right
side cause an injury on the left? Or am I confused?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m looking at the report now,” he
finally said, his words tentative. “Oh, yes. Indications were
that Mr. Edney turned around to escape the fire, putting the
table at his back, then stumbled and fell to his left, causing
the trauma. The blow stunned him. He never regained consciousness. He was asphyxiated by the fumes, then consumed by the fire.”
“But, how did he get on his right side?”
With a trace of disdain in his tone, he replied, “Obviously,
he turned over as a result of his struggles during the throes
of asphyxiation. Conjecture of course, but given lack of further evidence, our final conclusion.”
If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought I was listening to an old Three Stooges dialogue. “Facing the work
bench?”
“Correct” He paused. I could hear the anxiety in his
voice. “Was that all you needed?”
A wry grin curled my lips. Any further information I
elicited from this one wouldn’t be worth the time. “Yeah,
Doc. That’s it. Thanks for making it perfectly clear to me”
“Anytime”
I replaced the receiver and leaned back in the wingback
chair. I looked at Jack. “Medical examiner.”
Jack paused in stroking his feather. “Find out anything?”
Pursing my lips, I studied him. “Nothing, other than that
gentleman had better never go into private practice. He’ll
end up neck deep in malpractice suits. Now, where did your
father keep his records?”
A frown creased Jack’s forehead. “You think the medical
examiner is involved?”
“No” I laughed. “I think he’s merely an incompetent who
got the job either because his brother is the mayor, or somebody had something on someone”
For the next two hours and two pots of coffee, all I discovered about John Wesley Edney was that he was a well-organized man. Unfortunately, there was no smoking gun-at
least not one I could see. I frowned when I ran across a puzzling sheath of letters to various individuals and businesses
confirming previous commitments. Then I discovered a map
of the thousand and ten acres south of Vicksburg. I decided
to take a look at the property when I finished going through
his files.
Over the years, Edney had loaned both WR and Stewart
money on several occasions. The loans were the sort parents
make to offspring knowing full well they’ll never be paid
back.
The amounts loaned out varied. Both WR and Stewart
were into their father for a few hundred thousand. As I would
have expected, neither Annebelle nor Jack had received a
nickel.
Any time I worked a case, I tried to come up with an arbitrary suspect. If it appeared the perpetrator was a professional, then I would turn to the records of those professionals possessing that particular modus operandi, and establish
their current whereabouts so I could determine if any of
them had the opportunity.
If it did not appear to be a professional job, then I figured
it was the result of passion, one carried out because the
opportunity presented itself. That being the case, then I
looked for motives such as anger, profit, revenge, and any
other of a number of reasons.
I already had three suspects. Now, it was just a matter of
legwork and digging deep into everyone’s business.
Jack rushed in just before lunch, a look of panic on his face.
“Tony, you got to help me” He paused with only half a
feather in his hand.
“What’s going on?”
He pointed the broken feather at his cast. “It broke. The
stinking feather broke inside the cast, and I can’t get it out.
All those little feathers in there are driving me crazy.”
I burst out laughing.
“It isn’t funny. I can’t stand it, I tell you. It feels like a
bunch of cockroaches crawling over my -skin.”-
Tears rolled down my cheeks. I shook my head. “Sorry,
Jack. I can’t help it. It’s just..” Another burst of laughter
cut off my words.
“You
side cause an injury on the left? Or am I confused?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m looking at the report now,” he
finally said, his words tentative. “Oh, yes. Indications were
that Mr. Edney turned around to escape the fire, putting the
table at his back, then stumbled and fell to his left, causing
the trauma. The blow stunned him. He never regained consciousness. He was asphyxiated by the fumes, then consumed by the fire.”
“But, how did he get on his right side?”
With a trace of disdain in his tone, he replied, “Obviously,
he turned over as a result of his struggles during the throes
of asphyxiation. Conjecture of course, but given lack of further evidence, our final conclusion.”
If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought I was listening to an old Three Stooges dialogue. “Facing the work
bench?”
“Correct” He paused. I could hear the anxiety in his
voice. “Was that all you needed?”
A wry grin curled my lips. Any further information I
elicited from this one wouldn’t be worth the time. “Yeah,
Doc. That’s it. Thanks for making it perfectly clear to me”
“Anytime”
I replaced the receiver and leaned back in the wingback
chair. I looked at Jack. “Medical examiner.”
Jack paused in stroking his feather. “Find out anything?”
Pursing my lips, I studied him. “Nothing, other than that
gentleman had better never go into private practice. He’ll
end up neck deep in malpractice suits. Now, where did your
father keep his records?”
A frown creased Jack’s forehead. “You think the medical
examiner is involved?”
“No” I laughed. “I think he’s merely an incompetent who
got the job either because his brother is the mayor, or somebody had something on someone”
For the next two hours and two pots of coffee, all I discovered about John Wesley Edney was that he was a well-organized man. Unfortunately, there was no smoking gun-at
least not one I could see. I frowned when I ran across a puzzling sheath of letters to various individuals and businesses
confirming previous commitments. Then I discovered a map
of the thousand and ten acres south of Vicksburg. I decided
to take a look at the property when I finished going through
his files.
Over the years, Edney had loaned both WR and Stewart
money on several occasions. The loans were the sort parents
make to offspring knowing full well they’ll never be paid
back.
The amounts loaned out varied. Both WR and Stewart
were into their father for a few hundred thousand. As I would
have expected, neither Annebelle nor Jack had received a
nickel.
Any time I worked a case, I tried to come up with an arbitrary suspect. If it appeared the perpetrator was a professional, then I would turn to the records of those professionals possessing that particular modus operandi, and establish
their current whereabouts so I could determine if any of
them had the opportunity.
If it did not appear to be a professional job, then I figured
it was the result of passion, one carried out because the
opportunity presented itself. That being the case, then I
looked for motives such as anger, profit, revenge, and any
other of a number of reasons.
I already had three suspects. Now, it was just a matter of
legwork and digging deep into everyone’s business.
Jack rushed in just before lunch, a look of panic on his face.
“Tony, you got to help me” He paused with only half a
feather in his hand.
“What’s going on?”
He pointed the broken feather at his cast. “It broke. The
stinking feather broke inside the cast, and I can’t get it out.
All those little feathers in there are driving me crazy.”
I burst out laughing.
“It isn’t funny. I can’t stand it, I tell you. It feels like a
bunch of cockroaches crawling over my -skin.”-
Tears rolled down my cheeks. I shook my head. “Sorry,
Jack. I can’t help it. It’s just..” Another burst of laughter
cut off my words.
“You
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