“That’s very tempting,” Jack said. “Here in the city, I continue to play two, three, maybe even four times a week. And the timing of this possible junket might be perfect. Just this past weekend, we dropped our two children off at camps in the Catskills, so we areconveniently childless for the next two weeks. And maybe even more important, just this morning I was thinking that Laurie needs an excuse to take a break.”
“Whoa! That sounds encouraging….”
“You mentioned accommodations. Can I ask for details about that? It might help when I bring this idea up with Laurie later this morning.”
“Of course,” Bob said. “Some of the homes of the Bennet Shoe Company management have recently been renovated by a private equity company, which I can further explain if and when you do end up coming up here. I was thinking of renting the owner’s mansion for you. It’s a late nineteenth-century Victorian with a dozen bedrooms, so you’d have oodles of space. It’s black with all sorts of towers and turrets and is gorgeous in a storybook sort of way. It’s a few miles out of town on several wooded acres on a small pristine private lake with views of the surrounding mountains. You’d love it.”
“Sounds like the opposite side of the world from our digs here in Manhattan.”
“You will think you are on the opposite side of the world. Believe me!”
“If we were to come, when do you have in mind?”
“Just as soon as you can arrange it. The body is here at my office in my walk-in cooler, and the family is eager for a proper burial. Well, at least the mother is.”
“You have cold storage at your medical office? I’m impressed.”
“I bought the old Bennet Clinic building more than ten years ago when it was available for a song, so I have lots of room. It’s next to the huge old original mill and of the same Venetian vernacular architectural style, which I can assure you is not what you’ll be expecting to see way up here in the deep woods. Since I had thespace, I went ahead and made myself an autopsy room back when I was elected the county coroner, and I included a cooler. You’ll probably find the setup rather primitive, but it works for me.”
“I’m getting the impression you’ve taken this coroner job seriously.”
“I have. I figured if I was going to do it, I’d give it my best shot.”
“Admirable,” Jack said with sincerity. “Okay, Bob, here’s what I’ll do. I’ll bring up the idea of our taking a bit of a working vacation with Laurie. She’s caught up in an important meeting this morning, so I probably won’t be able to speak with her until sometime around eleven. Tell me, are you calling me on your mobile?”
“I am, indeed.”
“Good, so I have your number. I’ll get back to you as soon as I get to talk with her. I personally like the idea, especially if I can get you to eat your words about your having a better jump shot than I.”
Bob laughed heartily. “I knew that would get your full attention.”
Jack laughed as well. “If the tables were turned, I can imagine my using the same ploy. Anyway, I was serious when I said your timing is impeccable, and it very well might work out. I’ll get back to you later today.”
“Great,” Bob responded. “I’ll be waiting.”
Jack disengaged the call and checked the time. It wasn’t quite 7:45, making him question if he might be able to catch Laurie before she headed down to Hunter College for her meeting with the dean. As excited as he’d become about the possibility of going up to Essex Falls for a little working vacation, he was impatient to broach the subject with her and hear her reaction. But the moment he thought about it further, he decided it was better to wait until after her meeting with the hope her discussions went well.
Allowing his feet to drop to the floor, Jack headed out of the IDcubicle feeling jazzed up. In the main area things hadn’t changed. Nala was still going over the previous night’s autopsy folders, Vinnie was still hidden behind hisDaily News,and Lou had fallen back asleep.
Stepping over to Vinnie, Jack snatched away the mortuary tech’s paper. “Let’s go, big guy, time’s a wasting,” he said, initiating one of their daily sarcastically playful, back-and-forth exchanges. His plan was to get Vinnie on his way down to the “pit’ ” to set up the autopsy on the bullet-ridden felon. Jack then planned on helping himself to another coffee before awaking Lou. The coffee idea was less about an additional shot of caffeine than a moment to fantasize about him and Laurie enjoying a much-needed vacation. In his mind Essex Falls did sound like a summer paradise, especially since it included reconnecting with a dear, old medical school friend and forcing Laurie to take a much-needed break. With those thoughts in mind, he had little reason to suspect what the reality would ultimately turn out to be.
Chapter 6
Tuesday, July 22, 10:44a.m.
New York, New York
“Okay,” Jack said. “On three!” He then proceeded to count and when he reached three, he and Vinnie lifted Anderson Stevens’s hollowed out body from the autopsy table over onto the gurney Vinnie had positioned appropriately. At that time of the morning all eight tables in the autopsy room were in full swing, and the morgue was filled with the usual sounds and muffled conversations of the other medical examiners and mortuary technicians, who were all busy on their own cases.
Detective Lieutenant Lou Soldano had long since departed, as soon as he had learned what he’d wanted to learn, that Stevens had indeed administered the fatal shot himself. Jack had been able to provide that confirmation before the autopsy even started by studying the full-body X-ray following a brief inspection of the corpse. The mortal shot through the front of the chest had been by a .45-caliber weapon, and the fatal bullet that was lodged by the victim’s spine was definitely .45 caliber. This matched the gun Lousaid had been found in the front seat of the car. The ESU officers had all been using .38-caliber pistols, at least according to Lou, and also according to him the gun found was definitely not a “throw-down weapon.”
After Jack helped Vinnie deposit the Stevens corpse in the cooler, he said: “Go ahead and set up the chiropractic case. I’ve got to run upstairs and have a short chat with the chief, if she’s back from her meeting. One way or the other, I won’t be long.”
“Yeah, famous last words,” Vinnie said dismissively.
“Scout’s honor,” Jack said, flashing a Boy Scout’s sign with a guilty smile. He knew there’d been plenty of times he’d gotten waylaid on a supposedly short errand and kept Vinnie waiting.
After depositing his gown in an appropriate receptacle outside the locker room, Jack headed for the back stairs to get up to the first floor. Jogging down the main hallway, he soon reached the administration area. As per usual both secretaries, Cheryl and Edna, were on the phone, speaking into headsets. Both Laurie’s and George’s office doors were closed. George Fontworth was the deputy chief medical examiner, currently acting as the chief while Laurie was supposed to be refreshing her interest and knowledge of forensic pathology.
