Free Bigfoots Don't Do Mini Coopers (Kate Storm Book 1) by Meredith Allen Conner Page B

this alley had a concrete pad the length and width of a pick up truck outside their back door.
    Our dumpsters go on the pads. Since the sanitary company had already been through and removed most of the items guaranteed to leave a stench and the senator had been murdered recently - and at a different l ocation - the scent of copper was faint. It mixed in with the late summer air, warmed concrete and  faint lingering sweetness of rotted fruit.
    Can you get a blood stain out of concrete?
    Especially a large one?
    It would have been a lot worse if the senator had been actually killed here. I understood that. But the pillow sized pool continued to look VERY LARGE to me.
    “ Ya got some rags?” Al tilted his head at Morgan.
    She reached into a cream canvas tote bag I had not noticed. I really don ’t know how I missed it. Large with red handles and her name embroidered in a matching color and elegant font on the side, the tote would have looked more at home on a sailboat than in my alley.
    I ’d wondered what had happened to a stack of mail order catalogs I’d been saving. Morgan’s inner suburbanite was showing a little leg. I planned to tease her about it. After we got rid of the body.
    “ These ones will be perfect.” She opened a container of bright colored cloths. “They’re microfiber and lint-free.”
    Al circled the blood to gi ve them a sniff. “These are perfect. They’ll soak up any moisture and won’t leave anything behind. Where’d ya get ‘em?”
    “ Amazon.com. I bought a whole case.”
    I refused to think about why my UDBF would feel the need to purchase an entire case of lint-free cl oths that were well-suited to crime scene clean-up.
    “ Shouldn’t I wear gloves too?”
    “ You didn’t touch the body. And the police would expect to find your fingerprints at your office.”
    Made sense.
    I held out my hand and Morgan tossed one lint-free cloth over to me. She crouched on one side and I took the other.
    “ No, Doll, stop.” Al nudged my hand. “Ya need to start from the outside and work your way in. That way you won’t spread the blood and make the stain larger.”
    I don ’t argue with logic. Or a former hit man who obviously knows what he is talking about. Even if he is my Chihuahua.
    After we ’d absorbed as much of the blood as we could, Morgan pulled out a garbage bag and we disposed of the cloths.
    Next she handed me a bucket. “ Would you mind filling this partway with cold water?”
    “ Sure.” I stood, stretched my back and turned.
    “ Make sure it’s cold water, Kate.”
    “ Got it.” I didn’t understand the exact need for cold water, but again I was bowing to their superior knowledge. Although I’m pretty sure I’d read something about cold water and blood on my box of Tide.
    It warms my heart to know that Morgan and Tide are in agreement.
    Feel free to insert any level of sarcasm along with that sentence. As long as it is a lot of sarcasm.
    When I returned with the cold water, Morgan handed me a sponge. “We’ll wash this the same way. Just make certain you don’t use too much water and you are directly over the bucket when you squeeze out your sponge.”
    I could handle that.
    I dipped my sponge in the water, carefully squeezed out the excess and began to scrub.
    “ Remember. From the outside in, Doll.”
    Outside in. Check.
    I moved my hand to the edge of the blood and began again. We went through several buckets of water before Morgan and Al pronounced their satisfaction with the now blood free area.
    My fingers had turned slightly purple by this time. I poured the clear water into the sink and ran the faucet for several minutes after as per Morgan ’s instructions.  
    Just in case anyone decided to take apart my plumbing and disc overed the blood. I’m sure that would be the first thing a person - either human or non - would think the moment we were introduced.
    I always think to myself “Gee, I oughta take apart their plumbing and see what potential