Welcome to the third chapter of Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage.

As always this is a work in progress and there could be (will be) typos, plot holes, and other errors but those will be fixed before the book publishes a couple of months from now.

If you want to read the first book in the series, you can find it on Amazon HERE.

If you don’t want to read this story in chapters on a blog, you can pre-order it HERE.

If you want to learn more about my other books you can find links to them HERE.

Chapter 3

She slid her finger over the end button on the screen as she walked toward Doris. Reaching out she laid her hand on the woman’s thin shoulder. “Doris, what’s going on?” Gladwynn could feel the woman shaking under her touch.

Doris didn’t answer. Her hand was still clasped over her mouth and she’d squeezed her eyes shut as if to shut out whatever she’d just seen. Tears slipped from under her eyelids.

“Speak to me,” Gladwynn said, squeezing her shoulder. “What’s going on?” When Doris only gasped in a breath behind her hand, Gladwynn slid her hand to her back. “Where is Samantha? Did you see her? Is she in there?”

Doris nodded, opening her eyes. She slowly lifted her arm and pointed into the condo.

Gladwynn took a deep breath and stepped into the hallway of the condo. A chill swept over her and she paused, rubbing her hands up her arms. She couldn’t pause long, though. Something was clearly wrong with Samantha and she very well might need an ambulance. Her heels clipped on the hardwood floor, echoing in the sparsely `decorated main living space of the condo.

She should have asked Doris where she’d seen Samantha, but the woman had been too upset. There was no one in the living room or the kitchen, but there was a flight of stairs on the other side of the dining room. Gladwynn ascended them quickly and saw Samantha on the carpeted floor of the bedroom as soon she reached the top. The door was across from the stairs and it was open.

 Samantha was lying with her head twisted to one side, her body contorted, a clenched hand reaching toward the doorway.

Gladwynn lifted her phone and dialed 911 as she inched closer, trying to decide what to do. Should she check Samantha’s pulse? Maybe she shouldn’t check the body at all, but if there was a chance Samantha was still alive, she needed to see.

“Marson County 911. What’s your emergency?”

Gladwynn knelt next to the body, grimacing at the sight of Samantha’s face. Her eyes were open and her mouth was twisted into a grimace.  “I need an ambulance at Willowbrook.” Her voice trembled. “Condo 43. There’s a woman and she’s lying on the floor.”

“Okay. She’s on the floor unconscious?”

“Yes.”

“Is she breathing?”

Gladwynn took a deep breath and laid a hand on Samantha’s back. It was cold and hard and made Gladwynn rip her hand back quickly. “No. She doesn’t appear to be.”

“Is there a pulse?”

“Should I check? I mean, should I touch her?”

“Not if you don’t feel comfortable, but if you do you can check at her wrist using two fingers. I’m dispatching the ambulance now.”

Gladwynn cast a quick glance around the room, her gaze falling on a broken lamp on the floor, a tea cup with spilled tea on the carpet, a tipped over chair, and a piece of paper half crumpled near Samantha’s right hand.

“Send the police too,” she said. “I don’t think this was an accident.”

The dispatcher asked her to stay on the line and she did while she reached over slowly and pressed two fingers against Samantha’s wrist. Not only wasn’t there a pulse but her skin was cold and gray.

“No pulse,” she told the dispatcher. “Her skin is a funny color too. I think she’s been gone for a while.”

“Okay, ma’am. Just stay there. The ambulance and police are on their way.”

Gladwynn pulled her hand away and sat back on her heels, her stomach aching. Doris appeared in the doorway, one hand on her mouth, the other on her stomach.

“Is she – is she –”

Gladwynn looked up, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth briefly. “Yes.”

Doris began to sob and Gladwynn stood and pulled the woman against her. She felt something under her foot, glanced down, and saw it was the piece of paper.

While part of it was crumpled, she could read part of a name and date at the top of the page, as if someone — maybe Samantha — had been writing a letter.

She looked closer at the partially written name.

Der.

Maybe a boyfriend or some sort of relative? Gladwynn wasn’t sure. All she wanted to do at that moment was get Doris out of the room and maybe come back up and cover Samantha up. She knew she couldn’t cover a body, though. Not before the police had been there. Seeing her laying there, though, her body twisted at an odd angle, her hands reaching out and her unseeing eyes staring, was unnerving.

“Come on, Doris. Let’s wait downstairs for the police okay?”

“The police?” Doris looked up alarmed. “ Why are the police coming? Did someone do this to her? Oh my goodness. Oh, Gladwynn.”

Gladwynn ushered Doris toward the door. “I don’t know, but the police are better equipped than us to find out. Let’s go downstairs.”

On her way through the doorway, she noticed a black mark on the wall by the doorframe. It could have been anything, but its position on the wall, just on the edge of the frame, made her question how it had got there.

Very little about the scene seemed like an accident. The broken lap and knocked-over chair were in the wrong places if a medical emergency had caused Samantha’s fall unless she had stumbled around the room in her final moments. That was, of course, a possibility, but Gladwynn truly didn’t feel that’s what had happened.

She had Doris sit on the couch and then went to the kitchen and started to open the cabinet to get a glass of water but hesitated. This was a potential crime scene. There could be fingerprints and clues everywhere. She lowered her hand and went back to Doris just as the ambulance pulled up out front.

An EMT with a bag ran inside and Gladwynn pointed to the stairs. “She’s up there.”

Doris sniffed. “I should call your grandmother.” She sniffed again, reaching into her purse for her phone. “And Emerald. Oh, and Eileen should know too.”

Another EMT ran into the house and Gladwynn pointed up the stairs. The woman followed her co-worker.

Gladwynn held up her own phone. “I’ll call Grandma. You handle the other two.”

Doris nodded meekly, swiping a hand across her cheek.

Gladwynn stood and dialed her grandmother’s number while walking around the living room, looking at the bare white walls, the tan couch, and the plain brown coffee table with a single magazine on it. The house was immaculate but there also wasn’t much inside to clutter it. A small black bookcase with three shelves stood on the opposite side of the room next to a television with a DVD player underneath it. The shelves were only partially full.

Gladwynn stepped back to look into the kitchen as her grandmother’s phone continued to ring.  Its coloring was pale like the living room and it was also spotless. As she started to look away, though, she noticed a flower petal on the floor in front of the stove. Glancing around, though, she didn’t see the flower it could have come from.

“Gladwynn?” Her grandmother’s voice was panicked. “I’m on my way, but Emerald has fainted and we’re trying to help her. Is it true? Is Samantha dead?”

“I think so, yes.” Though she really knew so. There hadn’t been a pulse. Maybe after the EMTs worked on her? But, no. She had to accept that not even that would help.

Her grandmother let out a ragged breath. “Oh my. Oh, this is awful. Are you okay? Did you find her? Who found her? Was there blood? Was she –”

“Grandma, calm down. I want you to go home. There’s nothing you can do here. I’ll meet you there later. I’m waiting for the police.”

Lucinda gasped. “The police? Why would the police come? Is there something else going on? Are you in danger?”

“Grandma, no. I’m okay. I just felt the police should be here because something seemed off. I’ll fill you in when I get home. The EMTs are upstairs now. I’m sure they’re trying CPR. If anything changes, I’ll let you know.”

The EMTs came down the stairs as Gladwynn hung up. The man’s expression was grim.  “Are you family?”

Gladwynn shook her head. “No. My friend knows her but I’ve never met her. We came to check on her.”

The man stepped closer to Gladwynn, away from Doris was crying into her phone.

“She’s gone,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do. We didn’t even try to move her. She’s cold to the touch and her lips are blue.”

Gladwynn touched a hand to her throat. “I didn’t even notice her mouth. I was so distracted by her eyes.”

The EMT shuddered. “Yeah. I can see why. It’s creepy. The police should be here any minute. We’ll let them handle it.” He looked at Doris who had collapsed on the couch. “Ma’am, are you okay?”

Doris pressed a hand to her forehead and nodded slowly, her eyes closed. “Yes. Or I will be.” She opened her eyes and offered a weak smile. “Thank you.”

The front door was still open and a frantic-looking woman with straight dark brown hair flowing across her shoulders rushed inside. Gladwynn guessed her to be around 45.

“What is going on?” she gasped.

Doris stood. “Oh, Eileen. I just left you a message. It’s Sam—”

Eileen’s cheeks were flushed. “I saw the ambulance outside. Did something happen to Samantha? Where is she?”

The EMT stepped toward her, his hand raised. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but if you’re not family I really need you to –”

“I’m the manager of this community,” Eileen snapped, a strand of hair falling across her face. “I want to know what is going on. Where is Samantha?”

Doris walked over and laid a hand on Eileen’s shoulder. “Something terrible has happened.  Samantha is dead.”

The color in Eileen’s face visibly drained, making the red on her cheeks stand out even more. “That’s not possible. I just spoke to her this morning.”

Gladwynn looked through the doorway and watched a state police car yank into a parking space. She immediately recognized the trooper who stepped out of the vehicle as Trooper Tanner Kinney. The only difference from the last time she’d seen him, though, was that today he was wearing a suit and button up shirt instead of a standard state police uniform. Another man wearing a similar suit stepped out of the passenger side. Another state police car parked next to theirs.

Gladwynn stepped out front to meet Tanner.  

“Miss Grant.” He tipped his head forward in greeting as he walked toward her. “Why am I not surprised to find you here?”

She clasped her hands behind her back and tipped her head similar to how he had. “Trooper Kinney.”

“Detective Kinney.”

“Detective?”

“I’ve been promoted to the homicide unit.”

“First, I wasn’t allowed to call you officer. Now I can’t even call you trooper. Your titles aren’t easy to keep up with. When did this promotion happen?”

“A month ago, but I don’t have time to discuss my personal life with you right now. If you haven’t noticed, there’s been a death.”

He started to walk toward the house and she hurried to catch up with him.

“I definitely noticed. I was the second person on the scene behind my grandmother’s friend Doris.”

Tanner glanced over his shoulder. “Someone you know?”

Gladwynn shook her head once. “No. Someone my grandmother and our friend knew.”

He paused and looked down at her and she was reminded how tall he was. “You do have a knack for getting yourself mixed up in things.”

“I promise it was not intentional this time. I was merely dropping my friend off to check on her friend.”

Tanner smiled briefly. “Sure. Now, where’s the victim?”

Gladwynn hugged her arms around herself, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as she remembered what she had seen earlier. “Upstairs. In the bedroom.”

Tanner and the other trooper disappeared into the condo.

She followed them inside, staying in the living room with Doris and Eileen, though she truly was curious what the men would say when they saw Samantha in the position she was in.

Eileen began to pace, pushing a hand through her disheveled shoulder-length hair. “Why are their police here? Is that standard for a medical situation?”

The female EMT had already gone back to the ambulance. The male EMT shrugged his shoulder. “Sometimes it is. It depends on the situation.”

Eileen paused in her pacing, her hands on her hips. “I mean it was a medical situation, right? Is that what happened? I mean did she trip or fall or maybe it was her heart or –”

“We don’t know yet,” the EMT responded. “I know this is an upsetting situation, but please try to stay calm.”

Eileen began to chew on her fingernail as she paced. “I’m trying. Will the police tell us what happened?”

“When they know, I’m sure you’ll know,” the EMT said, but Gladwynn knew that wasn’t true. The police weren’t usually very interested in being forthcoming with information, especially this early in an investigation.  

Tanner’s voice boomed from upstairs. “Miss Grant? Please come up here.”

Eileen intently watched Gladwynn walk across the room toward the dining room and the stairs. The woman was probably wondering why the police knew Gladwynn by name. A cold chill shivered across Gladwynn like it had when she’d first climbed the stairs. Tanner and two other men were in the room, either wearing gloves or pulling them on. Tanner put his hand up to stop her from entering the room. She could see Samantha’s body behind him, though, and tears stung her eyes.

She never imagined she would ever be caught up in such a heartbreaking situation.

“Miss Grant, is everything here the way it was when you first came in? You didn’t touch anything? Move anything?”

She took a deep breath, swallowing hard. “I touched her wrist to see if there was a pulse. Otherwise, no. I didn’t touch anything.”

Tanner snapped a glove on. “Good. Head downstairs and wait, please. We’d like to talk to you and the others. We’ll be down shortly.”

She nodded briefly and returned to the living room.

Other members of law enforcement trailed into the house like ants looking for a watermelon while she, Doris, and Eileen waited.

Eileen had stopped pacing. She was now sitting in a plain gray chair, texting and chewing on her nails.

“When can we get out of here?” she asked as she stood abruptly. “I need to go check on the residents and calm them down. I’m sure they know something is up with all these police parked outside.”

Gladwynn had to admit she was getting a bit anxious herself. She’d really like to get back home and check on Lucinda, but even more so she wanted to get Doris home. The woman was clearly shook up still. She’d been sitting on the couch, crying softly into a tissue off and on, and rubbing her arms with her hands. Gladwynn wondered if she should call Bill and have him come over, but she knew having too many people on a crime scene was a serious no-no. Bill also wasn’t known for being the most sensitive person.

As if in answer to Eileen’s question, Tanner came down the stairs, a notebook in hand. “Ladies, sorry for making you wait. I hope we can get you out of her soon. I’ll just need a quick statement and then you can all be on your way.” He opened the notebook and sat on the couch Doris was sitting on, but at the other end. “Which one of you was first on scene?”

Doris slowly raised her hand. “Me.” She held the tissue to her mouth and choked back a sob.

Tanner’s expression softened. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but if you could just tell me what position the body was in when you found it.”

Doris’ eyes narrowed. “She was on the floor when I found her.” She put an emphasis on she and her, to make it clear, it seemed to Gladwynn, that she didn’t appreciate Tanner reducing Samantha to an inanimate object. “She was on her face and her eyes were open.” She wiped a tissue across the corner of her eye. “It was just awful.”

Tanner kept his eyes on the notebook as he scratched a couple of notes. “I know this is hard, but I just need to gather as many details as I can in case this turns out to be more than a medical emergency.”

“Do you think it was more than a medical emergency?” Gladwynn asked.

Tanner looked up at her. “We can’t be sure until the coroner does an autopsy but the EMTs did radio in some concerns about the scene and asked for us to investigate.”

“And now that you’ve seen her body what do you think?”

A small smile pulled at Tanner’s mouth. “Miss Grant, I know you are a naturally curious person, and this has all been a bit of a shock but you also know that I can’t talk about a case while we are still investigating. Furthermore –”

“But you’re calling it a case so –”

Tanner cleared his throat. “Furthermore, I can’t discuss any case with a private citizen unless they are a family member of the deceased and I certainly would not discuss it this early on with a member of the media.”

Gladwynn sat back against the couch and sighed. “Understood. Sorry. I guess I got a bit ahead of myself.”

Tanner turned his attention back to Doris, finished his questioning of her and then turned to Gladwynn and recorded what she had seen as well.

Eileen was last. “I didn’t see anything. I got here after the ambulance.”

“May I ask when you saw the deceased last?”

“I saw Samantha this morning, briefly. On her way out the door. I asked her about this month’s recreation schedule. She told me she’d have it done later today. She was going to the lake to clear her mind.”

“Did anything seem out of the ordinary when you spoke to her?”

“Like what?”

“Like did she seem unwell? Say anything about having been sick?”

“No. Nothing like that. I mean, she seemed tired. That’s why she was going to the lake. She said she had a lot on her mind and just wanted some time to think.”

Tanner nodded as he looked at his notebook.. “And about what time was that?”

“I – I’m not sure.” Eileen wound a piece of hair around her finger. “Maybe 10?”

“How well did you know Samantha?”

Eileen let out a shaky breath. “Well enough that we enjoyed movie nights together and an occasional lunch but not well enough that we knew every single thing about each other.”

Tanner closed his notebook and stood. “You ladies may go but I may need to talk to you again when we have a conclusive cause of death.” He looked directly at Gladwynn. “I’ll send out a release as soon as I have more information.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“I will.”

Gladwynn didn’t miss Eileen’s tight-lipped expression as she stood, her phone clutched in her hand and against her chest. She left quickly without a word to Doris and Gladwynn.

Doris stood slowly, trembling. Gladwynn placed a hand under the older woman’s elbow. “I’m going to take you home, Doris.”

“Oh. No. I should go back to the theater and –”

Gladwynn squeezed Doris’ elbow. “I’m taking you home and making some tea. You need to rest. Grandma wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t take you home to calm down.”

Doris managed a smile – the first Gladwynn had seen since they’d entered the condo. “Your grandmother is a good, Christian woman. She’d certainly forgive you. Eventually anyhow.”

Gladwynn’s cell phone rang as she opened the car door for Doris. She knew who it was without even looking at the caller ID, but she also realized she had forgotten to tell Tanner about seeing Samantha at the beach earlier that day.

He was upstairs, though, and she didn’t want to bother him again. She’d call him later and fill him in on what he saw. She didn’t know if it was important or not. Maybe he could find her cell phone and see who she’d been talking to.

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