Free The Treble Wore Trouble (The Liturgical Mysteries) by Mark Schweizer Page B

to Noylene's Oasis of Beauty: the Ginger Cat, the Bear and Brew, and Eden Books. It was long and narrow and smelled vaguely of garbage — that rotten odor that pervades the proximity of metal dumpsters. Utility lines crossed overhead at every angle, taking power, internet, telephone, and cable TV into all the buildings on this end of the square. The cracked and worn asphalt was dotted with brown weeds poking through in numerous spots and no signs except an old, hand-lettered "No Parking" directive, painted on a board and hung on the whitewashed wall above the lone, yellow dumpster. Standing in the alley, surrounded by three walls and the entrance, one could see neither trees nor mountains. It might have been any sad alley in any city in the country. Even the birds stayed away.
    Dave and I entered from the back, walked around Otto's garbage pickup truck and saw him standing next to the dumpster. He hadn't emptied it yet, and although the large bin wasn't overflowing, it was full enough, being the only dumpster for all four businesses. The Beautifery and the bookstore probably didn't have much on a daily basis, but the Bear and Brew and the Ginger Cat more than made up the difference. We walked up to Otto and followed his gaze down the wall. Just as Dave had said, there, sitting on the ground, as though he were sleeping, was what appeared to be a teen-aged boy. His hands were in his lap, his eyes were closed, his long black hair dropped over his eyes and around his shoulders. His chin rested on his chest. I pulled his hair back off his neck and felt for a pulse. No need. His skin had a hard feel to it. He was stiff and cold as ice.
    The strangest thing about him was his dress. He was wearing a black sharkskin suit, a black shirt, and a black string tie with a rattlesnake head on the slider. Not a facsimile of a rattlesnake head — the actual head of a good-sized black rattler with the mouth open in mid-strike, the eyes glaring, and two predominant, inch-long fangs almost dripping venom. Each end of the string tie, resting in the middle of the boy's chest, was decorated with the rattles from the other end of two snakes. Eight or ten rattles at first glance, and each was maybe a couple of inches long. On his feet were black dress boots, the toe of one of them decorated with a silver tip. The other boot was unadorned. He had a skull ring with a turquoise stone on the middle finger of his right hand.
    The back door of Eden Books opened and Nancy came striding out with Georgia right behind her.
    "Are you kidding me?" said Nancy, her shoulders sagging as she saw the boy in front of us.
    "That's what the Chief said," said Dave sadly. "His exact words."
    "Oh my!" said Georgia. "Oh no! This is terrible!"
    "Georgia," I said, "would you mind terribly going back inside and calling the paramedics?"
    "I already ..." started Nancy, then stopped as she caught my eye.
    "Georgia?" I said again. She was frozen in place, staring at the body. Then at the mention of her name, she seemed to snap out of her daze and regain her senses.
    "Of course. Of course, I will." She returned to the back door of the bookshop and tugged on it, but it had locked behind her. With a huff of frustration, she walked past us and the garbage truck to make her way around the block.
    "And, Georgia," Nancy called after her, "don't tell anyone about this just yet."
    "I won't," she answered, and disappeared.
    "I already dialed the EMTs," said Nancy, once Georgia had cleared the alley. "They're on the way."
    "I figured," I said, as I squatted down beside the boy to take a closer look. "Odd clothes for a kid."
    "Yeah," agreed Dave, resting on his haunches beside me.
    "Can I go?" asked Otto. "I gotta lot of garbage to pick up and I'm already behind."
    "Yeah," I answered. "Leave this one, though." I pointed to the dumpster just behind the truck. "Come and get it tomorrow."
    "Will do," said Otto, and climbed into the cab. A moment later, the truck rumbled off and we were left