Cause of Death

9

Terry kicks in the door.

He’ll be trying to find out if Todd Stoltz is savable or not.

From the glimpse I caught, though, I’m pretty sure it’s the latter. The body was bloated and as white as the porcelain tub he floated in.

Terry comes outside, unholstering his ringing phone. He takes the call and listens for a moment. “Thanks, Ruth. Now, could you get the ME and the crime scene folks here?” He gives the address. “And I’ll need a supervisor. It’s Todd Stoltz. He’s dead... Don’t know, not for sure. Looks suspicious.”

When he disconnects he stands with his hands on his hips for a solid ten seconds. It’s a very long time.

“What’s suspicious?” I nod toward the house.

“Was a wound on the back of his head. Like he slipped in the tub and fell. Only the wound’s plenty bloody and the rim of the tub’s only a little bloody.”

My laugh is harsh. “So a quote ‘accident.’ Popular way of getting rid of someone lately, it seems.”

I walk to the pickup truck and look in the bed.

Terry says, “I looked. There was no deer blood.”

“There’s no anything, Terry. It’s spotless. You could eat off it.” I sniff. “Todd Stoltz strike you as the sort of man who scrubs his pickup beds with bleach?”

“He does not.”

“And bleach removes DNA, doesn’t it?”

“Believe so. Not my expertise.”

“So there’s no way to match any deer blood in the truck with the patch in the middle of 420. You still have any doubts about murder?”

He doesn’t answer the question but says, “That call I got, minute ago? You sure about the run-in Patience had with that fellow? The road rage thing?”

“I am.”

“No record of any report. Not in the county, not Cooper PD.”

“She said she called the police, told them about it. Gave them his license number.”

“Nothing about it.”

“Maybe, since it was just words and nothing physical the officer didn’t write up a report.”

“Could be. We’d’ve put it in our computer. Cooper’s a notch below diligent. But don’t tell ’em I said so. Okay, Jon, I’ll buy into your theory, for the time being. Let’s say that road rage driver’s out as a suspect. Who’s your capital-S Somebody who wanted her dead?”

“The Man in Gray,” I say absently. “Whoever that is.”

Terry glances at the house. “So two deaths are now three. Maybe the coin toss is going to be all heads for a while.” He turns to me. “What I’m saying, Jon, is you might want to look after yourself. Maybe you’ve stirred up a nest. Watch out for the hornets.”