Remembering Sarah by Chris Mooney

Author:Chris Mooney [Mooney, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2003-07-14T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 26

Dakota’s was yet another example of a new downtown business that had sprung up overnight. It was located at the far end of Main Street, where Alexander’s Shoes used to be, and had a parking lot full of high-end cars: Saabs, BMWs, even a Mercedes. Dakota’s: Belham’s first yuppie bar.

The inside sure looked like it. Lots of dark paneled wood and low lighting. A long bar filled with bottles that sparkled in expensive tract lighting and just off to the right of the bar, a small dining area with white-linen tablecloths and votives on each table, the perfect place for trading and sharing secrets over dry chardonnay and overpriced gourmet appetizers. To the left of the main entrance, accessed by a glass door,was a cigar room with burgundy-colored leather chairs and couches and coffee tables holding copies of the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and magazines like Sailing and Vanity Fair. Merrick sat in one of the leather couches that faced the bay windows overlooking Main Street, a snifter of port or some other high-priced booze cradled in one hand, the other flipping the pages of a magazine spread across his lap. His black suit and the drawn, haggard look on his face gave him the appearance of an undertaker relaxing after a long, hard day.

Mike plopped himself down in the leather chair across from Merrick and took out his pack of cigarettes. Merrick folded the magazine and gently placed it and his snifter back down on the glass coffee table between them. Wine Spectator. Jesus.

“It was definitely a suicide.” Merrick said.

“As opposed to what?” Mike had seen the log lying sideways under Jonah’s feet. It didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that Jonah had stepped up on the log, tied the noose around his neck and then jumped.

“With suicides, you have to pay close attention. More often than not it’s a homicide; a person is strangled and the body is moved to another place and hung to make it look like a suicide. When that happens, you always find two sets of ligature marks, and then you know you’re dealing with a homicide. Jonah only had one set of ligature marks, and the marks matched the rope. He also had what’s called paetrical hemorrhaging—burst blood vessels you find in the white lining of the eyes. It’s the distinctive evidence that someone died of asphyxiation. And fortunately, a lot of the snow was damp because of all the melting we’ve been having, and with air as cold as it was that night, it preserved some footprints. We were able to find several prints that matched Jonah’s boots. We didn’t find a note. But if you consider the audiotape with your daughter’s voice …”

Merrick’s face changed. He carried some unsettling piece of news and was now trying to figure out how to say it.

Here it comes,Mike thought, squeezing the ends of the armchair.

“The crime scene techs finished up with Jonah’s house yesterday,” Merrick said. “Underneath Jonah’s bed we found a loose floorboard.

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