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Connor said.
    Missy suddenly barked as the orange tabby we’d seen outside earlier streaked into the house. Missy chased after her, dodging through our legs as the tabby dove on top of the piles of clutter. Missy found an opening in the mess and went under.
    I had a bad feeling. That feeling escalated into a vibration. The mountains were starting to crumble. I held out my hands to brace myself.
    “Watch out!” Nick yelled, pulling me back toward him.
    One of the piles wobbled in slow motion, swaying left. Swaying right. I felt the thudding of Nick’s heart against my back as the mountain gave one final lurch and toppled. An avalanche of clutter crashed down around us. Dust plumed like a mushroom cloud.
    Nick held me tightly (I didn’t mind that part so much) while the dust settled. When the floor stopped shaking, I glanced around. Connor and Yvonne stood unscathed on the other side of the room. My heart beat in my throat as I looked for Missy, and I could feel my pulse pounding in my ears. If something happened to her…I couldn’t even think about it. I had to find her.
    I coughed at dust lingering in the air and frantically started moving boxes. “Missy!” I called out.
    Nick helped me look, lifting some of the heavier objects. “Missy!” he echoed.
    I heard a bark and breathed in relief when, after moving a box aside, I found Missy sitting atop some rubble next to a vintage leather suitcase. She was whimpering. At first I thought she was injured, but then I saw
it
.
    A mummified hand was sticking out of the suitcase.
    “Is that…,” I whispered to Nick, unable to finish my sentence. My vocal cords had frozen in sheer terror.
    He stepped forward and carefully undid the suitcase straps. Slowly, he lifted its top, then lowered it again. Helooked at us, his face ashen, and said, “There’s a body in there.”
    Yvonne started screaming.
    My hand went to my mouth as I tried to absorb this shock, knowing
I
had done this. Granting Yvonne’s wish had led to this discovery.
    Patrice Keaton had been found.

Chapter Four
    I was sitting in a rattan rocker on Yvonne’s front porch, watching police officers mill about the crime scene.
    The crime scene
.
    I could hardly believe I was involved in another murder case.
    And I had no doubt it was murder. Suicidal people didn’t contort themselves into suitcases, secure the straps, then cover themselves with tons of clutter.
    I shuddered at the memory of that corpse as Yvonne handed me a glass of water and then sat in the matching chair next to me. Her hand shook as it held her glass. Water sloshed over the rim, but she didn’t seem to notice.
    Missy sat at the edge of the walkway, her head turning back and forth as she took in all that was going on. Nick had told us to wait at Yvonne’s house until the scene was under control and our statements could be taken.
    He currently stood in the doorway of Patrice’s house, talking to someone from the medical examiner’s office. I was hoping he’d share some details with me later—Harper was going to have tons of questions, and if I didn’t have the answers she was going to nag until I did.
    I watched Nick carefully, feeling a pang of empathy. Nothing like trial by fire. This was the first week of hisnew job—everyone was going to be watching to see how he handled this case. Watching to see if he could find a killer. He was going to be under a lot of pressure.
    Connor and Elodie were somewhere inside Patrice’s house. Elodie had been oddly quiet about the discovery. Not so much as a tear when Connor had broken the news.
    Maybe she’s in shock
, I reasoned.
    I knew I was.
    Neighbors gathered beyond the orange cones that had been set up to block off the street. Several brightly hued MINI Coopers, a van from the medical examiner’s office, a fire engine, and an ambulance lined both sides of the road.
    News that a body had been found would spread fast.
    I bit the inside of my cheek and thought about that mummified hand. It