Harry had turned away from the dreadful sight. “I can’t bear it.”
They could hear him thumping back and forth. Worse, they could smell the fat in his body frying.
“The battery goes for over three hundred miles. Can’t stop this.”
“I called Barker Rund, the Lampo dealer. He’s on his way,” Coop said.
“What can he do?”
“All dealers have a skeleton keyless entry. He’s bringing it. If he hits it, the car will turn off. He’s on Pantops Mountain. I called to get him a sheriff’s escort. They should be here in fifteen minutes, twenty at the latest.”
“Have you ever seen anything like this?”
“No. I’ve seen some pretty terrible things, but nothing like this. Thank God the kids are in school. Can you imagine if they witnessed this?”
“I don’t see any other car, so let’s hope his wife doesn’t get home until she’s picked them up from school. My God, this is like the electric chair.”
“Worse.”
Coop called it to the minute that Barker Rund with his head mechanic, escorted in a squad car by Sheriff Shaw, arrived. To their credit, neither the dealer nor the mechanic puked. Barker hit the remote, the motor stopped, and the hideous remains of Cory slid down the seat.
Rick, tough, gulped. “Coop, go down and block the driveway until the ambulance arrives, will you? Even if his wife comes home, don’t let her up here.”
Harry sat in the truck with Coop as she turned and drove down the drive.
Back at the horrible scene, Rick asked Barker, “Can he be removed without danger?”
“Yes, now he can. But to be sure, we’ll drain the battery. It’s far too heavy to lift out.”
“Barker, you’re sure?”
“I’m sure. The circuit is broken. And Tom grabbed a tester just to make certain there’s no leak.”
Tom was the head mechanic.
Rick, still unconvinced, followed the men to the car. “Barker, how could something like this happen?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t know. Jesus Christ, Sheriff, do you think I’d sell cars if I thought they were capable of doing this to someone?”
Rick, knowing Barker was shaken, soothingly said, “I know you wouldn’t.”
Working as fast as possible, the body was removed before Mrs. Schaeffer and the children got home. Rick took pictures with his cellphone. They may not have been protocol, but being the boss means you know when to drop protocol without jeopardizing a case.
The car was towed to the dealership. The mechanics found out what had happened easily enough. Someone had direct-wired the battery to the metal frame of the driver’s seat. When Cory turned on the car, he was instantly electrocuted. The pain had to have been ferocious. He could have felt it for only a second or two, but he did feel it.
• • •
Later, Harry was home, Fair with her, when Coop called.
“I’m sorry to call so late, but I thought you’d like to know that a yellow cylinder like what you found at Paula Benton’s was in the backseat of the Lampo.”
“What in the hell is going on?” Harry blurted out.
“I don’t know. Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Well, as all right as I can be. What about you?”
“Same. I keep thinking I will have seen everything in my line of work, every humiliation and violence to which the human body can be subjected, and then there’s something new.”
After talking a bit more, Harry hung up. She told Fair the news.
“Not one of them was a horseman,” he replied.
“This is so bizarre. But if there’s one thing life has taught me, it’s that what seems bizarre always makes sense once we find out the killer’s reason.”
“If only she hadn’t said ‘we,’ ” Tucker wisely noted.
Annalise finished harvesting organs from a young suicide. Done, she left her assistant to sew up the body, peeled off her gloves, and washed up.
As she stepped outside, Toni Enright walked into the anteroom, a grim look on her face.
“What’s the matter?”
“Cory’s dead.”
“What?” Annalise stepped closer to Toni. “How?”
“Electrocuted by his Lampo.”
“Oh, no.” Annalise swayed.
Toni caught her, maneuvering her to a chair. “Sit down. This is a terrible, terrible thing, and the staff has had too many shocks these last weeks.”
“I told him not to buy that damned electric car! I warned him that no matter what they tell you—and I went to look at one, too—that much voltage isn’t safe. It can never be safe. A gasoline engine might seize up, but it won’t take you with it. The gas tank might explode in an accident, but your chances are good to get out without bad burns if you have your wits about you or aren’t comatose behind the wheel. But these things—why, why didn’t he listen to me?”
“Listening was not his strong suit,” replied Toni, her voice kind. “He thought he knew more than he did about a lot of things. Maybe we’re all like that.”
“I grew up with cars. I explained everything to him. I told him that at four hundred and forty volts, it would take less than one amp to kill a person. He blew me off, saying that was impossible. The bypass safety relay and backups provided ironclad safety. They’re too new. You never buy the first year of any car model, because the bugs haven’t been worked out yet. In something this new, you’re nuts to buy one.” She dropped her head in her hands.
Toni leaned over, put her arm around Annalise’s shoulders. “You did all you could.”
Tears running down her lovely face, Annalise strangled a wail. “The man couldn’t even change a spark plug.”
“No, but he was one hell of a surgeon.”
Annalise nodded in agreement. “Fervent.”
“Pardon?”
“Fervent. He truly wanted to cure cancer. The hours that man spent with me here, and Jennifer, too, examining the ones who died from various cancers.” She wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands.
Toni walked over to the counter, plucked out some tissues, brought them back. “Here. You need to hold it together.”
Annalise wiped her eyes. “Mascara.”
“You look like a raccoon. Here, let me fix it.” Toni fetched more tissues, wetted them at the small sink, then cleaned under the pathologist’s eyes. “You’ll need a reapplication.”
“Have a tube in my bag. Toni, how did you find out?”
“Izzy Wineberg took the call from Sheriff Shaw. Couldn’t find Will Archer,” she said, naming the hospital administrator. “Izzy came down to our department. We are being told department by department, and I think Izzy will oversee a notice to go out by email, as well as for a printed bulletin.”
“As the most senior physician, he’s the best choice.”
“Yes. I don’t think there is a doctor here more respected than Izzy. But here’s the thing”—she again wiped a speck from under Annalise’s eye—“the cops think Paula Benton’s death, Thadia Martin’s death, and Cory’s may be linked.”
Annalise’s eyes opened wide. “Nothing was found to have caused Paula’s death. And Cory’s, I told him! I told him!”
“Annalise, lower your voice.”
“Oh, Toni.” She put her hands to her face, dropping her head back, exposing her swanlike neck. “I doubt they’re all connected.”
“It does seem a stretch, but Izzy doesn’t know the details. They’re treating Cory’s death as murder.”
“What?”
“According to Izzy, the car was, I don’t know the terms, anyway, hotwired.”
A long silence followed. “It couldn’t be. Rachel knows nothing about cars,” Annalise said, naming Cory’s wife.