Read Kissed by Smoke for Free Online Page A

gave me a suspicious look.
    I heaved a sigh. “Mom made me promise to
come to dinner.”
    “We’re driving all the way back through the
snow so you can have dinner with your mom?” The incredulity in his
voice was understandable.
    “It’s my birthday dinner. And breaking a
promise to my mother is out of the question.”
    He raised an eyebrow at that. “I’m sure
she’d understand.”
    “You’ve met my mother. What do you
think?”
    He froze for a split second. “Oh, yeah. Good
point.”
    We joined Trevor beside his car, his breath
making little white clouds in the chill air. “How do you want to
play this?” He glanced toward the front door.
    The place looked closed up tight, but I knew
better. This was small town America. I smiled. “We walk right in
like we own this place.”
    The door swung open easily and we paraded
into the front room. “If anyone asks,” I told them, “we’re here to
pay our respects to our aunt Emily.”
    “And if they don’t have an aunt Emily?”
Inigo asked.
    “Oopsie, we’ve got the wrong funeral home.
So sorry.” I turned to Trevor. “Where would they be keeping Agent
Vega’s body?”
    “In the back where the coolers are.”
    I nodded and headed toward the back of the
building. No one appeared to challenge us. The place was as silent
as the proverbial tomb.
    The hall was lined with viewing rooms on
either side. Some contained caskets and flowers. Others were empty.
So far as I could tell, no one was home. No one alive, anyway.
    “I can’t believe they’d just leave the place
unlocked in the middle of the day.” Trevor kept his voice
hushed.
    “It’s a small town. They’re probably having
a late lunch or something. It wouldn’t be entirely unusual to leave
the place unlocked in case of visitors. Who’s going to steal from a
funeral home?”
    “Actually, they’re one of the best places to
steal from,” Trevor’s voice took on an almost professorial
tone.
    Great. We were in for a lecture.
    “The deceased are often buried with small
valuables. No one would notice if a ring or watch went
missing.”
    I repressed a groan. “This isn’t New York,
Trev. It’s Madras. Nobody is going to steal from the dead unless
they want the entire town on their ass. This must be it.”
    The door was half hidden by a wall hanging
and marked “private” with a small, neat plaque. All very subtle and
tasteful.
    Inigo tried the door. Locked. “Great,” he
hissed, “the one place we need to get into is the place they decide
to lock.”
    It made sense, actually. It was one thing to
leave the viewing rooms open to the public, but quite another thing
to leave the rest of the place open. “You can pick the lock,
though, right?”
    “Sure, easy enough.”
    Trevor groaned. “I’m a government agent. I
do not want to know about this.”
    “You can go wait in the parking lot if you
want, brother mine,” I said sweetly.
    He just shook his head.
    I grinned and turned back to Inigo. “Well,
what’s the verdict?”
    “Easy enough to pick, but if we get caught
back there, we aren’t going to be able to explain ourselves
away.”
    I shrugged. “Needs must. Do it.”

Chapter Six
    Daniel Vega’s body lay inside one of the
mortuary refrigerators, neatly tucked inside a body bag. I frowned.
Totally not like what they showed on CSI.
    “You getting anything?” I turned toward
Inigo. Sometimes he could sense the souls of the departed. Feel how
they died. Apparently this was not one of those times.
    “No, still nothing. It’s like something is
blocking me.”
    “We should hurry up,” Trevor said, keeping
his voice low. “The mortician could be back any minute.”
    “So flash your badge at him.” I swear,
sometimes men are so thick.
    “Remember, we’re on the down low,
Morgan.”
    “Like he’s going to care. All he’s going to
see is the badge of a government agent and bend over backward
trying to cover his ass.”
    “Why don’t you try, Morgan,” Inigo
interrupted our