Free Stiff Penalty (A Mattie Winston Mystery) by Annelise Ryan Page A

underground garage, and headed for the library, which did double duty as my office. It took me a few minutes to launch the appropriate software and hook the camera up to the computer to start the download. I glanced at my watch and saw it was only a few minutes before ten, and even though I knew it meant I might end up running late, I went looking for Izzy.
    He wasn’t in his office, so I made my way to the autopsy suite and peeked in through the window in the door. Izzy was there, his back to me, working alone on Derrick Ames’s autopsy. He was doing something down by Derrick’s legs, and I could see that he hadn’t cut the man open yet, but the barbecue fork had been removed from his chest and was sitting on a nearby stainless-steel table.
    I pushed the door open and said, “Hey, Izzy.” He startled, nearly falling off the stool he stands on in order to adequately reach the table. He clapped a hand over his chest and looked over his shoulder at me, eyes wide.
    “Oh, geez, sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to spook you. Are you okay?”
    “I will be,” he said, turning back to Derrick’s body, “just as soon as my heart rate slows down. You’d think that after all the years I’ve spent cutting open dead people that I’d be beyond getting the heebie-jeebies, but sometimes when I’m here alone, my imagination gets the better of me.”
    “I’d be more worried if it didn’t bother you,” I told him. “Any building at night when you’re alone can be scary. Throw in a few dead bodies and you’ve got the makings of a Stephen King novel.”
    “I’ve never read any of his stuff,” Izzy said. “All my reading time gets spent on professional journals.”
    “It’s probably just as well. That man cost me a few nights of sleep before I started this job. I don’t know if I’ll ever read him again now. Anyway, I just dropped off the camera and hooked it up to download the pictures. Come up with anything yet?”
    “Nothing surprising. Derrick has a black eye and a broken nose that looks like it bled a lot, so I’m pretty sure he took a hit in the face from something. He also has a number of fresh bruises on his arms and a linear bruise on his back just below his waist that I’m thinking must be from being pushed up hard against the counter. The arm bruises are most likely from the struggle he put up against his killer. Maybe I’ll come up with something more once I open him up.”
    “Need me to help you with anything?”
    “No, I’m okay. Just don’t sneak up on me again.”
    “You got it. I’m heading over to the police station to meet up with Bob Richmond and interview Ames’s family. After that I’ll probably head home. Should I pick you up when I’m done?”
    “No need. I’ll give Dom a call, and he can come and get me.”
    “Okay, but let me know if you change your mind.”
    “I will. Thanks. I’ll talk to you sometime tomorrow.”
    “Good night.”
    “Good night.”
    I left through the front door of the building and walked over to the police station, which was only a block away. Both buildings are located on the edge of the downtown area, and the streets are always well lit. Still, I couldn’t resist looking over my shoulder a few times. I chalked my nerves up to pregnancy hormones and talk of Stephen King as opposed to any real-life threat, but I was still glad when I reached the police station and was safely inside.
    Stephanie, the evening dispatcher, was behind the desk, talking on the phone. She gave me a little finger wave and buzzed me through to the back.
    I found Richmond in Hurley’s office, sitting at Hurley’s desk. The sight of him there instead of Hurley made my chest ache.
    “Junior found a number for Derrick’s cell phone,” he said when he saw me.
    “And?”
    “And nothing,” he said with frustrated shake of his head. “When he tried to call, it went straight to voice mail. He had the phone company see if they could pick up a signal or activate the GPS on it,