As he approached the scene, he found the first deputy on the scene had pulled aside a few individuals who stood apart from the rest of the crowd. Two young children clung to a woman with a sour expression, while the deputy spoke to a man, whose voice was raised and who was gesturing wildly. A second, much younger and extremely attractive woman stood nearby watching the proceedings with a scowl. Callum suppressed a sympathetic and situationally inappropriate smile. He’d be scowling, too, if he’d had to start his day being questioned about the discovery of a dead man and listening to the portly man rant.
Oh, wait…thatwashow he was about to start his day.Cal sighed and thought despondently,Yay.
He touched the brim of his campaign hat as he joined the deputy and nodded a perfunctory greeting to the witnesses being questioned. His gaze lingered a second too long on the attractive twentysomething brunette. His pulse gave a kick when she lifted her eyebrows slightly, a telltale sign of interest, and gave him reciprocal up-and-down scrutiny. But her scowl returned quickly as she moved her gaze away and folded her arms over her chest.
“Is this going to take long? I have to get back to the gift shop. I’m the only one working the store, and this is our busiest time,” the brunette asked, her green eyes flashing with impatience.
Cal cocked his head and rubbed his chin as he studied her. “Ma’am, you do understand the nature of our business with you? A dead man takes precedence over gift shop trinkets.”
She arched one eyebrow sassily as she met his gaze and chirped, “You think? I would have never guessed. Thank you for educating me, Deputy.”
Cal tapped the star in his chest. “Sheriff. Sheriff Callum Colton.” Then, because he couldn’t resist, he quipped, “And you’re welcome. Glad to help, Ms… .”
He drew out the courtesy title, inviting her to introduce herself.
She rolled her eyes. Sighed. “Jules Bailey. I’m the manager at the gift shop.” She aimed her thumb over her shoulder to the drab, one-story building a few hundred feet down the highway.
Cal pulled a pen from his breast pocket and a notepad from the back pocket of his uniform pants. “Perfect,” he said. “I was going to have to speak to you soon to get the security camera footage for the past twenty-four hours.”
She shook her head, her mouth twisting in scorn. “No cameras. The owner said he didn’t see a need, because he’s never had a problem since the store opened in the—” she hesitated, flipping a hand in frustration “—Neolithic era or something.” In a quieter voice, she added, “And doesn’tthatjust make me feelsosafe when I close alone at night?”
Cal grunted his own discontent over the lack of cameras. Not just because he didn’t have that source of evidence, but because he didn’t like the idea of Jules Bailey, or any woman, working alone at night without any security measures in place. He made a mental note to look up the owner of the gift shop and recommend changes.
Hearing another vehicle arrive, Cal turned to see not only the coroner’s van, but also the Stark County Sheriff Department’s lead forensics guy. He walked over to greet the arriving team and huddle with them around the corpse for the initial assessment of the scene.
“Any sign of foul play or are we looking at a junkie overdose?” Ronnie Goldman, the forensics officer, asked.
“Aren’t I supposed to ask you that question?” Cal said with a grin, shaking the man’s hand.
“I suppose. Just thought you might have made an initial assessment.” Goldman squinted at the body, giving the corpse careful scrutiny.
“Just arrived a moment ago myself. This is my first up-close look,” Cal replied. He moved so that the rising sun wasn’t in his eyes and studied the position of the body, checking for signs of foul play. “Plenty of scar tissue and old needle marks on his arm. That supports the idea he was shooting up with something.”
Goldman aimed his finger at a tiny pinprick of red on the pale arm. “This one is recent. He injected something last night. Although…the bruising around the injection site shows internal bleeding. It wasn’t a clean or careful prick.”
“So he was already high when he shot up the last time? An unsteady hand?” one of the responding deputies, rookie Ben Holder, asked.
A rumble of discontent rolled from the coroner’s throat.
“Mike? You have thoughts?” Cal asked.
Mike Palmer, the coroner leaned in and waggled a finger near the dead man’s arm. “Look there. That pattern of bruising. Like a real tight five-finger grip near his wrist.”
Cal nodded. “I’ve seen that sort of bruising before on domestic violence calls.” He took a step back to view the body from another angle. “Do you see other signs of violence or rough treatment?”
Goldman used a clean tongue depressor to part the dead man’s hair near the ground. “We have some bleeding back here. He didn’t lie down gently and drift to sleep. He hit the pavement hard enough to crack his noggin.”
Cal straightened. “Okay, I’ve seen enough to work under the assumption this man had help getting to this condition.” Looking to the coroner and forensics officer, he added, “I’ll let you two get to work. Send me a full report on what you find, ASAP?”
“Naturally,” Goldman said. “And I’ll brief your brother, as well. If drugs are involved, as we all seem to suspect, Detective Colton’s drug task force is going to want in on this.”
Cal turned up a palm. “Ifdrugs prove to be involved, I’m more than happy to let Wyatt take the lead on the investigation. But I still want to stay apprised of developments in the case. The body was found in my jurisdiction, after all.”
He pulled aside his deputy, asking the new recruit for a quick rundown of what Ben had learned so far in his interviews. Not much, as it turned out. The couple Ben had been questioning had discovered the body but seemed to believe they had better things to do with their vacation time than talk to law enforcement. The gift shop manager had been the one to call the authorities on the store’s landline.
“Okay, finish questioning the couple. Be sure to ask if anything about the scene has been touched or changed, and get all the details on where to reach the family later if more questions arise.”
“Yes, sir.” Ben squared his shoulders as if bracing for battle as he returned to finish interviewing the querulous couple.
