Parks Pat Cases 4-6 by P.D. Workman

Author:P.D. Workman [Workman, P.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: P.D. Workman

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Margie was frustrated by the lack of progress on the case. Some cases took months or years to close, of course, but the Hustler case had seemed so open and shut that she was irritated that they hadn’t yet been able to establish the manner of death and to move it forward.

She and the others spread out a representative sample of the photos of the body on the conference room table and printed off the medical examiner’s preliminary report and emails regarding what they knew about the bruises so far. They ordered sandwiches for lunch and all walked around the table looking at the pictures and rereading the description of the object or objects that had caused the bruises.

Margie worried that it was a wild goose chase. What if Hustler had sustained the bruises earlier in the day from something that was totally unrelated to his death? None of them could identify anything that had been out in the water that might have cause the bruises. Would they have to drain the lake or send in divers to see if there was something under the surface that was dangerous? People sometimes disposed of old cars or other junk in lakes like that. Margie couldn’t understand why they would since there were plenty of auto junkyards and the dump right beside the park.

But there could be something under the surface that he had run into while trying to save his dropped phone. It was really the only logical assumption.

“They’re all on his upper body,” Cruz observed, “nothing below the shoulder blades or chest.”

“Do you think that he could have dived down and gotten caught in something?” Margie suggested. “He had to fight his way out…?”

No one seemed to think this was a possibility.

“Blunt object, sharp edges,” Jones mused. She examined a couple of pictures, holding them close to her eyes and turning them around to see them from all angles. Margie wasn’t sure how that was going to help. The bruises were not giving much away.

On TV, there were always distinctive chain patterns, an emblem, or some other shape that could be matched directly with one unique item. But in real life, bruises were usually indistinct, and a person had to be able to connect the dots and be creative in trying to think of what object or activity had caused the injuries.

“And a lot of force,” Siever pointed out. “This wasn’t something that he just bumped into. He was hit with a fair amount of force.”

“But we don’t know exactly how long it was before his death,” Margie said. “I don’t think there’s an exact science to how well the bruises would be developed by the time he died.”

“They were new bruises. Not purple or yellow. Still fresh,” Cruz said. He looked at the array of pictures. Shades of red. Blood collecting under the skin. Nothing, as he said, that could be days old.

“But minutes or hours?” Margie asked. “What if he’d had a fight with someone earlier in the day?”

“Earlier than six o’clock?” Jones asked.

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