agency knew.
Adele had been close with hermentor. Very close. Some of the younger agents gossiped about theirrelationship behind closed doors with coy winks and nods. Paige hadn’tparticipated in such tawdry rumors, but she wouldn’t have put it past someonelike Adele. Agent Sharp was always willing to play her own game, indifferent tothe opinions of others.
But now Robert was dead. And itseemed to be weighing on Adele’s mind…
Rumors swirled about the agencyabout the killer. A copycat, some said, from Agent Sharp’s past. No one knewfor sure, though. For a moment, as Adele approached, moving toward the doorinto the deeper portion of the lower-level coroner’s office, Paige thought topause and ask.
But then, as Adele looked up, Sophiedecided against it.
At least one of them had to be aprofessional. Besides, if Adele acted up further, she would have no qualms aboutcontacting Foucault to yank the upstart off the case.
Paige nodded to herself, smilingas she did, and then pushed through the office door.
“Ah, DGSI?” came avoice—mercifully speaking French—from the back of a low room lined with sinks.The space looked like a Laundromat, minus the machines, replaced by largefloor-to-ceiling silver coolers.
“Agent Sharp,” Adele said,swallowing. “This is Agent Paige.”
“Come, come. I’ve been expectingyou—over here!” The coroner waved the two of them over from where he stood by alow sink in the back of the room. The sound of splashing water cut off, andthen a large man built like a powerlifter spun around. He had no neck, his headseemingly a part of his shoulders, wide as they were. He was forced to turncompletely to acknowledge them, unable to glance back it seemed by the sheermusculature of his upper frame.
The man was bald, save a wisp ofhair combed to one side. He flashed a thumbs-up at the women, smilingcongenially. “Hello! Hello!” he said, chipper and cheerful. “Come, my dearaudience, and allow yourselves to witness this humble production.” He hummed,clapping his hands together and skirting over toward the one of the lockers,his gray and white coat swishing against a silver table.
“We’re here about SignoraCalvetti,” Agent Paige said, standing next to Adele, equal parts amused andalarmed by the coroner’s large frame and flamboyant speech.
The powerlifter chuckled andrapped his knuckles against a metal door. He leaned in and whispered, “Hello inthere? Wakey wakey. Anyone home?” He chuckled and held a finger to his lips,waiting, and then declared, “No! I guess not. Oh well! Come closer—they won’tbite. Though I might. Here, here, pull up a seat.” He gestured toward one ofthe silver tables.
Adele and Paige both looked at theindicated metal surface. Was that a streak of blood in the center? Paige shiveredand decided to remain standing, as did Adele. Though both of them did taketentative steps forward.
The large coroner pulled open themetal door and yanked out a metal stretcher, upon which rested a body beneath ablanket.
“And here she comes,” he declared,“our star actress. Spotlights shine, the crowd watches with alarm!” With adramatic flourish he pulled down the top of the blanket, revealing two coldfeet with purplish toes.
He winced. “Aha, slight technicalmalfunction.” He pulled the thin fabric down again and hurried over to the topof the stretcher. Again, he reached up and this time, slowly, one eye closed asif he were peeking, he pulled down the sheet, revealing a cold face with closedeyes.
“There we go,” he said. “No moresurprises for our audience. Come closer, come closer, you won’t see a thingfrom the bleachers. Front row seats. Splash zone! Aha!”
Paige quirked an eyebrow, butreluctantly, straight-postured and full of unspoken cynicism, she approachedthe large coroner and the corpse. Adele lingered behind simply watching.
“Here we go, here we are. A plottwist indeed!” He tapped a thick finger against the corpse’s pale flesh, sansgloves. “See that, my shrewd-eyed watcher? Hmm? See that right there?”
Agent Paige leaned in, frowning asshe did. The same bumpy ligature marks she’d seen on the crime scene photos werenow displayed across the victim’s neck. Signora Calvetti was paler and olderthan she’d seemed in other pictures lying naked and dead beneath a tarp. Herthroat was ringed in an angry red loop, with small bubble-shaped indentationsalong the wound.
Sophie looked up at the coroner. “Shedied by strangulation, yes?”
“Yes, yes. Very much so. Youguessed the ending beforehand. Haha. Spoiler alert, though, am I right?” He winkedat Paige with a cheerful smile.
She returned a stony, ice-coldglare which didn’t seem to bother him in the least.
“Beads, pearls?” Paige asked,tight-lipped.
“Could be,” he said. “Well… maybe.Beads, though…” He frowned, glancing off at the ceiling, tracing a gray crackin the cement, and paused. “Can’t recall ever seeing beads used to kill.”
“Beads are usually on string,”Adele murmured.
The large coroner and Paigeglanced back toward where the agent was standing, her arms crossed now, hereyes more alert than they’d been earlier. She was staring at the corpse,frowning.
“What’s your point?” Paige asked.
Adele took a shaky breath, butthen nodded as if trying to reach a conclusion herself before giving voice toit. “Strings break, yes? Something like pearls might have a more reinforced cord.But beads? Beads would break, no?”
The coroner nodded slowly, tappinghis chin with the same finger he’d poked the dead woman’s neck. “She raises agood point.” He glanced toward Paige as if waiting for her to respond.
“Still might be beads,” she said,coolly.
“Could be,” Adele replied. “But…”She frowned, shaking her head. “Never mind.”
“No, dear,” said the coroner. “Tellus, what were you thinking? There are no stupid questions in the arts.”
Adele swallowed. “I wouldn’tsay—never mind. Just, it’s nothing, just a thought.”
Paige sighed. It was just likeAdele to drag it on. She