Four more missing bodies with nothing in common are discussed, and another is added to the equation.
“So where did we leave off?” Detective Campbell looked up at the whiteboard and answered his own question. “Clara Morris. Number one on the ‘reason for the crime’ list so far. Let’s see if we can’t find something better. Of course, it would help to know which is the missing body, though we probably won’t know that for a few days, considering Dr. Curtis is effectively on her own.”
The way he said it made Sergeant Riggs’s ears perk up. “You think it’s a little too convenient?”
“I don’t know. Yes and no. To start with, they were her bodies. So to cover something up, or to find something, she didn’t need an excuse. She would just… overlook it or stumble on it. Much less suspicious than this whole charade. Unless the idea was to get into the computers, which is possible. I asked I.T. to track everything accessed by her, the intern, or by anyone at one of the morgue terminals. Maybe there is something she’s looking for. I’ve also started a background search, ostensibly to vet her to work in the lab, but mostly just to see if anything pops up. But…” He paused and shook his head. “If there is a missing body, I don’t know that computer hacking is the top motive. But then maybe she got rid of one just to make us think that and throw us off the trail.”
“It makes your head spin,” Sergeant Riggs said. “It’s Vizini and Iocane powder all over again.”
“Yeah, we could chase our tail around in a circle all day. We might as well finish going through these files and see if there’s anything we can find that might make the body-snatching make sense. So, after Clara Morris we have Sarah Fischer. Ninety three, living in Golden Acres Nursing Home, had a stroke. Large surviving family, kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, and left a sizeable inheritance. Possible motive if any of the kids are having financial trouble, but she was ninety-three and not in the greatest health. It wasn’t unexpected, but we’ll flag it and have someone run the financials. She’d made arrangements long ago to be taken to Forrest Lawn Funeral home. Doctor that declared her was a Dr. Mclean, a fill-in at the E.R. It was a simple case, Fischer had a D.N.R. order.”
“Still, money is the oldest motive in the book,” Sergeant Riggs said, taping up the picture and jotting down the information. His marker started to run dry and he shook it. “She might bump Clara out of the top spot. There are plenty of drugs that can push an elderly, frail person over the edge.”
“I agree. People do all sorts of weird things when money is involved. Until we learn more about her kids and her will, she gets the top spot. It’s weak, but we’ll take what we can get at this point.” Detective Campbell slid the folder over onto the table and picked the next one up off his desk. “Next up, we have a John Doe. No picture in the case file, the body had just come in before the theft. We might be able to get one once the crime scene techs compile their info.”
“This sounds promising,” Sergeant Riggs said. “Never know what might be up there, and if he turns out to be the missing body I’d put money on him.”
“Especially since his cause of death isn’t really known. It’s down as exposure, but with a question mark. So it is possible someone has a big something to hide with this one. Unfortunately, there’s not much known. He was picked up, filthy and covered in refuse, from beside a dumpster behind an Italian restaurant. No I.D., and no one could even make a good estimation of his age, other than somewhere between thirty and sixty. Smelled pretty rank, from the notes, and had several visible injuries, but none that should have been fatal. Police questioned the local businesses, since they have a passing familiarity with most of the homeless in the area. None of them can recall seeing him around.”
“Definitely our number one suspect,” Sergeant Riggs said. “It could have been a body dump, but someone got concerned that he might be identified. So the figured they’d steal the body before it anyone could find anything out.”
“If he is the missing body, though, I don’t know how we can make much headway in identifying him. The details are to vague, and the list of missing persons between the ages of 30 and 50 is quite long. And that’s assuming someone reported him missing.” Detective Campbell slid the file in front of Sarah Fischer’s file and reached for the next one. “Next… Jeff Baxter. Thirty-two, died of smoke inhalation in a house fire that also claimed the life of Thomas Creete.”
“I recognize the second name – Dr. Curtis identified the first head as his.”
Detective Campbell picked up the next file, handing Sergeant Riggs both photos. “Thomas Creete, age thirty-six, also dead of smoke inhalation. Arson investigators didn’t find anything suspicious about the fire, and the blood had already been sent off to toxicology, so most likely anything that was there to hide will be found. No, you have those two pictures switched. Creete is the one on the left.”
“Like if they were drugged prior to the fire,” Sergeant Riggs suggested, swapping the pictures.
“Yeah, though it’s considered unlikely. The rental they lived in was a slum, no working smoke detectors and tons of faulty wiring. Investigators determined that was the cause of the fire pretty quickly, and apparently friends of the two said they’d complained about the electricity in that place more than once. Neither man had left instructions for their bodies, or had sizeable estates. Creete had a sister, his only living relative, and Baxter is survived by his parents and two brothers, but no one stood to gain anything by their deaths. Neither had a criminal record or was known to associate with any unsavory characters.”
“Are the families going to sue the landlord? Would the disappearance of their bodies have any bearing on the case?”
“Possibly, and doubtful. The arson investigation is complete and should stand with the initial death certificate as cause, and since the blood work was already sent off, any ‘it was their fault because they were drunk/high/whatever’ argument can be countered, if friends of the two are to be believed that they were moderate drinkers, no drugs. I wouldn’t bet my badge on that, but, it doesn’t really matter if they were impaired, the multiple complaints filed by them and the other residents, along with the finding of the investigation are more than enough to conclude negligence.”
“Still,” Sergeant Riggs said. “It’s somewhat suspicious, and between that and the John Doe I wonder why Dr. Curtis said there wasn’t anything suspicious in any of the deaths.”
“I don’t think they would be considered that suspicious, until the bodies disappeared. I mean, John Does show up all the time, you can’t flag them all, because mostly they are just homeless people dying of exposure and street violence. Sad, but true. And the house fire was explained, and there really wasn’t much of a reason to look much further. I think we’re just more sensitive to the ‘what if’s because of the body snatching.” Detective Campbell stared at the stack of files. “But it’s not a mark in her favor. If nothing else, it shows a slightly cavalier attitude toward the cases, assuming the easy way out.”
“Not unexpected, though, considering the number of cases she sees. But we don’t have any proof of anything yet, so we might as well get through these last two cases. Maybe one of them will have a giant read arrow on them pointing to a motive.”
“That would be nice, but I don’t think I’ll hold my breath.”
“Nor I, but it’s nice to dream. It’d make our lives a whole lot easier.” He picked up the file and started leafing through it. “Hold on, this is odd. This can’t be the right file. It says this person was taken out of the morgue three days ago, and buried…” He looked at his phone, checking the date. “They were buried today.”
“Clerk probably made a mistake, pulled the wrong file.” Sergeant Riggs shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time. Probably a similar name.”
Detective Campbell already had his phone out and was speaking to someone on the other end. “We got a file here on a Marissa Thomas, you have her as one of the missing bodies, but the files says she was shipped out three days ago and buried today. Really? I see. So what… Uh-huh. Okay, yeah, we’ll meet you there. I’ll call them and check. Right. Okay, thanks.” He hung up the phone. “Dr. Curtis says the mistake is in the file. That body was being held at the morgue because the funeral home – Pine Crest – suffered a sewer backup and postponed several of the services. Said they called her the morning the body was to be picked up, about 8 am. Said it must have already been written in the file, and no one went back to change it. Says she logged it in the computer, though. See if you can check on the computer file while I call the funeral home.”
He made another call, explaining the situation and after several moments turned back to Sergeant Riggs, who motioned for him to go ahead and talk, mouthing that he was on hold. “They claim never to have made the call. There was no problem with their sewer system, and the funeral went off today as planned. They haven’t covered the grave yet, and I asked them to hold off while we get a warrant to open the coffin. Things are not looking rosy for Dr. Curtis.”
His phone rang and he answered it sharply. “Detective Campbell. Yes. Right. I understand, we have another development in the case and can’t get there until… okay, thanks.”
He sat back with a frown, and waited for Sergeant Riggs to finish his own phone call. “This case just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I have bad news. Dr. Stafford died in the emergency room, and all signs point to poison. They’re still running tests, but it looks pretty bad.”
“It gets more interesting,” Sergeant Riggs said. “I had the techs look into that supposed phone call and the notes in the file. She made the notes, logging the call. And according to the phone records, a call did come in to her morgue at that time, but it wasn’t from Pine Crest. It was from our morgue.”
Detective Campbell tapped his fingers on the desk. “Interesting. Too bad the person I’d like to ask about that is dead,” he said flatly. “Convenient, that.”
“So where to first?” Sergeant Riggs asked.
“First we need to open the coffin. Get Porter and Jones to go talk to the family, if we can get consent we don’t need the warrant. While they’re doing that, we’ll go talk to Dr. Curtis about the body and the phone call. We’ll tackle Dr. Stafford last.” Detective Campbell picked up his coffee and grabbed his jacket. “This is going to be a long day.”
Sergeant Riggs followed him out of the office. “Any way we could stop and get a bite to eat first…?”
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