“I promise to make it up to you,”
Kelly glanced up at her father. “Who are you having dinner with?” she finally asked.
“Oh, it’s just business,” Dan quipped, trying to make light of the dinner.
Dan let Kelly go and walked into the kitchen. Kelly just stared at her father curiously as she followed him.
Dan walked up to the stove. The odor enticed him but not enough for him to change his mind. He lifted the cover, took the spoon off the plate, and tasted the dish that was cooking. It was Hamburger Helper, but had a good flavor. Dan turned to Kelly.
“You’re a good cook.”
“You didn’t answer me,” she said, not giving up.
“It’s a dinner meeting with the medical examiner,” he finally replied after a long silence.
“That Nancy who called?”
“Yeah, the same one who called yesterday,” he said and then pointed at Kelly. “It isn’t what you think.”
Dan put the cover back on the pan and set the spoon down. He went over to the desk and took out a small envelope. Dan reached in his pocket and pulled the pocket inside out. The dust bunnies and black-bear fur fell onto the desk. Kelly looked at him with disgust.
“Didn’t your mama teach you any manners?”
“Hey, there’s a reason for this,” he said and then pointed. “And Grandma taught me manners.”
“You aren’t going to save that dirt?”
“It isn’t like that,” Dan said in his defense.
Kelly walked up to him and then looked down at the desk. “What are those?”
“Fur from a black bear.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Have them checked out,” Dan replied, not really wanting to explain further.
Kelly walked over to the sink. She opened up the cupboard doors under the sink and reached in for the spray cleaner and a roll of paper towel. She walked back over to Dan and handed them to him.
“You can clean the desk off when you’re done.”
Dan put the black-bear fur in the small envelope and then quickly cleaned off the desk. He turned and handed the cleaner and paper towels back to Kelly.
“Does that meet your satisfaction?” he asked and then laughed. He then turned to walk out.
“I’m going to shower,” he said.
Kelly just stood there, looking at her father with arms crossed and a big grin on her face.
* * *
Dan pulled up to the Medical Examiner’s office. The only car in the parking lot was an Outback with a parking sticker for Little Rock. Dan had been nervous and feared that maybe Nancy only was teasing him when she accepted the invitation. He was relieved now. At least she had not changed her mind.
He got out of the squad and walked in. Nancy sat at her desk, doing paperwork. Dan was taken aback for a moment when he saw her. She was wearing a red dress, his favorite color, her hair flowing flawlessly over her shoulders. It reminded him of Kay for an instant, but then he tried not to think about that.
Dan glanced at the table at the far end of the room. It was there the bones were assembled in approximation of where they would be in life.
“Must be hard work trying to figure out what happened.”
Nancy got up and walked over to the table. Dan could not take his eyes off the nicely shaped woman in front of him. Nancy finally turned to Dan and caught him looking at her.
She cleared her throat and then quickly added. “The victim was male.”
Dan appeared puzzled. “How can you tell?”
Nancy calmly pointed to some bones in the center of the table. “The pelvic bone. Definitely male.” She points up at the head. “Also on the skull, the ridge on the brow confirms it.”
Dan was curious now. “What else do you know about him,” he asks.
“From the sutures in the skull and the closure in the epiphyses of the shoulder and the basilar synchondrosis of the spheroid, I’d say the victim was about eighteen.”
Dan just stared at Nancy. He was never good in biology and it amazed him she could pronounce those words, and seemed confident in what she was relaying.
“I’d ask you to repeat that, but I still wouldn’t understand what you just said.”
Nancy laughed. “We learn things like that in school, that’s how any medical examiner can determine age when the body is in this condition. The body’s bones are constantly developing.”
“I can tell you he’s been dead nearly twenty years.”
“All that from a pile of bones?” Dan asked.
“That and the class ring we found.”
Nancy turned and walked over to the tray that was covered with a cloth. She lifted the cloth. Nancy picked up the ring and handed it to Dan.
Dan had a cold chill go through him. It was a ring he longed to have in high school, but money was tight. His parents could not afford the extravagance of a class ring for him and his part-time job did not pay enough for such a luxurious item. He put the ring back on the tray.
“Pine Bluff High,” was all Dan could muster up to say.
“I talked to Mac. He told me about a Jason O’Connor, who disappeared some twenty years ago. The J and O on the class ring kind of confirms it’s him, but I still want to examine his dental records so I can do a positive identification before notifying the family.”
The O’Connor family gave up on Jason years ago and had him legally declared dead nearly ten years now. His grave was two sites down from Kay’s so Dan saw it often.
Dan shook his head, not believing how good Nancy was, and urged her on.
“Do you have a cause of death?” he asked, not expecting an answer.
“Definitely, he was knifed.”
Dan raised his eyebrows. “You are good.”
Nancy reached for the tray and picked up the knife tip. She handed it to Dan.
“Found this lodged in one of his ribs,” she said and then quickly continued. “From it’s location, I’d say it pierced the lung. He probably bled out quickly.”
Dan just stared at the piece of metal in his hand. A cold sweat appeared on his brow but he said nothing.
“You don’t look so good.”
Dan wiped his brow with the back of his hand. “Can we get out of here? This place gives me the willies.”
Dan had a troubled look on his face while Nancy walked over to the coat rack. She grabbed a sweater, but Dan took it from her and put it over her shoulders. He would have to deal with what was bothering him later. Right now he wanted to enjoy the evening.
* * *
Dan leaned back and watched Nancy as she ate her salad. “So what brings you to our little community?” he asked.
“I have relatives living here and it seemed like a nice town. Low crime rate.” Nancy replied and then laughed. “That was before this week.”
Dan shook his head. “Maybe the blue moon rising has something to do with it.”
“There are people who believe in that theory that there are more crimes committed during this moon cycle. But no real study has been able to prove it valid.”
“After today, you have a believer in me.”
“You only found the second victim during the moon cycle. Besides, I usually don’t mix business with pleasure.”
Dan reached over and patted Nancy’s hand. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“Promise?” she asked teasingly.
“That reminds me,” he said, reaching into his inside pocket. He pulled out the envelope and handed it to Nancy. “Can you check this fur against the fur you found on Richie?”
“You found the black-bear rug?”
“You’re not the only working this case. It might not even be the same bear rug, I just thought it was worth checking.”
“You going to tell me whose fireplace it sits in front of?”
“Alan Maxwell,” was all Dan mustered up to say. He could tell by the look on Nancy face that this information did not surprise her.
He was about to pursue his gut feeling, but the waiter was back at the table. All he managed to do was raise his eyebrows. The waiter took the salad plates and set their food on the table. Nancy simply smiled up at Dan.