Dead Case in Deadwood by Ann Charles

her as I passed. She smelled like the underside of
a car hood.
    "Okay, I get it, the old top-secret agent game,"
she whispered, following me with a dull, rhythmic thump thanks to the
medical boot encasing her lower right leg. "But I should be asking you what
you’re doing in here, not the other way around."
    "How did you find me? And why do you smell like you’ve
been bellying-up to a crank shaft."
    I heard her sniff. "It’s carburetor cleaner. My cousin Ronnie
is in town—you remember Claire’s older sister, right?"
    I remembered Veronica all too well. She always used to steal
the tin can away during our neighborhood Kick-the-Can game as a show of
older-sister dominance. "Mom mentioned she was back," I answered. "She
also told me about Veronica’s sleazy ex-husband."
    "Yeah, I hope the jerk’s dick falls off while he rots
in that kid-gloves-version of a prison they put him in. Anyway, Ronnie had some
engine troubles at the mall. I tinkered around under her hood for a bit."
    "When did you learn how to fix engines?"
    "I didn’t. We had to call a tow truck. When I dropped
Ronnie off at my aunt’s place, I saw your sister sunbathing next to your parents’
pool."
    "The bitch is back."
    "Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. I took the liberty
of rescuing your kids from her wickedness and dropped them off at your aunt’s.
Hope you’re okay with that."
    "Oh, hell yes. You saved me having to snarl and growl
at Susan in person." I just hoped Aunt Zoe was okay with my two kids there
while she worked in her workshop.
    "Zoe told me Harvey and you were at Mrs. Haskell’s
viewing, so I changed clothes and zipped down here."
    That explained her eau de carburetor.
    "When I saw Harvey out there harassing George,"
Natalie continued, "and you weren’t hiding in the john, I figured you were
either in here or in the basement. Knowing what Eddie does in the basement, I
decided to try my luck here first."
    "Did you see Eddie anywhere?" I stopped short and
peered through the wall of glass windows, my armpits sweaty at just the thought
of him coming in this room again while I was sniffing in corners and crates.
    "No, but his fancy new Silverado pickup is parked out
back, so he’s around." Natalie leaned her hip against the crate. "Is
this one of the crates you told me about last time?"
    "Yeah." I joined her.
    She tugged on the lid. "It wasn’t locked up like this before,
right?"
    "Right." I moved to one end and nodded toward the
opposite. "See if you can help me move it."
    "To where? We can’t exactly sneak this out through the
foyer under our skirts."
    "I just want to see how heavy it is and if anything
shifts when we lift it."
    Natalie rounded the other end. "I can’t put much weight
on my bad leg, you know."
    "So, lift with your good leg, silly." I wrapped my
fingers around the top edge. "Ready? One, two, lift."
    Natalie grunted. I strained. We were able to get just a
fraction of ground clearance before we had to set it down again.
    "Christ," Natalie wiped her hands on her skirt. "What
in the hell is in this? A buffalo?"
    "That’s the million dollar question."
    I tiptoed over to the door that opened into the parlor and
ran my fingers along the jam, finding several indents midway down. Upon
returning to where Natalie now sat on the crate, I told her, "They bring
them in and out through the parlor door. It’s a tight squeeze."
    "Excellent deduction, Nancy Drew. Didn’t you say there
was a cooler in the crate you hid in last time?"
    "Yes, it had a biohazard sticker."
    She tapped on the lid. "Is this the same crate?"
    "I’m not sure. It looks the same, but I was a little
distracted when I was here last time." I inspected all three sides of the
crate for any tell-tale markings. "You think there’s a body in here?"
    "I doubt it or we’d smell it."
    "Not if they sealed it tightly in a plastic tub."
    Natalie frowned at me. "That’s twisted. You’ve seen that
movie Phantasm too many times."
    "Maybe the Mudders have, too."
    "Next,