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him. I could have talked him into letting me see the body on my own.”
    “It’s just money, dear. I can’t take it with me, and where I’m going they pave the streets with gold.”
    “But it’s bribery.”
    “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
    “What does
that
mean?”
    “Remind me later and I’ll explain it to you.”
    Aunt Vivian had barely picked up her needles when a girl appeared in the doorway. She wore a white long-sleeved turtle-neck under blue scrubs and lime green Crocs and introduced herself as the doctor’s assistant. Aunt Vivian and I followed her into a brightly lit hallway, through two sets of double doors, and down a stairwell. The assistant badged in and flipped a switch, activating a bank of overhead fluorescent lights.
    Three empty stainless steel gurneys stood parked along one wall. To the left of the door a gooseneck lamp sat on the corner of a desk covered with manila folders. Beside the desk, medical trays sat on a polished metal counter. Though it wasn’t my first trip to a morgue, I still felt anxious. Not scared, just curious about the condition of the body.
    “This won’t take long,” I said, leaving Aunt Vivian by the door.
    The assistant crossed the room and went to a bank of vaults. There were six polished steel doors in all, three columns wide, two rows high. No mistaking we were in a morgue — the chill and smell of cleaning solvents gave it away.
    “Dr. Edwards tells me you watch TV and solve crimes?”
    The assistant had long, straight auburn-brown hair, a pout, and freckles dusting her cheeks, nose, and forehead.
    “In my spare time, yes. In fact, a couple months ago I solved a murder in Deadwood Canyon. That’s an Old West reenactment ghost town in Colorado. I discovered a body in the hayloft, but when the marshal went to look, it was gone. No one believed me, not even my family. They all thought it was part of the disappearing-cowboy-ghost act, but I eventually found the killer. I’m Nick Caden, by the way. And you are …”
    “Busy.”
    She opened the metal door. The drawer rolled easily on bearings, clicking into the track-stop. I stepped closer and studied the lumpy shape beneath the sheet.
    “Can I see?” Aunt Vivian asked.
    We turned and looked at her.
    “It’s not every day someone my age gets the chance to help solve a murder.”
    “The thing is, Mrs… .”
    “Vivian is fine, dear. ‘Mrs.’ anything makes me sound old. And I didn’t catch your name, hon.”
    “Meg.”
    I locked eyes with Aunt Vivian and gave her just the slightest smile to let her know I appreciated the subtle way she’d gotten the assistant to tell us her name.
    “The thing is, I shouldn’t even be showing
him
the body. I’m sure Dr. Edwards explained our policy.”
    “Child, if you spend all your life following the rules, you’ll end up a dull Delilah.”
    “A dull what?”
    “She’s talking about that sappy radio host who gives out relationship advice,” I said. “Come on,
Meg
, let her have a look.”
    “It would make the women in my prayer group so jealous,” Aunt Vivian added. “Those ladies never do anything fun. Please?”
    “Okay, but if I get fired over this, I’m blaming you,” Meg said to me.
    “Get in line.”
    We huddled around the body and watched as the sheet folded back to the victim’s waist. I admit, I wasn’t prepared for the condition of the body and for a few seconds my skin had that clammy feeling I get right before I’m going to vomit.
    Aunt Vivian put her hand to her mouth and said, “Dear Lord.”
    I choked down bile and framed the body on my phone’s screen but couldn’t make my thumb press the button.
    The victim appeared to be in his early forties. Thick, reddish-brown bangs, skin the color of oatmeal. Chest and cheeks deflated from the lack of blood. Eyes milky white slits. On television they’ll often close the eyes of the dead. It’s a touching scene that hardly ever works in real life. Once dead, eyelids sag like