“Please, ask away,” Bill said. He put the chair back and turned to face Jack.
“I was told you’re investigating the disappearance of Ethan Jameson’s body.”
“We most certainly are. What a strange episode and what a disappointment not to have autopsy results. Without exaggeration this might be the weirdest thing that’s happened in this town since I joined the force as a rookie.”
“Have you made any progress in your investigation?”
“I’m sorry to say, but no we haven’t,” Bill confessed. “But I can assure you it’s not for lack of trying. It’s all we’ve been doing all day, both me and my duty officer. But despite all our efforts, it’s as much of a mystery now as it was when Bob first called me to report it.”
“I assume you visited the clinic in your investigation.”
“Absolutely. It was the first thing we did.”
“Did you find any evidence of a forced entry?” Jack asked.
“No. Not at all, although we did find a window in the back was missing part of its lock. That could have been the point of entry. We mentioned it to Bob, and he’s going to have it rectified immediately. But if that was how the body snatchers got in, fixing it is the real-life equivalent of locking the barn after the horse was stolen.”
“Did you find any evidence of an intrusion?” Jack asked.
“We didn’t, which is the other major mystery. At first I had trouble believing Bob when he said there had been no warning that anything was amiss in the building before stumbling on the fact that the body had disappeared from the cooler.”
“I can attest to that,” Jack said. “Laurie and I were right there when it happened. I assume Bob has some kind of cleaning service for the building and my guess would be they come in frequently. Have you checked with them?”
“We have. It’s a local business whose proprietor I know well. His people clean Wednesday and Friday afternoons and claim not to have access, meaning on their designated days, they show up whileMelanie is still there, and she stays to lock up after they are finished. With drugs on-site, Bob’s been reluctant to give out keys.”
“Stands to reason,” Jack said. “What about your police rounds last night? Do your duty officers make a regular check at the clinic?”
“Absolutely,” Bill said, as if he felt challenged. “The three to eleven shift makes evening rounds around tenp.m. and the eleven to seven does the same around threea.m.”
“And I’m assuming that the clinic building was checked.”
“Absolutely,” Bill said confidently. “On both shifts and duly logged.”
“Okay,” Jack said with a slight shake of his head. “It’s certainly a mystery, and I’m sorry we weren’t able to provide you with any information about Ethan’s death. I know you were counting on it.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Bill responded. “And luckily there haven’t been any additional deaths involving the other four pest control employees who live in town, which is what I was worried about.”
“If you are wondering why I’m asking these questions, it’s because I take it personally when a body that I’m about to autopsy vanishes. I feel that it is denying the dead to tell his or her story, which frequently can help the living. On my way here I stopped in at the Jamesons’ home to try to get a feel of whether they could have been involved.”
Bill gave a short laugh of derision. “I could have disabused you of that notion.”
“They disabused me of it just fine,” Jack said with a short laugh of his own. “There’s one other person I’d like to get a feel for: Janet Huber. Has she been involved in your investigation?”
“Of course,” Bill said. “I did speak with her, and she seemed legitimately shocked to hear what had happened. After talking with her, I sincerely doubt she was involved in any way with the body’sdisappearance, especially because the town’s grapevine has it that her relationship with Ethan was not going well. But that’s not to say she wouldn’t be capable. She’s certainly more than smart enough. But I’ve known her and her family for most of her life, and she’s never been self-indulgent, self-centered, or overly religious like I imagine someone would have to be to pull off something like this, especially covering their tracks so well. It’s as if whoever did it is thumbing their nose at us authority figures.”
“Or wanted us authority figures not to know something that might have been revealed during the autopsy.”
“How do you mean?”
“Maybe the body thief had something to do with his passing.”
For a few beats Bill stared at Jack, and Jack held his tongue.
“Are you suggesting this might have been a homicide?” Bill asked, staring at Jack with his head cocked to the side and his brow furrowed.
“Before we do an autopsy, we try to have an open mind about all possibilities,” Jack said. “It’s why autopsies are important.”
“But Bob told me he was ninety-nine percent certain Ethan died of one of those powerful pesticides he worked with. I forget what he called them.”
