Lieutenant Hugo Melch cleared his throat. "What do we have, Doc?"
Deputy Medical Examiner Kelso looked up from his kneeling position beside the body of affluent car dealer Steve Adams. "Ah, Lieutenant, didn't see you there. Took one bullet right through the heart. From pretty close range, too, I'd say, but no sign of powder burns. If you'd care for a closer look--"
"Not especially." The bulky policeman swept his glance around the rest of the dead man's private library--over the floor to ceiling shelves of books, the expensive artwork, the leather couch and easy chair--and thought for the millionth time how much more he'd enjoy being a homicide cop if there weren't any dead bodies involved. Still, someone had to do it, and since few had his talent for solving murders it might as well be he.
"Selling cars sure put this guy in the money," Kelso said.
"Yeah. But it didn't keep him alive, did it. In fact--Well, what have we here?" Melch squatted low, his knees cracking.
"What?"
Melch pointed a thick finger at the carpet. "Looks like feathers."
Kelso moved over beside him, nodded. "Maybe we have a bird eyewitness. If so, let's hope it's a talking parrot, eh?" He chuckled.
Melch rolled his big eyes, then puffed to his feet as a couple of the forensic boys entered the room.
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