“Good grief!” Jack exclaimed. “What happened to the company’s medical practice?”
“It went out of business with the rest of it.”
“But you were able to continue practicing?” Jack asked withobvious admiration. He couldn’t imagine what that could have been like, caring for an unemployed population on top of the difficulties of dealing with health insurance companies and the government via Medicaid.
“I continued practicing, but obviously the practice changed dramatically. In fact, I am the only one still here holding down the fort, so to speak. All the other docs abandoned ship for greener pastures. And the town’s population is less than half what it had been, and those who stayed are not nearly as well-off financially. But as challenging as all that has been and continues to be, it’s certainly not why I wanted to talk to you this morning. In addition to being the town’s sole doc, I’m also the Hamilton County coroner, and it is in that capacity that I was hoping to get in touch with you.”
“What?” Jack spurted with a questioning laugh and a wrinkled brow, wondering if Bob Nielson was teasing him. “Are you being serious or pulling my leg? Let me get this straight: You’re saying you are the county coroner as well as the town’s only primary care doctor?”
“I am. I’m being serious, truly,” Bob said. “I know it sounds a bit bizarre but let me tell you how it happened. The previous county coroner passed away, and the member of the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors who represents Essex Falls called and asked me if I would run for the office. It’s an elected position. She also informed me that a general practitioner over in Warren County was serving as their county coroner, and it has been working out well. Anyway, I looked into it and even called the doc over in Warren County to get his take. And after all was said and done, it did seem to me there were distinct benefits of having someone with at least a medical background on the job even if there hadn’t been any formal forensic training. I also thought I could do a bit of reading to familiarize myself with the specialty, which I have been doing afterI ended up being elected five years ago. Anyway, it’s been going reasonably well until recently and particularly today when I recognized I’m in over my head.”
“I’m impressed,” Jack said with another more mirthful laugh. “With that story, I’m finding myself questioning if I really had to spend the five years I did in forensic training.”
“I know it all sounds a bit crazy, but up here in the wilds you have to make do.”
“Okay, I’m guessing you are leading up to asking me a few professional questions, perhaps even run a few tests for you, or maybe give you a couple of references. Shoot! I’m at your service.”
“To be honest,” Bob admitted, “I’m afraid I have something a bit more demanding in mind. The problem is that over the last couple of weeks as the county coroner, I’ve had two cases that have been troubling me with bizarre forensic circumstances and another completely different one yesterday. I tried to reach out to the coroner in Saratoga Springs, who’s had some forensic training, and then the medical examiner in Albany with the first two, but all they did was repeat a test that I had already done and not much else. So, rather than to try to give you the specifics over the phone or by email, particularly on yesterday’s case, I’m hoping that I might talk you into leaving the big, hot, sweaty city to come up here to paradise for a few days and help me do this autopsy and then consult with me about the two previous confusing cases. You can count on being offered incredible accommodations for your entire family for as long as you might want to stay.
“From many years’ personal experience I know it’s the absolute worst time of the year in Manhattan weather-wise, whereas here it is the middle of our best season, a gorgeous summer with warm sunny days and crisp, cool nights. And before you say anything, letme tell you about our innumerable, pristine, crystal clear lakes filled with bass and trout, our forested mountains with hundreds of waterfalls along with our tennis courts and even pickleball if you are into that. It’s an incredible outdoorsman’s utopia all within a four-hour drive from Manhattan. And on top of all that, I can offer you some decent pickup basketball, provided you don’t mind losing.”
“Losing?” Jack questioned with another guffaw. “You are being unfair! You’re using psychological warfare!”
“I know, but I’m desperate,” Bob added with his own laughter. He remembered that in medical school, Jack had been by far the most committed basketball devotee.
“Well, that’s an unexpected and interesting offer,” Jack said. He surprised himself by not dismissing the idea out of hand, which he would have done under normal circumstances. What occurred to him was that the timing seemed amazingly fortuitous, with both JJ and Emma having been just deposited at camp plus his unspoken wish to somehow get Laurie away from the grind in which she was ensnared. A kind of adult camp experience for the two of them, which traveling up to Essex Falls might be, could be just what the doctor ordered on multiple fronts, plus, if need be they’d be closer if something went amiss with the kids in the Catskill Mountains and one or both needed to be picked up.
“Are you still there?” Bob questioned when Jack remained silent for several beats.
“Yes, sorry. What kind of forensic circumstances are you referring to?” Jack asked, his mind still mulling over the idea of him and Laurie spending a few days in a summer paradise. It sounded heavenly. They hadn’t had such an opportunity of togetherness since they’d gone on their honeymoon the previous century, as he described the timing of their last trip together.
“I was hoping you’d ask,” Bob said eagerly. “A year or so ago, did you happen to see theNew York Timesarticle about an outbreak of some mysterious brain disease in a small town in New Brunswick Province in Canada?”
“No, I can’t say I did. I’m not much of a newshound.”
“Too bad, because I’m concerned I’m at the outset of a similar circumstance, which I suppose is not too surprising since the Canadian border is less than a hundred miles to the north. The two cases I mentioned seemed to be the same, and I sent off samples to NMS Labs to confirm what the autopsy suggested: early-onset, rapidly progressive Alzheimer’s disease. Then both tests came back negative, which surprised and confused me.
“But those cases pale compared to the death I had yesterday of a young, local troublemaker of sorts, who worked for a local pest control company. Early in the morning he came flying into my office with rapidly advancing symptoms of organophosphate poisoning, including all sorts of muscle spasms that quickly became fatal. He needs to be autopsied and the diagnosis confirmed to try to figure out how he got poisoned, if he had been poisoned. The last thing I’d want to see is a rash of such cases, and I’m smart enough to know I’m in over my head. Nor do I want to send the case to either Saratoga Springs or Albany. I’m thinking it is a local emergency of sorts.”
“Well, that’s certainly not going to be the first case of a pest control person being poisoned with an organophosphate. Have you found out what product he’d been using and how it was being administered?”
“That’s the rub. He’d not yet been to work when he came down with the symptoms. I confirmed this with his boss.”
“Was anything found in his vehicle?”
“No pesticides. Only an AR-15 and night vision goggles.”
Jack gave a short, mirthless laugh. “Why the hell did he have an AR-15 and night vision goggles?”
“It’s kind of a mild epidemic up here in paradise. Just about all the late millennials and early generation Z males who have remained in Essex Falls—there’s not that many—have an AR-15 in their pickup. It’s a reminder of a virtual explosion of local-grown right-wing extremism we’ve experienced here in Essex Falls ever since the Bennet Shoe Company closed its doors.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Yes, but it’s not so bad. They pretty much keep to themselves with their intermittent nighttime maneuvers, or so they call them, which are really beer drinking, target practice social events held in the woods. For me it just means I have to set a few bones now and then. How it is that no one has been mistakenly shot, I have no clue but am thankful. So, what do you say about my vacation offer in exchange for a couple of hours of your professional expertise?”
“Did you know my wife, Laurie, is also a forensic pathologist?” Jack said. “She’s considerably more well-known in forensic pathology circles than I. In fact, she happens to be the chief here at the OCME. If we were to come for a visit, it would be a two-for-one deal.”
“I had no idea, but the more the merrier. Obviously she’d be more than welcome. Does this mean you are considering it? I’d be very beholden, and it would also be fun as a little trip down memory lane. And I’m not kidding about the basketball. We play at least twice a week all summer long, usually three-on-three but occasionally five-on-five, and you’d be more than welcome.”
