Code 61 - Donald Harstad [37]
“We know,” she said. “Terrible, but not unexpected. At least,” she added, “not by those of us who knew her best.”
Knew her best? Didn't go too far in explaining why they hadn't just rushed home, but I was willing to bet that she didn't have any idea that Toby and Hanna had been so talkative.
“A bad thing,” added Kevin. “But death comes to us all.”
Well, sure. But it was the second time I'd heard that kind of sentiment that day, and both times it seemed to be designed to minimize Edie's death, not to deal with it. Not so much of a philosophy, but more like a dodge, really. It irritated me just a bit.
“It's the ones death sneaks up on that I feel for,” I said. “I hate surprises, myself.”
Hester and Dr. Peters passed by, going on into the house. “Join us as soon as you can?” I saw that Hester had retrieved her laptop from her car. She and Dr. Peters were both carrying black cases as they entered the house.
“You bet.” I looked back at the two gaming boat employees. “If you two will just check in with Deputy Borman in the parlor … he'll need some information from you, just as soon as you're ready … ”
“I'd really like,” said Huck, “to use the bathroom, upstairs. If that's all right.” A little sarcasm crept in there. I really couldn't blame her. She did live here, after all.
“Oh, that's just fine,” I said, advancing past them up the steps, and holding open the door for them. “Just don't go into Edie's room until we're ffnished, okay?”
“Of course,” said Kevin. Sarcasm again. “Like I said, it's not the first place I'd normally go.”
“So,” I continued, “just check in with Deputy Borman, and be available in a while.”
They turned off into the parlor. I watched the reactions of the other residents. Kevin and Huck got sort of deferential treatment. Toby, especially, seemed not so much glad as relieved to see them back.
I went on upstairs, to Edie's room. I thought we'd just pretty well established the pecking order in the Mansion.
Dr. Peters and Hester were talking in low tones as I got to Edie's room. Dr. Peters gestured toward the bathroom. “My.”
“Yeah,” I said. I really wasn't looking forward to another complete tour of that place.
“I told him about our little discovery of blood under her butt,” said Hester. “And the Conception County incident.”
Dr. Peters nodded. “Not conclusive in and of itself. I really think we might need the lab team to give us a thorough workup here,” he said. “And I'll talk to my opposite number in Wisconsin as soon as I finish up with the autopsy.”
“Agreed,” said Hester.
“So Carl,” said Dr. Peters, “you have some prelim stuff on a digital camera?”
I did. Hester opened her laptop case. “JPEGs?”
“Yep,” I replied. “Standard format. You got a USB port?”
She did, and I produced a USB cable. Plugged one end into the digital camera, the other into her laptop, and in a few seconds, we had photos of Edie in the tub.
The three of us peered at the laptop LCD screen for a few minutes, moving back and forth between the establishing shots and the close-ups of the wound. Not the resolution I'd get either at home or at the office, but good enough for our purposes. Very good, if you considered the fact that we usually had to wait three days to get film developed.
Dr. Peters stepped back from the laptop. “And you have the weapon?”
Hester snapped on a pair of latex gloves, retrieved the knife, and showed it to him by holding it up by the very tip of the blade. He stared at it for several seconds, and she slowly turned it, letting him see all aspects of it.
“Thanks, Hester,” he said. She put it back in the paper bag. You always use paper bags on anything that has biological material on it. Allows it to breathe, to dry out, as opposed to decomposing and rotting in the airtight seal of plastic. “Can you enlarge the shots of the cut?”
Hester removed her gloves, and went to her laptop. “You have a bunch of gloves, Carl? I've got maybe one