Excerpt: Savannah Cross Book #2

“We really have to stop meeting like this. You know, I see you so much that you really ought to just join the force Cross. It might save you a lot of time.”

“No thank you Jack. I hear the coffee is horrible.”

I didn’t allow myself many vices, but coffee was definitely one of them. I don’t think I’m ever quite human until I’d have my first cup after waking up. That could be one of the reasons I live alone.

Jack laughed at my lame attempt at being witty. It was a small joke between us. He’s a detective with the Seattle Police Department and cop coffee is notorious for being some of the worst stuff ever brewed. Lately he’d been trying to get me to join the Seattle PD’s Paranormal Investigative Team (or PIT for short). They were supposed to investigate all instances of crimes with possible Paranormal perpetrators. I’d briefly considered it, but deep down I liked being a civilian.

I mean I saw enough death as it was, but that had more to do with my Paranormal talent than my involvement with the cops. Sometimes I just feel like saying “Hi. My name is Savannah and I’m a Necromancer.” But it’s not like there are support groups for Necros. Some days I wish there was such a thing. Today was one of those days.

Jack handed me a paper cup full of coffee. The two of us made an odd pair. I’m five feet six inches tall with pale skin, bright green eyes and long straight black hair. Detective Jack Peterson was six foot four and built like a swimmer. At thirty five he was probably in better shape than most men in their twenty’s. He had short clipped black hair that was in need of trimming and pale brown eyes set in olive skin. He had a pleasantly round face that was at odds with the lean lines of his body. I always appreciated the view until he opened his mouth. His sense of humor was pretty oddball, but he had a good heart and was a good cop because of it.

“So what have we got here Jack?”

Jack and I started walking away from my car, an emerald green four door sedan, towards the crime scene. The early morning sun was filtering through the autumn-colored leaves that were still on the trees this late in October. I was just glad that it wasn’t raining like it had been last night.

The full moon in October was always a busy time for Necros since everyone attaches special significance to it. As far as I was concerned, there was nothing special about it. You try telling that to the sort of people who want me to raise the dead for them on that night and they’ll swear up and down that it has to be that night and no other because of the “energy” of the last full moon before Halloween. Because of that I was fairly tired and grumpy. I yawned and took a generous swig of the coffee in my cup. It was horrible, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from ingesting the caffeine though.

“Why can’t you guys ever find dead bodies in the middle of the day? Why does it always have to be in the middle of the night or the crack of dawn?”

“We do it just to annoy you Cross. Now what we have here is something I’ve never seen before and I hope to God I never do again.”

“Cute shirt there Cross.”

I’d been in such a hurry this morning that I just threw on the first thing I pulled out of my closet. It wasn’t something I would have normally worn to a crime scene. It was a t-shirt that had a cute little bunny rabbit on it and it said ‘Have A Hoppy Day.’

“Thanks Martin. I wore it just for you. I mean someone has to show you how to dress properly.”

Detective Martin Smith was about five feet nine inches tall with skin like fresh tilled earth and a rounded belly. His eyes were his best feature. They could go from comedian to cop and back in a heartbeat. He also had absolutely no fashion sense whatsoever.

The grass in INSERT NAME HERE Park was still wet from last night’s rain, but the area under the trees where the body lay was a little bit dryer. It looked like someone had tried to cover the corpse up with leaves but hadn’t counted on the brisk wind that had kicked up shortly before midnight.

“How was the body discovered?” I asked.

“Some guy out for an early morning hike called it in. He saw the foot sticking out from under the leaves and got freaked out.” said Martin.

I looked at the body that they had unearthed from beneath the shroud of brown and red and yellow leaves. The man looked very old and was completely naked. I couldn’t see any wounds or blood anywhere though. If it weren’t for the look of fear on his face and the whites of his eyes showing, I wouldn’t have thought there was anything wrong with him.

“It looks like maybe it was a heart attack or something. Maybe a bum stole his clothes. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that has happened. Why call the PIT in?”

Jack held out an evidence bag that had a wallet in it. It was made of worn brown leather but was otherwise unremarkable. I didn’t think there was anything special about it in and of itself.

“This was found a few yards away from the body. All the cash was gone, but everything else was still inside. The license in here says the victim was only 31 years old. Something happened to him to make him go all geriatric on us and whatever it was, it wasn’t a heart attack.”