“Dad, I need you right now.” Beth, Detective Doug Milligan’s daughter sounded desperate.

“What is it? Can’t it wait? I’m right in the middle of an….”

“No, Dad, it can’t wait. We found a dead woman.” He could hear another young voice in the background.

“Calm down. Who’s with you?”

“Kayla.”

Kayla Duval, the mayor’s daughter, was Beth’s best friend.

“Where are you?”

“You know that fortune teller or whatever she is…was? We’re at her place.” Beth’s words came out in a rapid stream. “The house on Valley Boulevard.”

Rocky Bluff P.D. had received several complaints about the so-called psychic or spiritualist, Bernadette Wolfort, and Doug had even gone to her home to interview her once. The complaints had been vague. Nothing really added up to a crime. If people were foolish enough to visit a fortune teller and pay her, they got what they deserved, didn’t they? He knew where to go. “You two stay put, and don’t touch anything.”

“We didn’t. I know better. We knocked, but when no one answered, we tried the door. It was unlocked, and we opened it. After all, Kayla was told to come here this morning. There she was, lying on the floor. We could tell she was dead.”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

He’d no sooner finished the call when Doug and his partner, Detective Felix Zachary, were summoned to Chief Taylor’s office. She hadn’t given the reason for the meeting, but Doug guessed she wanted to discuss problems she was having with the Rocky Bluff City Council.

Fairly new to the department, Chief Chandra Taylor, Black and female, had proved to be a strong and steady leader. Seldom in uniform, she usually wore blouses, slacks, and tailored jackets. Today, the blouse was a bright print, much like the abstract paintings on her office walls.

Doug remained standing. “I’m sorry, Chief, but I have to go. My daughter, Beth, called a minute ago. She and Kayla have discovered a dead body.”