Dead Wrong by M.K. Coker

Author:M.K. Coker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, police procedural, suicide, south dakota, detective fiction, crime novel, mystery novel
Publisher: M.K. Coker

CHAPTER 21

“Where’s your giant shadow?” Dr. White asked.

“He’s not on this case,” Karen said.

Her stomach rumbled. She’d skipped lunch, knowing she’d just lose it during the autopsy. She couldn’t say exactly where she’d been for the last several hours, aimlessly driving around her large county, but no one had called her. Field after field of harvest-stubbled corn had passed in a blur, with flashes of sumac splattered scarlet in the ditches.

Dr. White didn’t ask why Marek was a no-go. But he did tweak his bowtie, a sure sign of nerves, as he stood in front of the draped figure. “You know this man? Vern Gullick?”

“I know a good chunk of my constituency.” But she had distanced herself from Vern the night she’d arrested him. She wouldn’t deny him now. “Yes, I was close to him. He and his wife were friends with my parents. Vern wasn’t much of a talker. Which, yeah, is like saying the sky is blue.” She stuffed her hands into her pockets. “He was a Dakotan to his bones. Decent, fair, a good neighbor.” Perhaps the highest accolade a rural Dakotan could give to another. “Can we get this over with?”

The pathologist hesitated, his fingers dark against the white sheet. “It takes as long as it takes. Are you in a hurry?”

“I have a press conference in a couple of hours.” Though she’d prefer to miss it, she’d promised the Army press officer that she’d be there. “And I need to know if this is a homicide or a suicide ASAP.”

He consulted her crime scene photos and her cobbled report, then he pulled aside the sheet. “Are you afraid you have a serial killer in Eda? That would be highly unusual.”

She gazed straight ahead. Which did she prefer? Homicide would take away the stain, the rejection of life, the guilt of the survivors. But the most likely suspect would be Blanca, and Karen would have to interview her detective. Wouldn’t that be fun.

“Hanging is very rarely homicide,” he went on. “Though I do believe you handed me a case earlier this year where the hanging was postmortem, an attempt to cover up the crime.”

Karen nodded. “Vern’s son was the killer in that one.”

Dr. White paused, then he began his inspection. “In that case, homicide was fairly easy to deduce, as the strangulation left straight-line bruising. But in a true hanging, as in here, you can see the inverted V.” Karen dipped her eyes, saw the mark he referred to, and looked back up.

He picked up a saw. “That does not mean he wasn’t pushed, however.”

Karen felt bile rise into her throat. She swallowed convulsively. The violation as metal met flesh made her flinch.

When the buzzing stopped, she asked, “Was his neck broken?”

“You indicated that he jumped—or was pushed—from the loft. Breaking the neck requires at least a six-foot drop. No, his neck wasn’t broken. However, unconsciousness undoubtedly resulted within a quarter of a minute. You don’t need to lie to the family—or yourself. It was, as such things go, quick.

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