Cause to Dread

“It’s good to have you back,” Finley said. “We’ve missed you around here.”

“I already went through all of that with her,” Connelly said. “Let’s not give her a big head her first day back.”

Dammit, I’m not back, she thought. But it felt even flimsier than it had five minutes ago.

“You want me to take her out to the site?” Finley asked.

“Yes, and soon. O’Malley is going to want to touch base with her later and I’d like her all nice and caught up when he lands here. Ride her out there and catch her up on everything we know. Try to get out of here in the next ten minutes or so if you can.”

Finley nodded, visibly happy to have been given the task. As he hurried back to the computer, Connelly motioned Avery back out into the hallway. “Come with me,” he said.

She followed him farther down the hall, to the big office at the end. Connelly’s office hadn’t changed a bit since she left. Still cluttered but in a neat sort of way. There were three coffee mugs on his desk and she guessed at least two of them were from this morning alone.

“One more thing,” Connelly said, walking behind his desk. He opened his top desk drawer and pulled out two things that Avery had missed probably more than any of the people in this building.

Her gun and her badge. She smiled as she reached out to them.

“I already filed the paperwork for you,” Connelly said. “They’re yours. In terms of pay and the duration of your stay, I’m handling that paperwork, too.”

Avery honestly didn’t care about the pay or how long she was expected to stay onboard for the case. When her fingers fell on the badge and then picked up the Glock, she felt something slide into place inside her heart.

As sad as it seemed, the badge and the gun felt familiar.

They felt like home.

The crime scene was six days old and, therefore, was vacant when she and Finley got there. They ducked under the yellow tape and she watched as Finley unlocked Alfred Lawnbrook’s apartment door with a key he took from a small envelope that he’d kept in the breast pocket of his shirt.

“You got a fear of spiders?” Finley asked as they stepped inside.

“A bit,” she said. “But that goes no farther than right here, deal?”

Finley nodded with a grim smile. “I only ask because while there were arachnologists and exterminators that came in and took care of them, there were a few stragglers. Just common ones, though. Nothing fancy.”

He led her through he apartment. It was very basic; the layout and appliances told her that Lawnbrook had either been a divorcé or a bachelor. “But there were ones that had no business here, right?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” Finley said. “At least three species. One was local to India, I think. I’ve got the detailed notes saved on my phone if you want them. The spider expert that came out and looked the place over said that there were at least two species at the crime scene when the body was found that would have had to have been ordered from a dealer. And that it would likely have been hard to get.”

“Any huge ones that you know of?” Avery asked.

“I think they said the biggest one was about the size of a golf ball. And if you ask me, that’s big enough.”

They entered the bedroom and Avery did her best not to start scanning the walls and floor for rogue spiders. She did a quick sweep of the room and found it expertly cleaned out. The closet door was standing open, allowing Finley to reach inside and flick the light on. He did so very quickly and then stepped back just as fast.

“Lawnbrook was slumped over in the back left corner,” Finley said. “We’ve got the pictures back at A1 and I’m sure O’Malley would love to go over them with you. That asshole is fascinated with this case.”

Avery stepped into the closet doorway. Other than a few stray threads of cobweb in the corner, there was nothing to be seen.

She then left the bedroom and started looking the place over for any signs of a break-in. Finley followed behind her, keeping his distance and letting her work. She looked for anything knocked out of place, even something as small as a picture in the living room, but found nothing. She scanned the books sitting on the small bookshelf beside the entertainment center for anything linking Lawnbrook to spiders but found nothing.

“Do we have any kind of link at all between Lawnbrook and an interest in spiders?” Avery asked.

“No. Nothing.”

“Has anyone spoken with the family?”

“Yes. And I think O’Malley ran backup on that. From what I understand, they painted Lawnbrook as something of a scaredy-cat. Hated roller coasters, scary movies, things like that. So the chance that he had a thing for spiders seemed to be thrown out the window.”

So if the spiders weren’t here because of Lawnbrook, why were they here? Avery wondered. And what sort of a person would bring them here? And why?

The days upon days of keeping her mind sharp with Sudoku and crosswords had paid off. Once the questions started rolling through her head, she couldn’t get them to stop. And it felt good.

“Do you know if Lawnbrook is still with the coroner?” she asked.

“Yeah, he’s still there. The spider experts have been studying him. There were eggs found in his nose and lower intestine during the autopsy.”

Avery couldn’t suppress the shudder she felt at this revelation. “Feel like taking a ride over there?”

“I’ll take you anywhere you’d like to go, so long as it gets me away from this place. I know they’re all gone, but – ”

“But it feels like they’re crawling on you,” Avery said with a shaky grin. “I know. Let’s get going.”

Even the hectic pace of traveling from one stop to the next to find answers felt amazing to her. It wasn’t just her moving, but her life. She could feel the sensation of things in motion, of people and places buzzing by her as Finley drove her to the coroner’s office.

She had hoped there might be an arachnologist there when they arrived, but was disappointed. She did find that the woman who performed the autopsy was there. And that was the next best thing. After being ushered through to the back and to the examination rooms, Avery and Finley met with Cho Yin. Yin was a petite, beautiful Asian woman who seemed more than pleased to discuss the case. Like O’Malley, she also seemed to find the case morbidly fascinating.

They met in Yin’s office, a very tidy room with an ancient-looking filing cabinet in the back corner. Avery introduced herself and wasted no time getting right to the point. She already felt like she was behind because of coming on so late and didn’t have the convenience of niceties.

“I suppose my first question is about the bites,” Avery said. “From what I understand, there were only two.”

Yin shook her head and looked surprised. “That’s not correct at all. Some bad reporting on the part of the media, I think. There were three bites from spiders that could have been lethal. But there were other bites as well, mostly from non-venomous spiders. There were twenty-two in all.”

“Oh my god,” Avery said. “And would that be enough to kill someone?”

“Yes, especially one of the bites from the venomous spiders. There were two bites from a brown recluse, as backed up by the entomologist that was on hand during the exam. The third venomous bite came from a funnel web spider. And from what I understand, that’s the rare one. The family from which that spider came isn’t native to the States.”

“Where does it come from, then?” Avery asked.

“I don’t know. You’d have to speak with the arachnologist. And you know, I must say that I can’t be absolutely certain the venom from the bites killed the victim. It was something that the spider expert and I disagreed on, actually.”

“Why is that? What do you think killed him?”

“Well, Mr. Lawnbrook’s cortisol levels were much higher than they should have been. Essentially, he was basically terrified at the moment of his death – but the levels I saw were off of the charts. The heart showed massive signs of stress and trauma. I am quite certain Mr. Lawnbrook suffered a heart attack during his time in the closet. He was that frightened.”

“Is the body still here?” Avery asked.

“It is. I have to warn you, though…it’s a pretty grisly sight.”

“I’ll be okay,” Avery said.

She had nearly said I’m sure I’ve seen worse but then she tried to imagine what someone with twenty-two spider bites – three of which were deadly – might look like. The imagery from what Finley had told her about eggs being found in the nostrils and intestine did not sit well with her either. Still, she felt she needed to see the body for any other signs or clues.

Yin led them to the rear exam room and methodically walked over to the rows of sliding cabinets. With a hefty pull, she drew out the slab that Alfred Lawnbrook was occupying. She stepped back, allowing Avery and Finley room to step forward. Avery approached the body while Finley remained close to the door, making it clear that he had no intention of getting any closer to the body.