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corridor. This time he didn't go into the unmarked door. This
time his sixth sense took him in another direction.
He went into the crematory.
The pile of ash in the oven was still warm. Whose ashes? A
client? Or was the answer more sinister? Luke flipped on the
lights and looked around the room. There was something over
there, behind the equipment. Chief Smith poked his head in
the room.
"Find anything?"
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That Voodoo That You Do
by Ann Yost
Luke pulled a rubber glove out of a box and put it on and
picked up the object. He'd been slow on the uptake,
distracted. He held up the plastic-rimmed glasses.
"Those look like Mort's," Ezra said.
"They are," Luke replied. He nodded at the pile of ashes.
"We've been after the wrong person."
"Who's the right person?" Ezra's intelligent eyes met his.
"The last person to see Letty alive. Eleanor Prendergast."
Ezra stared at him then shook his head. "Hell," he
muttered. "Never underestimate the fury of a woman
scorned."
The pieces of the puzzle clicked together in Luke's mind.
"The murders and the corpse-looting, they are only the first
part of her plan," he said. "The coup-de-gras has got to
involve Prendergast. My guess is she'll kill him tonight."
Ezra was already moving. "We'll pick her up over at the
church but we'll have to go slow. Everyone in town will be
there."
Everyone in town. That meant the Maynards and Crystal
and Jessie. Luke set his jaw. Eleanor Prendergast was a loose
cannon. A premonition made him shiver. The pastor's wife
had set everything up for tonight when she'd have a stage
and a captive audience. What if her grand finale included
fireworks?
He couldn't let that happen. The two men sprinted toward
the church.
Jessie proceeded up the aisle with Bosco and a bevy of
small boys dressed in bathrobes while the congregation sang,
"While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night." When the
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That Voodoo That You Do
by Ann Yost
music stopped, Jessie stood near the stable. She estimated
she was five to eight feet away from Eleanor Prendergast. The
pastor's wife stood at the lectern waiting to read her next
line.
And, lo, an angel of the Lord stood before them and they
were terrified.
From underneath her hood Jessie scanned the
congregation. Where was Luke? She wished she could warn
him, wished she hadn't acted like a petulant child earlier. She
glanced at the plywood stable and memories surged.
The congregation rose again, this time singing "Angels We
Have Heard on High," while a dozen little girls in white
nightgowns with tinsel haloes on their heads, danced up the
aisle and across the front of the sanctuary. Jessie's heart
jerked. All those innocent children. She prayed Eleanor would
leave them alone. She had to be interested in the fate of one
person and one person only. Her husband. The Reverend
Dennis Prendergast.
The congregation settled back into their seats and a string
of children dressed in satin and velvet, crowns crooked on
their heads, processed up the aisle while Eleanor continued
the gospel.
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in
Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to
Jerusalem asking 'where is the child who has been born King
of the Jews? We have observed his star and have come to pay
him homage.'
Eleanor listened to the congregation warble five verses of
"We Three Kings." It had to happen any second now. She
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by Ann Yost
knew him well. He'd hear the organ, panic because he was
late, scrabble around trying to figure out how to get out of
the room, realize there was no way and finally, finally he'd
think to call her.
He was actually stupider than she'd thought. He should
have made the call already but then the Viagra she'd stirred
into the citrus parfait had probably addled him.
It didn't take much.
She found she was holding her breath and she made
herself inhale and exhale slowly. She didn't want to blow the
whole thing by hyperventilating.
Why the hell didn't he call?
She'd located a man who, for a hefty fee, had inserted a
tiny bomb into the new phone. It shouldn't kill anyone but
Dennis would lose his head. The congregation would rush to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]