waitress came to my table to deliver what turned out to be a gigantic hamburger. Early in my career as a homicide detective, the grisly discussion at hand might well have wrecked my appetite. I’m beyond that now. Lunch is lunch, whatever the topic of conversation.
“All right,” I said to Harry. “My food’s here. Have to go. Have Barbara send me the info.”
As soon as I finished my lunch, I paid the tab and headed back over to the M.E.’s office. I wanted to be there, Johnny-on-the-spot, when Dr. Laura Hopewell was ready to rumble. Over the years I’ve learned that most medical examiners have one thing in common with a live theater performance: Don’t show up after the opening curtain and expect the usher to hand you a program and show you to your seat.
It isn’t going to happen.
CHAPTER 4
JOANNA ARRIVED IN TIME TO BE IN ON PART OF DETECTIVE HOWELL’S interview with Mr. Maury Robbins. Clearly much of it was a repeat of what Ernie had already asked him. But that was standard in a homicide investigation—to ask the same questions several different times to see if there were any discrepancies.
“Like I told that Detective Carpenter,” Robbins said. “When I come here after work, I usually arrive somewhere between two and three in the morning.”
“And the gate was open when you got here?” Deb asked.
“Right,” Maury said, “wide open. At the time I thought, why bother buying a season pass when anyone who wanted to could just drive right in?”
“Besides the gate, did you notice anything else that was out of the ordinary?”
“The dog,” Maury said. “Lester’s dog usually raises hell. I forget what his name is, something that starts with an M , I think. I always hear him barking when I roll down the window to open the gate. Last night he didn’t make a peep.”
“Can you tell me anything in particular about Lester Attwood?”
“That’s his last name, Attwood?”
Debra nodded.
“Not much,” Maury said. “I mean, I knew him. Everybody who comes here knows Les. I’m here a couple of times a month. He’d usually meander around the place a couple of times a day, to make sure everything was okay. Sometimes people would get stuck, and he’d help drag ’em out. Sometimes we’d talk. He struck me as a good enough guy, but one who’d put in some hard miles. I asked him once how many times he’d had his nose broken. Said he couldn’t remember.”
“So he was a fighter, then?” Debra asked. “A brawler?”
“Probably, but by the time I met Les, he seemed to have put his demons behind him and had his life back on track.”
“About last night,” Debra said. “Aside from the open gate and missing dog, did you notice anything else amiss?”
“Nope,” Robbins answered. “That about covers it.”
“Tell me about this morning,” Deb asked.
“I got up, made some breakfast, unloaded Moxie—that’s what I call my ATV. It was while I was doing that that I heard the dog barking. I looked off in that direction, and that’s when I first saw the buzzards circling overhead. They were gliding around and around, just like they do in cartoons. I’m sure now the poor dog was barking his head off trying to keep them away. But seeing the birds made me curious. A little later, when I was ready to take my first ride, the dog was still barking, so I headed here to check it out.”
“You suspected something was dead?” Joanna asked, inserting her own question into the conversation.
“Yeah,” Maury said. “I figured it would turn out to be a cow or a coyote or a jackrabbit. There are a lot of those around here. I sure as hell didn’t expect it to be a person.”
“When you realized the victim was a person, did you recognize him?”
“Are you kidding? That dog wouldn’t let me close enough to see anything, much less touch him.”
Dave Hollicker arrived on the scene. After surveying the situation, he dragged something that looked like a stack of plastic pavers out of the back
“All right,” I said to Harry. “My food’s here. Have to go. Have Barbara send me the info.”
As soon as I finished my lunch, I paid the tab and headed back over to the M.E.’s office. I wanted to be there, Johnny-on-the-spot, when Dr. Laura Hopewell was ready to rumble. Over the years I’ve learned that most medical examiners have one thing in common with a live theater performance: Don’t show up after the opening curtain and expect the usher to hand you a program and show you to your seat.
It isn’t going to happen.
CHAPTER 4
JOANNA ARRIVED IN TIME TO BE IN ON PART OF DETECTIVE HOWELL’S interview with Mr. Maury Robbins. Clearly much of it was a repeat of what Ernie had already asked him. But that was standard in a homicide investigation—to ask the same questions several different times to see if there were any discrepancies.
“Like I told that Detective Carpenter,” Robbins said. “When I come here after work, I usually arrive somewhere between two and three in the morning.”
“And the gate was open when you got here?” Deb asked.
“Right,” Maury said, “wide open. At the time I thought, why bother buying a season pass when anyone who wanted to could just drive right in?”
“Besides the gate, did you notice anything else that was out of the ordinary?”
“The dog,” Maury said. “Lester’s dog usually raises hell. I forget what his name is, something that starts with an M , I think. I always hear him barking when I roll down the window to open the gate. Last night he didn’t make a peep.”
“Can you tell me anything in particular about Lester Attwood?”
“That’s his last name, Attwood?”
Debra nodded.
“Not much,” Maury said. “I mean, I knew him. Everybody who comes here knows Les. I’m here a couple of times a month. He’d usually meander around the place a couple of times a day, to make sure everything was okay. Sometimes people would get stuck, and he’d help drag ’em out. Sometimes we’d talk. He struck me as a good enough guy, but one who’d put in some hard miles. I asked him once how many times he’d had his nose broken. Said he couldn’t remember.”
“So he was a fighter, then?” Debra asked. “A brawler?”
“Probably, but by the time I met Les, he seemed to have put his demons behind him and had his life back on track.”
“About last night,” Debra said. “Aside from the open gate and missing dog, did you notice anything else amiss?”
“Nope,” Robbins answered. “That about covers it.”
“Tell me about this morning,” Deb asked.
“I got up, made some breakfast, unloaded Moxie—that’s what I call my ATV. It was while I was doing that that I heard the dog barking. I looked off in that direction, and that’s when I first saw the buzzards circling overhead. They were gliding around and around, just like they do in cartoons. I’m sure now the poor dog was barking his head off trying to keep them away. But seeing the birds made me curious. A little later, when I was ready to take my first ride, the dog was still barking, so I headed here to check it out.”
“You suspected something was dead?” Joanna asked, inserting her own question into the conversation.
“Yeah,” Maury said. “I figured it would turn out to be a cow or a coyote or a jackrabbit. There are a lot of those around here. I sure as hell didn’t expect it to be a person.”
“When you realized the victim was a person, did you recognize him?”
“Are you kidding? That dog wouldn’t let me close enough to see anything, much less touch him.”
Dave Hollicker arrived on the scene. After surveying the situation, he dragged something that looked like a stack of plastic pavers out of the back
Similar Books
