Gravedigger (The Rayburn Mysteries Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  GRAVEDIGGER

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  GRAVEDIGGER

  The Rayburn Mysteries

  CEEREE FIELDS

  SOUL MATE PUBLISHING

  New York

  GRAVEDIGGER

  Copyright©2018

  CEEREE FIELDS

  Cover Design by Fiona Jayde

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, business establishments, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

  Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Published in the United States of America by

  Soul Mate Publishing

  P.O. Box 24

  Macedon, New York, 14502

  ISBN: 978-1-68291-771-8

  www.SoulMatePublishing.com

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  To my friends and family

  who continuously encourage my writing.

  Thank you!

  Acknowledgments

  I want to thank my amazing critique group, RomCritters, and especially Tmonique, Daryl, Sara, and Maarika for taking the time to help me make this story amazing. And for teaching me not everything has to be dumped into the book.

  Also, big thanks to Vicky Schilderman, who loved this story enough to beta read, not once, not twice but three times and all this while pregnant during the hottest summer ever.

  But I especially want to thank Cheryl Yeko at Soul Mate Publishing for taking a chance on me.

  I couldn’t have done this without you all!

  Chapter 1

  Josephine ‘Jo’ Rayburn swung her Mustang GT into her parking space in the garage a block down from the Birmingham Police Headquarters. A layer of dust settled onto her dash. Grabbing the rag from the side pocket of her door, she swiped the offending particles off her baby and returned the cloth back to its hidey-hole.

  Jo snagged the two coffee cups from the center console and stepped from the car. With a nudge from her hip, she shut the door and flicked the alarm on her keyring. She could have parked in the lot next to headquarters, but the sun would damage the Mustang’s paint job. Instead, she paid a monthly fee to park in the garage.

  Her cell buzzed against her hip. With her hands full Jo didn’t bother to answer as she was a block away from the precinct. For once she was going to be early for the end-of-the-week-briefing. Not that she and her partner would have anything to add. They’d not caught a new case yet. Unless she counted the case of paperwork waiting for them. The bane of her existence, she’d rather be out hunting down criminals than inside typing up reports.

  A shrill whistle pierced the garage, bouncing around the concrete structure. Turning, a grin spread across Jo’s face at the sight of her partner on the other end of the parking deck. The elevator doors closed behind him as he walked to his car.

  “Jesus, Sullivan bust my ear drums why don’t cha?” Jo hollered, spinning on the heel of her boot, she changed direction. Coming closer, she held out one of the cups. “Here.”

  Curious about what happened yesterday while she was gone, Jo waited for him to fill her in. After two sips of her drink, impatience beat at her. She cocked a brow, deciding it was up to her to break the silence.

  “Sullivan?”

  “Pulled a new case.” With a flick of a button his forest green Crown Vic unlocked, and she headed to the passenger side. Excitement at not being stuck behind a desk curled into her.

  “What’s the case?” Sliding in, she latched her seatbelt and settled the cup into the holder between them.

  “Tomorrow’s our first night off in weeks, you got plans?”

  Her head cranked to the left, and she eyed him suspiciously. Something was off. Not sure what, she lifted her cup to take another drink. Buying herself a few seconds, she informed him, “My mom’s set me up with a friend from church’s son.”

  “Christ on crutches, Jo, you know that’s a bad idea. Hell, you arrested your last blind date.”

  She grinned. “Sure did. And I ate great barbecue after I made that arrest too. But this guy’s a doctor. So, the date shouldn’t be too bad, and like I said his mom goes to church with my mom. He’s probably a goody-two-shoes. I’m hoping to at least get a nice dinner from it. Maybe a steak.”

  They took a right out of the parking deck and into downtown morning traffic. With a few turns, they merged onto I59, away from the city center. The overcast late October sky threatened rain, but so far, it’d held off.

  “Did they give you any info on what we’re walking into?” she asked, trying to turn the subject again.

  “If you’d have answered your phone you might’ve gotten more,” Sullivan grumbled. “And before you ask, all I know is where we’re headed isn’t even in our jurisdiction.”

  Odd, Sullivan hated secretive cases. His quick tug on the lobe of his left ear made her eyes narrow. Guilty. The move was his tell whenever he tried to hide anything, not that Jo would ever reveal that to him.

  She didn’t keep many secrets from her partner, but that had been one. Otherwise, she’d never know what went on behind the man’s placid mask. “Did we get anything handed to us yesterday while I was out?”

  The subtle twitch of his right eye alerted her she was on the right track. What case would make her partner not want to fill her in?

  Ignoring her question, he changed the topic again. “Speaking of yesterday, how did you do at the dentist?”

  “I didn’t bite anyone if that’s what you’re wondering.” Though she’d been close at one point when the dentist started up the machines to clean her teeth. “Oh, and you’re on your own next month for the physical. I had mine done yesterday since I was already getting poked and prodded, and the doctor almost made me late to the damned dentist. Like he had a competition with the dentist or something.”

  Jo scratched her chin. For all she knew those two did have a competition since both offices were in the same building and the two played golf together. Didn’t professionals realize how much personal
information patients could glean from a few well-placed plaques and group photos?

  “Not that you’d have minded,” Sullivan teased, finally relaxing.

  She took in his familiar features. ‘Bony’ was the nicest thing he’d been called, ‘walking skeleton’ was the harshest. The varied descriptions earned him the nickname of Ichabod in the academy. A name he’d never been able to shake. Though she stuck with Sullivan, no way was she screeching ‘Icky’ during a chase.

  Few could handle him. He was cranky as hell. Before her he’d gone through partners like a whore through condoms. However, as soon as they were put on a team, they’d clicked. No idea why or how, but they anticipated each other on some weird atomic level the other detectives liked to complain about.

  Their previous captain had tried to split them up once. It didn’t work out well for either of their new partners. Jo’s refused to listen to a female cop, and he’d been shot in the shoulder. Sullivan’s new partner commented on his daughter’s weight, telling him she needed to be put on a diet.

  Arabelle had been all of five at the time.

  After the comment, Sullivan had dragged the man by the scruff of his neck to the captain’s office. Then explained that any new partner assigned to him would experience unforeseen accidents until she was reassigned back to him.

  The threat didn’t change the captain’s mind. Having heard what the man said about Arabelle, their precinct’s darling and the only girl, their captain immediately moved Jo back with Sullivan.

  “Jo, are you listening to anything I’m saying?”

  “No, not until you tell me about this damned case.”

  He huffed in exasperation and lifted his cup of coffee from the console.

  Silence filled the car, broken only by various calls through the police radio. She allowed him to get away with it until they took the second Leeds exit. Her gut churned when Sullivan made the turn onto Highway 78.

  Her seatbelt snapped taut as she tried to sit up straighter. “No. Oh, no.”

  Sullivan remained silent, finishing his coffee and setting the empty container in the cup holder.

  Dread wove into Jo, the excitement from being in the field slowly dissipating. “Oh, Christ, tell me we did not get the zombie case, Sullivan. We still have that Peterson—”

  “I finished that report a few days ago.”

  “Yeah, but I needed—” When he made the turn up the drive toward the front gate, she cut herself off and whined, “Why’s the lieutenant making us do this? I mean, we still have a bit more running to do on that downtown bust—”

  “We were assigned the case yesterday.”

  Jo slowly panned to her soon to be dead partner. That was why he felt guilty, he hadn’t told her. “And you didn’t dodge—”

  “We don’t choose the cases. You know that.” His fingers tapped the steering wheel, the bustling crime scene still several hundred yards away. “Besides the case sounds interesting.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “First, because of how you’re acting now. Second, this is the first time I’ve talked to you. I planned to fill you in today after the briefing, take you to breakfast—”

  “You mean ply me with food in the hopes I’d not suddenly call in sick for the next month.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and made a growling sound. “We’re gonna get so many zombie survival emails, Sullivan. Not to mention all the other—”

  “Yeah, but, Jo how many others get to solve a real-life grave robber mystery?” Sullivan grinned, slotting his car into an empty spot well away from the scene.

  “We’ll have to work with all those other forces.” She groaned. Working with the other jurisdictions wasn’t a problem for her. The smaller jurisdictions, however, resented being paired with outsiders. “Shit, you’re gonna get a new nickname.”

  “Oh, I will? What’s that gonna be?” His steely-eyed stare intimidated everyone but her.

  “Sully.” She drew the word out, grinning at the deep frown that pulled across her partner’s face.

  “Like that guy who believed in aliens? Bullcrap. As much blackmail material as I have on people, I will not get a new nickname.” His brown eyes frosted, becoming hard and uncompromising.

  She released a snort of laughter. “You will too, because I’ll start the damned thing myself.”

  Unbuckling her seatbelt, while throwing open the car door, she grabbed her coffee before meeting Sullivan at the trunk.

  “Here.” He passed her a few pairs of black gloves and baggies. She shoved them into the pocket of her leather jacket before setting her coffee into the trunk and taking her jacket off to snap her holster into place.

  Stowing her purse in the trunk, she shrugged back into her coat. The fall air tore through her long-sleeved black shirt causing her to shiver. Tugging the sterling-silver chain that held her badge over her head, Jo grabbed her coffee cup from the trunk then slammed it shut.

  Sullivan fell in next to her as they started up the hill toward the hive of activity. “Have you seen the new Coroner’s assistant yet?”

  She shook her head. “Nope, heard he’s got balls of steel though.”

  “The kid’s got spunk, that’s for sure. I heard him giving Reyes and Dalmer hell about one of their bodies. Jim Greene doesn’t suffer fools in his department, especially if he’s working with them day-to-day. Probably why all the newbie assistant coroners are gone now.”

  “He thinks this guy is gonna be able to replace Dobbs?” Jo asked. Knowing how picky Dr. Greene was, she doubted the man would last a week.

  “Jim apparently knew the kid’s family. Said he was supposed to be a podiatrist—or maybe a pediatrician . . .” Sullivan trailed off, struggling to remember which field the mysterious man was practicing.

  “You do know podiatry and pediatrics are two very different fields,” she teased, taking the last swig of her lukewarm black coffee.

  A huff of breath. “I’m not an idiot, Jo. Just trying to remember what Jim said.”

  “Maybe you should take some of those herbs your mother keeps foisting on you, can’t have a partner who forgets things. What if you have a memory lapse and shoot me instead of the bad guy?”

  Sullivan growled. “I can shoot you now.”

  As they drew near the active crime scene, the black and white cruisers sat like sentinels on either side of the drive. Bright yellow police tape stretched across the pavement, well away from the entrance to the large cemetery that sprawled across half the hill.

  “Big talk—” She froze as they pulled even with the last cruiser. Jo’s fingers curled into fists, the empty cup crumpling in her hand. “Cap has got to be kidding me with this, Sullivan.” Jo jabbed a finger at the male and female propped against the back of the hulking black Ford F150 truck. “Did you know?”

  “Hell, no. I’d have told you. I might be stupid about some things, but I don’t screw with you about them.” Sullivan grinned. “But lookit, the kid still follows her like a little puppy.”

  “More like a rabid dog. With her as a partner . . . He must go through a lot of bulletproof vests, anti-venom, and whips tangling with her and her family.” Jo couldn’t believe she was seeing this woman and her partner again. What the hell were they doing this far south and at her crime scene no less? She stomped toward the pair. Karma Zwart and Webster ‘Maker’ Schumaker. The bane of Jo’s existence.

  Sullivan followed closely on her heels, his tone sugary sweet. “Speaking of bullet proof vests, how is your sister Juliette doing, Karma?”

  The blonde narrowed an icy blue gaze on Sullivan.

  Jo tried not to notice how those eyes were the exact same shade she saw in the mirror every day.

  “Fine, Icky, how’s Arabelle? I heard she’s taken a shine to sunset orange—” Karma’s gaze dropped to Sullivan’s horren
dous tie. The dancing frogs took center stage on the sunset orange material. Everyone knew Arabelle dressed her father when he wasn’t on-duty and chose his ties when he was. It made her happy, which made Sullivan happy.

  Instead of rising to the bait, Sullivan puffed his chest out. “Makes me look hot, doesn’t it?” His hand slid over the two frogs tangoing.

  Jo growled before it could go any further.

  “Aww, Josephine, no getting growly. You know I love cranking his chain, it’s just too easy.”

  Taking a steady breath, she cursed their captain with every fiber of her being. “Don’t call me that—”

  “But Josephine is your name, or should I call you big sis’?” Karma teased.

  “Still jealous, Karma? Let’s see, big sis is Josephine, then you, then Juliette and Jenna . . .” Sullivan taunted and began to hum the song ‘One of These Things’ from Sesame Street.

  She stepped between Karma and Sullivan before an argument could break out. The two were like oil and fire the way they shot sparks off each other. Karma was almost the same height as Jo. But where Jo was rail thin and wiry, Karma was blond and curvy. A replica of a petite blond Barbie.

  “I think you two need to be put into a room together until you can sort this shit out,” Jo stated.

  Maker laughed. “I’d want that on video.”

  Karma flipped him off. Maker, never shifted from his relaxed position, but his green eyes twinkled with mirth. Though relaxed, she knew the muscle-bound behemoth was ready to back up his partner if needed.

  Sullivan and Karma continued to exchange sharp barbs. The piercing jibes had become the norm the few times the two came into contact with each other. Of course, the sharp exchange seemed more cutting this time. She attributed it to not seeing, nor hearing from Karma in over a year. Jo being dumped made Sullivan’s protectiveness come to the forefront.