Ring In The Dead Part 6

"Suit yourself," Mac said with a shrug. "Some people are dogs for punishment."

We had worked together long enough that he knew I wanted a cigarette, but we were both kind enough not to mention it. I waited until I was far enough down the hill to be out of sight before I lit up. I figured out of sight is out of mind and d.a.m.n the smoke smell later.

Still, smoking was what I was doing when my eyes were inevitably drawn to the body. People pa.s.sing car wrecks on the highway aren't the only people guilty of rubbernecking. Cops do it, too, and at that time in my career I was enough of a newbie that seeing dead bodies was anything but routine.

I found myself staring at the dead woman-what I could see of her, at least. She lay sprawled facedown on the weedy hillside, half in and half out of the barrel. A tangle of what looked like shoulder-length blond hair spilled out over the ground. A moment later, something red caught my eye, sticking out through the layer of greasy slurry. At first I thought what I was seeing was blood spatter, but that wasn't possible. Clearly the woman had been dead for some time. Once blood is exposed to the air, it oxidizes and goes from red to muddy brown. This was definitely red. Bright red. Scarlet. Inhaling a lungful of smoke, I moved a step or two closer to get a better look.

What I was seeing, of course, was nothing but tiny little patches of bright red nail polish glowing in the sunlight. And that was the single detail that stayed with me from that crime scene-the nail polish. Wanting to look pretty for someone, the victim had gone to the trouble of having a manicure, or else she had given herself one. Had she been going to a dance or a party, maybe? Had she been out on the town for a night of fun?

Whatever it was, when she'd done her nails, she hadn't expected to be dead soon, or that the vivid red nail polish would be the only thing she'd be wearing when someone found her body.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

J. A. JANCE is the New York Times bestselling author of the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, the Ali Reynolds series, and four interrelated thrillers about the Walker Family. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Was.h.i.+ngton, and Tucson, Arizona.

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By J. A. Jance.

Joanna Brady Mysteries.

Desert Heat.

Tombstone Courage.

Shoot/Don't Shoot Dead to Rights.

Skeleton Canyon Rattlesnake Crossing Outlaw Mountain.

Devil's Claw Paradise Lost Partner in Crime.

Exit Wounds Dead Wrong Damage Control Fire and Ice.

Judgment Call J. P. Beaumont Mysteries Until Proven Guilty Injustice for All Trial by Fury Taking the Fifth Improbable Cause A More Perfect Union Dismissed with Prejudice.

Minor in Possession Payment in Kind Without Due Process.

Failure to Appear Lying in Wait Name Withheld.

Breach of Duty Birds of Prey Partner in Crime Long Time Gone Justice Denied.

Fire and Ice Betrayal of Trust and Hour of the Hunter.

Kiss of the Bees Day of the Dead Queen of the Night.

Edge of Evil Web of Evil Hand of Evil.

Cruel Intent Trial by Fire Fatal Error.

Left for Dead Deadly Stakes Coming Soon in Hardcover.

Second Watch.

end.