Read Online Prairie Gothic by J.M. Hayes - Free Book Online

table and worked the zipper. The baby looked like it had been fitted with zippers of its own. It had been sliced open, examined and then closed back up. The scars were neat enough, but they lacked the sort of precise small stitches reserved for flesh that might heal. The sheriff wanted to look somewhere else, but he couldn’t. He found himself staring at the child’s face, seeking resemblance to his family and hoping not to find it.
    Where were the Heathers? Where could they have gone without the car? Or had they gone in someone else’s car? He wanted to be outside this room, searching for them in the land of the living, not back here worrying in the land of the dead.
    â€œStillborn, full-term boy. That’s what my report will say.”
    â€œStillborn, can that be true?” That might take some of the heat off from the outraged locals, but it sure didn’t take away the heat Doc suddenly radiated.
    â€œYou think I’d file a false report?” Doc was steaming.
    â€œNo. That’s not what I…”
    â€œYou ever know me to lie? You ever know me to falsify anything? As Coroner, I won’t do that even to make it easier for those who’re left behind.”
    â€œDoc, calm down. What’s with you and this case? You’ve had a burr up your ass from the moment you found out about it. You know I think you’re the least likely public official in Benteen County to play other than by the rules. But you’re making me think there’s something about this that you aren’t telling me.”
    Doc got himself back under control. “I’m sorry.” His voice was calm again, but he was still stiff and anything but relaxed. “There’s just something about a baby that didn’t have to end up this way that angers me.”
    â€œAre you implying this was a wrongful death?”
    Doc turned back to the task of removing the little corpse from the body bag. “I don’t know. This child might have lived if it had been delivered in a hospital, if the mother had seen fit to consult with a physician through the course of her pregnancy. But that’s not what happened. It never drew a breath. That’s what I’ll say in my report. The lungs never inflated. All kinds of maybes, but the result’s the same. This baby’s dead.”
    Neither Doc nor the sheriff referred to the baby as “he” or “him.” Maybe using “it” kept this impersonal, distancing them from the pain.
    â€œAnd you couldn’t have just told me that?” The sheriff was a little pissed now too. It wasn’t like finding dead babies was a cause of good cheer for him either. He still had to find a mother, determine how and why this little body had ended up where an old woman with Alzheimer’s could find it.
    â€œYou remember what Wynn had to say about the baby being Jewish?” Doc asked. It seemed a strange segue, and this time it was the sheriff who exploded.
    â€œWhen I have time, I will explain about circumcision to my deputy. Meanwhile, I’ve confiscated his weapon and sent him home. I know, as a law enforcement officer, he’s an embarrassment. If I didn’t need this job so badly, or wasn’t always winning re-election by such narrow margins, I’d probably fire his ass and tell his father what to do with my department’s budget. I might even try to run Wynn Senior out of office, only he’s the most popular political figure in this county and about the only one on the board who knows what he’s doing. Folks around here are fond of Deputy Wynn. They find him an amusement, as long as he isn’t screwing up their cases or ignoring their legal rights. And, damn it, he means well.”
    â€œGuess I’m not the only one who’s a little touchy this morning,” Doc said. For the first time there was a hint of warmth, evidence of their close friendship in his voice. “That’s not what I