planned a day of hiking in Topanga Canyon, and I had decided to go along. Abby was going too, and my brother Jeff was taking a rare Saturday off to come with us.
Jeff was the oldest, a year older than Kevin and two years older than me. He was a veterinarian, and lived in Oceanside, the town where we'd grown up, with his wife Valerie and their two boys. He'd run cross country in high school and college and was still wiry. He'd stopped running to save his knees, but he still surfed and took the boys hiking at every opportunity. And, occasionally, he'd drive up the coast and join us on the trails for a day.
Jeff showed up at the apartment at the crack of dawn. I had just smacked the snooze button for the second time when I heard pounding on the door. I pulled on a pair of sweats and staggered into the living room. I could hear the shower running. It was probably Abby; she was one of those people. Morning people. I opened the door. "Good Lord. What time did you get up?"
"4:30. And I drove fast." Jeff gave me a hug. "How ya doin'?"
"Fine. How's everything at home?"
Jeff considered. "Fine, really. Colin’s decided he wants to go to space camp this summer, so we've got to find one. Is there anything at Cal Tech?"
"I don't know, but I can find out."
"Would you? And let me know. We'd rather not send him out of state at age ten."
"Right…" I scratched a note to myself on the refrigerator message board.
Kevin appeared, and the talk devolved into brotherly insults. Abby yelled out the door for us to shut up and load the car. So we did.
We all piled into Jeff's CRV and drove to Santa Monica to pick up Pete.
Pete lived in Santa Monica on 17th Street, just around the corner from Wilshire, in a townhouse he’d inherited from a great-uncle. The place was beautiful, and the location was great. Pete could walk to his teaching job at Santa Monica College and jog to the beach.
When we pulled up, I jumped out of the passenger seat and went to the door. Pete was ready, of course, meeting me at the door with his backpack in hand. He grinned and gave me a quick hug, which was a little surprising, but I hugged him back. "Come on, you get the front seat."
He laughed. "It pays to be the tallest."
"Ha ha." I lifted his backpack as he locked the door. "Holy shit, what do you have in here? Bricks?"
"Nah, concrete blocks today." He took it from me and did a couple of biceps curls with it. "That's not that heavy, you wuss."
"I'll show you wuss." I chased him down the sidewalk, where we proceeded to let Jeff and Kevin join in the teasing and friendly insults all the way to Topanga Canyon. By the time we got there, Abby was threatening to walk back home.
We found a parking spot without too much trouble, since we were so early, and headed toward Eagle Rock. We were chatting along the way when we spotted a dead field mouse at the side of the trail. Jeff commented on it, and Kevin said, "Oh, that reminds me, I got the autopsy results on your friend last night."
Pete said, "Wow, that was fast."
Jeff said, "What friend?"
I said, "What did it show?"
"Not much." Kevin took a drink of water. "There wasn't anything inconsistent with a seizure, except that there were therapeutic levels of his seizure medication in his blood. But that doesn't mean he didn't have a seizure. It was too long from the time of death to determine whether his muscle enzymes were elevated, like they would have been immediately after the seizure."
"But the fact that the levels of his meds were where they should be - isn't that a little odd? Did the coroner comment on it?"
"He commented on it to the extent that he said it was a little odd. That was it. There was nothing else to suggest any other cause of death. There was nothing at all to suggest foul play. So the coroner signed it off as probable seizure. He didn't have anything else to hang it on."
Jeff held up his hand. "Okay. Somebody tell me what's going on."
So I told. Everything, right through my silly thought
Jeff was the oldest, a year older than Kevin and two years older than me. He was a veterinarian, and lived in Oceanside, the town where we'd grown up, with his wife Valerie and their two boys. He'd run cross country in high school and college and was still wiry. He'd stopped running to save his knees, but he still surfed and took the boys hiking at every opportunity. And, occasionally, he'd drive up the coast and join us on the trails for a day.
Jeff showed up at the apartment at the crack of dawn. I had just smacked the snooze button for the second time when I heard pounding on the door. I pulled on a pair of sweats and staggered into the living room. I could hear the shower running. It was probably Abby; she was one of those people. Morning people. I opened the door. "Good Lord. What time did you get up?"
"4:30. And I drove fast." Jeff gave me a hug. "How ya doin'?"
"Fine. How's everything at home?"
Jeff considered. "Fine, really. Colin’s decided he wants to go to space camp this summer, so we've got to find one. Is there anything at Cal Tech?"
"I don't know, but I can find out."
"Would you? And let me know. We'd rather not send him out of state at age ten."
"Right…" I scratched a note to myself on the refrigerator message board.
Kevin appeared, and the talk devolved into brotherly insults. Abby yelled out the door for us to shut up and load the car. So we did.
We all piled into Jeff's CRV and drove to Santa Monica to pick up Pete.
Pete lived in Santa Monica on 17th Street, just around the corner from Wilshire, in a townhouse he’d inherited from a great-uncle. The place was beautiful, and the location was great. Pete could walk to his teaching job at Santa Monica College and jog to the beach.
When we pulled up, I jumped out of the passenger seat and went to the door. Pete was ready, of course, meeting me at the door with his backpack in hand. He grinned and gave me a quick hug, which was a little surprising, but I hugged him back. "Come on, you get the front seat."
He laughed. "It pays to be the tallest."
"Ha ha." I lifted his backpack as he locked the door. "Holy shit, what do you have in here? Bricks?"
"Nah, concrete blocks today." He took it from me and did a couple of biceps curls with it. "That's not that heavy, you wuss."
"I'll show you wuss." I chased him down the sidewalk, where we proceeded to let Jeff and Kevin join in the teasing and friendly insults all the way to Topanga Canyon. By the time we got there, Abby was threatening to walk back home.
We found a parking spot without too much trouble, since we were so early, and headed toward Eagle Rock. We were chatting along the way when we spotted a dead field mouse at the side of the trail. Jeff commented on it, and Kevin said, "Oh, that reminds me, I got the autopsy results on your friend last night."
Pete said, "Wow, that was fast."
Jeff said, "What friend?"
I said, "What did it show?"
"Not much." Kevin took a drink of water. "There wasn't anything inconsistent with a seizure, except that there were therapeutic levels of his seizure medication in his blood. But that doesn't mean he didn't have a seizure. It was too long from the time of death to determine whether his muscle enzymes were elevated, like they would have been immediately after the seizure."
"But the fact that the levels of his meds were where they should be - isn't that a little odd? Did the coroner comment on it?"
"He commented on it to the extent that he said it was a little odd. That was it. There was nothing else to suggest any other cause of death. There was nothing at all to suggest foul play. So the coroner signed it off as probable seizure. He didn't have anything else to hang it on."
Jeff held up his hand. "Okay. Somebody tell me what's going on."
So I told. Everything, right through my silly thought
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