Beyond Confusion by Sheila Simonson

Author:Sheila Simonson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, libraries, bookmobile, bullying, Columbia River Gorge, Native Americans, Washington state
ISBN: 978-1-56474-771-6
Publisher: Perseverance Press
Published: 2013-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

“I threw up.” Jeff must have gone into his first autopsy overconfident. The deputy’s air of bright cheer had dissipated. He looked both sheepish and green around the gills, if such were possible.

“Have a seat and tell me what you learned.” Rob held out his hand.

Jeff gave him a printout of the M.E.’s notes and perched on the guest chair. “It’s one thing to see a dead body, but watching that cold bugger disassemble a human being was...”

Rob waited while his protégé groped for words. “The ultimate indignity?” he offered after a pause.

“That’s it.” Jeff sounded grateful. “I used to think Native Americans were nuts to object to scientific examination of historic remains. Now I understand. It’s a desecration.”

“A necessary one, I’m afraid, in the case of murder.”

“Sure, for murder.” Jeff sounded doubtful.

“Next-of-kin sometimes object to autopsies. It’s not just squeamishness. I’ve met relatives who say, what does it matter? The victims are dead, and nothing will bring them back. They’re right, of course, but I still come away wanting to know what happened, and if possible, why. That’s true, even if I think the dead person was a skunk.” Time to get to work. Rob drew a breath. “So was it murder?”

“Yes, or manslaughter.” Jeff half closed his eyes. His hands clenched, visualizing. “Somebody grabbed her by both arms, shook her, the M.E. thinks, and shoved her off the deck backwards.”

Rob nodded. “Bruising on the upper arms.”

“And elsewhere. When she fell, there was nothing to slow her down, no tree branches or rock ledges. From her deck it was straight down.”

“Did she somersault?”

“No.” Jeff curled forward, reaching with his arms, caught himself miming the victim’s defensive posture, and gave a rueful smile that faded immediately. “The back of her head hit hard, bashing the skull, but the area between her shoulder blades impaled on a sharp rock, and that severed her spine. A quick death.”

Quick but full of terror. Rob shivered. “Time of death?”

Jeff made a face. “You know how cagey they are. He says earlier than we assumed. Morning. Around ten, give or take.”

“Okay, Jeff. Thanks for attending. Consider yourself initiated.”

“I passed the test?”

Rob frowned. “It wasn’t a test. More a plunge into icy water. We deal with a lot of bad things, but murder is the worst. Murder is a damned insult.”

Jeff nodded, sober. Both men were silent. At last Jeff said, “I guess I’ll go back to the library at this point. That house was clean as a whistle, by the way.”

“I heard you allowed the girl back in.”

“I kept tape around the deck in case the techies can bring up shoe prints or hand prints or something, but it was awfully clean, too. I think the library’s the key.”

“It’s closed today, you know.”

“Yeah, but some of the personnel are there, and I’m still working on the code to those journals. I have an idea....” His voice trailed.

Rob didn’t push it. He told Jeff to look into Wendy Resnik’s quarrel with the victim. “See if you can find out what they were planning to do about the bookmobile.

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