“Maybe it was payday,” the ME said.
“Maybe it was, at that,” Holly agreed. “Or maybe recently. Did you pull his prints and get a dental impression?”
The doctor handed over a fingerprint card. “Here are the prints. I didn’t take a dental impression because we’re never going to find his dentist, this side of Havana, anyway, and the Cubans are not going to give us his dental records.”
“Do you have any other ideas about the body?”
“It was a mob execution, but these days, who knows which mob? Cuban? Colombian? Italian? Mexican? Oh, he could be Mexican; they still do amalgam fillings, too, but this feels Cuban to me.”
“Better take the dental impression then, in case he turns out to be Mexican.”
“If you say so,” the doctor said wearily.
“Tell you what, forget the dental impression, but if we have to exhume him later to get it, you do the digging. Deal?”
“I’ll take the impression.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Holly said. “I’ll get back and run the prints.”
“Let me know what you come up with,” the ME said. “I always like to match what you find against what I guess.”
“What kind of a record do you have, guessing?” she asked.
“Pretty damned good,” he said, grinning.
Later, at her desk, Holly shook the locket out of the evidence bag and looked at the photograph inside again. “Well, sweetheart, you won’t be seeing him again, and you’ll always wonder why.” Then she looked at the car keys among the effects. She pressed a button on the phone. “Hurd?”
“Yes, Chief?”
“Got a minute?”
“Sure, be right there.” He stood in her doorway a moment later.
She tossed him the car keys. “Track down somebody at Daimler-Chrysler and see if the number on the ignition key will tell us what kind of car it was and give us the VIN number.”
“Sure thing,” Hurd said.
“And don’t forget to log your possession of the keys on the chain-of-evidence form.”
“Right. Something I’d like to talk to you about later, if you have the time.”
“Talk about it now, if you like.”
“This is more important,” Hurd said. “Want me to run any prints?”
She handed him the card. “Almost forgot.”
Hurd went back to his own office, and Holly wondered what she’d do without him.
20
Holly was about to go to lunch when Ed Shine called. “How are you, young lady?”
“Very well, Ed, and you?”
“I could hardly be better; sold another house, and my ad in the law enforcement journal you recommended has produced a prospect.”
“I’d be happy to talk to him for you,” she said, remembering her promise.
“That’s why I called. He’ll be in touch.”
“All right, what’s his-”
“Gotta run, honey. Let me know what you think, and remember, if for any reason you feel I shouldn’t hire him, you just say the word.”
“Okay, but…”
“Bye.” Ed hung up.
Holly stood up and stretched, feeling hungry. She was about to leave when Hurd Wallace appeared again. “That was quick,” she said. “You got something?”
“Not yet,” Hurd replied. “I’m here for the interview.”
“What interview?”
“Didn’t Ed Shine call you?”
That let the air out of Holly.“You’re Ed’s candidate?”
“I answered his ad.”
“Have a seat, Hurd,” she said, trying to collect herself.
Hurd pulled up a chair and sat down. “I saw the ad yesterday, and I faxed Shine my résumé.”
“Oh,” she replied. She hardly knew what to say next.
“He seemed to think I had a pretty good background,” Hurd said drolly.
“Well, of course you do, Hurd. I mean… this is something of a shock; I thought you were on board until retirement.”
“That’s pretty much what I thought,” Hurd said, “but next year I’ll have twenty-five on the job, and I was thinking of going fishing, anyway.”
“You fish?”
“Figuratively speaking. I thought I’d start a little business or do something part-time that would bring me enough income that, combined with my pension, would make life easy. Shine’s job looked a lot more attractive than that.”
“What’d he offer you?”
“Half again what I’m making, plus a really good benefits package.”
“God, I might be able to get you a ten percent raise if I went to the council and made a special request, but I couldn’t come close to that.”
“I know, Holly, and it’s all right. I don’t think I’m underpaid here, and I’m certainly not unhappy working for you, but Shine’s job looks awful attractive from where I’m sitting.”
“Has he told you what your duties would be?”
“Security; that’s about it. Between you and me, I believe I’d have to work hard at staying awake. It’s certainly not going to be as interesting as working in the department. I mean, we’re probably not going to have floaters turning up, like this morning.”
“I hope to God not,” Holly said. “Palmetto Gardens has made us enough work for a lifetime already.”
“Blood Orchid,” Hurd said solemnly.
“Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting, and Ed keeps reminding me.”
“He especially wanted you to know that he didn’t come to me,” Hurd said. “I just read the ad like everybody else. I got the impression that he’s really interested in my taking the job.”
“With my approval, of course,” Holly said, chuckling.
“I’m sorry to put you on the spot, but…”
“Oh, Hurd, I’ll give you the kind of recommendation that would keep him from even thinking about hiring somebody else.”
“I appreciate that, Chief.”
“How could I do anything else? You’ve been all I could have asked for in a deputy chief.”
“Thank you.”
“When would you want to go?”
“As soon as you’re comfortable.”
“Hurd, I’mnever going to be as comfortable with somebody else as I have been with you.”
“Thank you, again.”
“Tell me, who do you think would be good to replace you?”
Hurd looked at his feet. “Well… I thought about that, and-I hope this doesn’t sound egotistical-I don’t think there’s anybody in the department who’s ready for the job.”
“I’m afraid you’re right,” Holly said.
“They’re all too young and new at it. I admired your wanting to bring in young people, and I understood how that helped with your budgeting, since their salaries start lower, but I guess it’s kept us from having an obvious successor.”
“You’re right about that,” Holly said.
“Tell you the truth, it might be best not to hire one. You could parcel out my duties to three or four other people and get along without a deputy. Maybe before long one of them would start to look like somebody who could handle the whole thing.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Holly said. “At least, it would take the pressure off about searching for somebody to hire. I might get some flak from the city council, though, not having another experienced person around.”
“I could make a couple of phone calls that might help with that,” Hurd said. “I’d be happy to back you up. My advice would be to hang on to the part of the budget that pays me, though. The council will want to reduce your budget if you don’t replace me immediately. You could tell them that you’re just taking your time finding the right person.”
“You were always a better politician than I, Hurd,” Holly said, laughing. “That’s a very good idea.”
“Well,” Hurd said, standing, “I’d better get back to work. We ought to have something later today or early tomorrow on IDing your floater.”
“Okay, that’s soon enough.” She stood up and offered Hurd her hand. “You deserve this.”
Hurd shook her hand and went back to his office.