Free Tunnel Vision by Brenda Adcock

office. See what you can find out about the floor plans, too. In the meantime, Nicholls, you and I will check to see if there’s anything new on our Thursday John Doe. I’ll check the missing person reports and you go over the stolen car lists. Oh, and see if the lab was able to trace any part numbers on the car. Looks like it’s time to let our fingers do the walking for a while.”
    THE DAY WAS shot and all Brodie had to show for it was another body, or at least part of one, and a throbbing headache. The good news was that the second victim at least had a face. She rubbed her forehead with her thumb and forefinger as she made notes to herself along with a list of questions that needed to be answered. She noticed Maggie and Nicholls seemed to be getting along and worked well together, bouncing ideas off one another.
    Occasionally, her train of thought would be broken by the sound of Maggie’s laughter. She had an easy, infectious laugh that made everyone around her feel good. Frowning, she tried to shut the sound out. She didn’t want to feel good about having Maggie around. By five she felt like she was going cross-eyed from reading reports. Any time she had to stay at her desk for more than an hour she felt as if she was smothering. Flipping shut the folder she was reading, she stood and stretched as she pulled her jacket on. Too many thoughts and questions were shoving their way around in her mind looking for a way to connect. She had more questions than answers and needed something to distract her from her private thoughts.
    “Don’t think I can stand any more excitement for today, Nicholls. Everybody go home and get a good night’s sleep. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have a few more reports in and can start to piece this thing together.”
    “I think I’ll just run over my notes one more time,” Maggie said.
    Nicholls leaned down next to her as he slipped his jacket on. “Brown noser,” he whispered.
    “Whatever works,” she said, smiling up at him.

Chapter Three
    JUST AFTER LUNCH Tuesday, Brodie was
    bravely pouring another cup of coffee when the telephone on Maggie’s vacant desk rang. After a few phone calls, Maggie had driven to the university to pick up blueprints of the Biology Building and the other nearby buildings. Taking a few steps across the room, Brodie grabbed the phone quickly and sat down.
    “Lieutenant Brodie,” she said.
    “Hey! Guess what we got?” Frank Cardona’s voice boomed over the handset.
    “What?” she asked.
    “The other three-fourths of the man from
    Aquarius!”
    Sitting up abruptly in her chair, she waved at Nicholls to pick up his phone.
    “Where, Frank?” she asked, grabbing a pad.
    “In a dumpster across town. You know where that new apartment complex is going up near Manchester?
    Behind that,” Cardona said. “Found a little while ago by a troop of Boy Scouts out scavenging for aluminum cans. Can you believe that shit?”
    “We’ll be there in a few minutes,” she said.
    “No hurry. The body’s pretty mushy. Between that and about four hundred shitty diapers, the smell’s enough to gag a maggot, which are also plentiful. Bring Lysol, babe.”
    Frank Cardona was nothing if not vividly
    descriptive and suddenly the barbecue sandwich she had eaten for lunch was having second thoughts. She hung up the phone and grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair. Nicholls was already ahead of her.
    “Let’s go, Maggie,” he called as he spotted their trainee entering the building with an armful of papers. “Looks like we’re finally gonna get a height and weight on the Headless Horseman.”
    BRODIE STOPPED THEIR car near the flimsy
    boundary created by yellow police tape strung around the parking lot. She was ahead of Nicholls and Weston as she flashed her badge to the officer manning the perimeter of the scene. It was easy to spot Cardona in his bright yellow coveralls. He was directing the men with him in removing the headless body through the opening on