The Messenger (2011 reformat) by Edward Lee

like temperature, humidity,
length of time that's passed since death, even ingredient concentrations of
embalming fluid can determine the extent and duration of rigor mortis."
    "You're
saying that the body was still stiff and somebody propped it in the corner of
the cove and it just stood there like a storefront mannequin on its own? Eyes
open? Arms out? Grinning?"
    "It's
possible. Then the rigor wore off and the body collapsed."
    "It
collapsed on top of Bobby?"
    "Why not?
He'd already passed out from the trauma, he was already on the floor."
    Jane frowned.
    "Then we
have to consider the reliability of the witness in the first place. That's
quite a scare, isn't it? Wouldn't you be scared, wouldn't you be terrified, if
you walked in here by yourself one day, turned the corner, and saw a dead body
propped up in the corner? Wouldn't you be terrified?"
    "Of
course, but..."
    "Traumas
like that can do strange things to the human mind. Bobby was terrified. Bobby
thought she was standing there with her arms out. Bobby thought her eyes were
open and she was grinning. Some kind of trauma-based hallucination. Maybe the
body had simply been left on the floor."
    "Bobby
said it was on top of him when he came to!"
    Steve pitched
a brow. "Bobby probably just thought it was. He was stressed out to the
max, he was close to a clinical state of shock. The mind plays tricks on people
in situations like that."
    Jane eased
back in her office seat. "I don't know. Maybe you're right. I guess I'm
still not over the shock myself. Marlene killing her family then going on a
shooting spree? Now this."
    "I
know." Steve seemed to be uncomfortable in his seat. "But let's talk about
something else right now, okay?"
    His tone and
poised bothered her. "All right."
    "For one
thing, Marlene's body was exhumed. And the county forensics people knew right
away that it was done with a shovel. That's hard work. That's a lot of effort
for someone to go through, so that's how we know this isn't just a prank. And
look what happened after that: The body was then transported from Winter Damon Cemetery
to your post office. That's a lot of risk."
    "What are
you getting at?"
    "The body
wasn't just dropped off out front, it was brought inside the building,
supposedly before Bobby Weaver came on duty"
    "Yes?"
    "There
are no signs of a forced entry. We've checked top to bottom. So that can only
mean one thing. The person had access to the building's keys."
    Something
snapped in her mind. "I didn't think of that..." Another snap, and
some alarm. "No, no way. You don't think it was Bobby Weaver? He's harmless.
He's a little flighty sometimes, but I just can't see him doing anything like
this."
    Silence for a
moment, then: "Let me ask you something. Is it possible that Marlene may
have belonged to some sort of religious cult?"
    The comment
pissed Jane off. "I told you the other day. No. The idea is totally
absurd. She was a mother, a resident in good standing, and a diligent,
hard-working employee. She was probably the most normal, level-headed person
I've ever worked with. A cult? What makes you ask that? The drawing of the bell
you found at her house? It sounds to me like, if anything, she was the victim
of some kind of cult. Maybe somebody abducted her, gave her some psychedelic
drug that made her do those things. And as far as that design goes, do you even
know that she was the one who drew it?"
    "No, not
yet, but we're checking. The Danelleton police department is pretty small;
we're a municipal department, so we don't have our own crime-scene units and
evidence techs. We have to rely on county and state services for that, and it
takes a while. But the county graphologists are examining the first sketch
right now. And don't forget, the same bell-shaped design was found here, too,
this morning.
    Drawn on the
floor in blood."
    Jane couldn't
help a little sarcasm. "Well, I guess we know she didn't draw that one,
huh?"
    Steve smiled
faintly but just for a moment. "Yes, we