Mumbo Gumbo (28 page)
Authors: Jerrilyn Farmer
“What is it?”
“Private papers and photos.” I picked one item at random from the carton, a letter, and read it aloud.
“Dear Mr. Grasso,
“Enclosed please find my report on your psychiatric condition. You’ll note the diagnosis code represents a diagnosis of anxiety-stress disorder, for which I’ve been treating you for the past seven years. If you have any questions, or if your insurance carrier requires any further information, please let me know.
“Sincerely,
“Dr. Stan Bradley, M.D.”
“You have some guy’s psychiatric files?”
“Apparently,” I said, unable to resist paging quickly through a document that was clearly none of my business.
“And you’re standing out in the street reading it?”
I looked back at Wes without a trace of guilt. “Hey, how am I supposed to know what all this stuff is? It was littered all over my property. Littering is a crime. I am simply investigating, aren’t I?”
“Maybe you can put off your CSI inquiry until after we finish with the party tonight?”
I looked up from the thick psychiatrist’s report on the many issues that had been vexing Mr. Grasso and shook my head. Wes was right. I had to get my focus back. “Aye-aye,” I said, snapping to attention. “Do you think I should try to find this guy’s phone number? He’d want his stuff back, I’d imagine.”
“Can we do that tomorrow? We are under the gun here, timetable-wise.”
“You’re right. You’re always right.” I put the last of the papers back into the carton and hauled it up the stairs. “But Wes, how do you think all these personal photos and documents ended up on my lawn?”
Wes relieved me of the box as I reached the top of the steps. “I’m sure you’ll find out all about it. After the Jazz Ball.”
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2003 by Jerrilyn Farmer
Exerpt from
Perfect Sax
copyright © 2004 by Jerrilyn Farmer
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © APRIL 2010 ISBN: 978-0-062-01399-6
First Avon Books paperback printing: January 2004
First William Morrow hardcover printing: March 2003
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