Accelerated by Vaughn Heppner

“This way.”
    I followed her down the hall, and my stomach tightened the closer we approached a large green door. She glanced at me before she opened the door and then ushered me within. The west wall was full of what appeared as giant drawers. In some of them lay the cold dead, the temperature lowered to retard decomposition.
    Big Alice approached one of the drawers.
    “Kay Durant,” I said quietly.
    “What?” she asked over her shoulder, with her meaty fingers already clutching a handle.
    “Her name was Kay Durant.”
    Alice Smith let go of the handle and faced me. “Kay Durant is not Jane Doe.”
    “I was told to come here and—”
    “Doctor Sutra told you this?” Alice asked sharply.
    “Before I spoke to him, a police officer said you had a woman in her thirties, pretty and—”
    “What was the officer’s name?” Alice demanded, looking more suspicious by the moment.
    “Sergeant Cole,” I said.
    Alice muttered to herself. Then she said in an accusing voice, “Jane Doe was brought in on the fifteenth. Kay Durant was brought in on the nineteenth.”
    “How did Kay die?”
    “No!” Alice said, shaking her head. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but—”
    “I’m sorry if we got off on the wrong foot,” I said. “Kay was important to me. Yesterday, I learned she died. Frankly, I suspect foul play.”
    “So do I. You.” Alice headed for the door we’d just come through. “We’re leaving.”
    I’d handled this wrong, and I wasn’t sure how to fix it. Money often solved a multitude of problems. So, I pulled out my wallet and withdrew a hundred dollar bill.
    “Alice,” I said, “I represent an organization—”
    Her eyes narrowed. “Do you think I’m crazy? Do you think my job is worth a lousy hundred dollars?” She laughed loudly as she pulled out her cell phone. “You know what I’m going to do. I’m calling the police—”
    I took three steps and snatched the cell phone. It was an older model that flipped open. I snapped it apart with a twist of my hands.
    “I apologize, Alice.” I said evenly. I shoved the two pieces into my coat pocket. I took out three more hundreds, combining them with the original one.
    There were red spots on Alice’s doughy cheeks. “How dare you break my phone? I ought to—”
    I grabbed her nearest wrist and squeezed so she gasped in surprise and obvious pain.
    “I can squeeze harder,” I said.
    She shook her head.
    I pressed the four hundred dollars into her hand and then folded her fingers over them. “These are yours—for the broken phone. You understand that, right?”
    She nodded.
    “If that isn’t enough, I can add more.”
    She frowned.
    “Make it three hundred more,” I said.
    She moistened her lips as if she was going to start threatening me again. So, I squeezed her wrist to remind her of the other option. I could feel her bones grinding against each other.
    “Please,” she whispered, wincing in pain.
    “I want to see Kay Durant.”
    Alice shook her head.
    I frowned, uncertain what to do now. Despite my threats, I wasn’t going to break her wrist. Alice was proving cagier and tougher than I’d expected.
    “I’d like to show you,” she said in a rush, perhaps misreading my frown. “But they’ve already shipped out the body.”
    “Shipped where?” I asked.
    Alice swallowed, nervously glancing at her wrist. “I don’t remember, but I can show you the paperwork.”
    I let her go. She gasped as she cradled her wrist.
    I withdrew another three bills and spread them out so she could see them. “These are for your broken cell, nothing more. We’re clear on that, right?”
    She nodded.
    “The cell breaking was an accident,” I said.
    “No. You broke it on purpose, but I’m going to let it go. Now do you want to see the paperwork or not?”
    I studied her, and finally said, “Yeah.”
    A few minutes later, we were in another room at a computer. With a few clicks, Alice brought up Kay Durant.
    “See?” Alice