We wrapped up the scene, and I returned to the Porsche. I climbed behind the wheel and pulled the door shut. Loose shards of glass fell. Jack had a sour look on his face. Not only was his tooth hurting, his car had been abused. All things considered, it could have been worse.
We headed to the station and filled out after-action reports, then returned to theAvventuraand called it an evening.
By the morning, Jack was in excruciating pain.
At breakfast on the sky deck, I asked, "Did you ever hear back from the dentist?"
He shook his head. "She never returned my call."
"You need to call the office again."
"The soft tissue around the tooth prep is ulcerated. Hurts like a son-of-a-bitch."
"You need to get on that before the day gets going,” I said.
"Their office should be open soon. I'll call and see if I can get hold of anyone." Jack pulled out his phone and dialed the office. He put the call on speakerphone and set it on the table while he finished eating breakfast.
It rang a few times before Pepper answered in a distraught voice. "Hello?"
"Pepper, it’s Jack Donovan."
On the verge of tears, Pepper said, "Thank God you called. Can you come to the office right away!?”
"Sure. What's going on?"
"I just got here.” Her throat tightened, and she cried, “Dr. Latham is dead.”
28
“Ijust found her like that,” Pepper said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
JD and I surveyed the grim sight. The deputies, ME, and the forensic team were en route.
“Tell me what happened,” I said.
“Dr. Latham likes me to arrive half an hour early to open the office and get prepared for the day. Rachel and Becky come in about quarter till, usually. Sometimes we have a team meeting. I came in, turned on the lights, and found her. The door was unlocked when I got here, and I thought Dr. Latham had beaten me here, which is odd.”
“Did you touch the body?”
“No.”
Dr. Latham was duct taped to a dental chair, her wrists secured to the armrests, her body wrapped tightly to the seatback. Blood stained her lips and oozed from her mouth. Someone had taken a sharp instrument and opened up the carotid artery in her neck.Crimson had poured out, staining her white lab coat. It was dried and crusted now. She’d been here for a few hours.
The bloody dental scaler on the bleached hardwood floor was the likely culprit. The assailant had raked it across the victim’s neck. Like a hook, the stainless steel device had ripped through flesh.
Dr. Latham hadn’t met with a pleasant demise.
Rachel and Becky arrived and found the grisly scene.
"What's going on?" Rachel asked as she approached. Then she saw the bloody mess and gasped. "Oh my God! Is that…?”
Pepper nodded.
With tousled hair and covered in blood, Latham didn't look like her normal self. Laura had been an attractive blonde in her mid-30s with hair that hung in a stylish cut above her shoulders.
First responders arrived, and I escorted Pepper and the others back to the waiting room while Dietrich snapped photos and forensic investigators chronicled the scene.
Once all the pictures were taken, Brenda would get to work.
