er search of the woods, and our people are already checking the buildings. ”
Dez pointed to the gables of a whitewashed Victorian barely visible beyond the Grove. “At least let us check Doc’s old house. ”
“I thought it was empty,” said Goss.
“It’s up for sale, yes, but it’s not empty,” corrected Dez. “Doc’s sister, April, and her two little kids, Tommy and Gail, have been living there while her divorce is being finalized. Been there two weeks. We didn’t get a chance to check on them, so let us—”
“No,” Goss said firmly. “I’ll send someone else. You go work on that report. Give me something that doesn’t sound like science-fucking-fiction. ”
Dez turned away to keep the hurt she was feeling from showing. JT sighed heavily. They watched officers Ken Gunther and Dana Howard vanish into a path that wound through the Grove to the old Hartnup house. Without turning, Dez said, “This was a righteous shooting, Chief. ”
When the chief did not answer, Dez turned and locked eyes with him for several silent seconds. Gradually, the stern line of Goss’s mouth softened a little and he sighed. “Christ, I hope so, Dez. ”
JT said, “Are we going to need a lawyer?”
Goss sighed. “Not with me. But the state’s going to come in on this, no question about it. Talk to the union rep, get their lawyers on standby. ”
They turned suddenly as the forensic officer, Scott, came hurrying out of the mortuary, waving a clipboard at them. As he closed in on them he said, “JT, Dez … what happened to the third body?”
JT and Dez stared blankly at him.
“Which third body?” asked Goss.
“The dead one,” said Scott.
“You trying to be funny?” barked JT.
“No,” said Scott, “I mean the body from the morgue. The one that Doc Hartnup was here to work on. What happened to it?”
JT shook his head. “There were no bodies in the cold room or the prep room. Doc might have been here to do paperwork or—”
“No,” Scott cut in, “there was definitely a body. ” He tapped the papers on the clipboard with a fingernail. “It was on the log. Came in a little over two hours ago. Doc signed for it himself. ”
“There were footprints of a third person,” JT said slowly. “Somebody must have come in and moved the body. ”
“Footprints I saw were bare feet,” said Scott. “That’s kind of weird. ”
“Everything’s kind of weird today,” JT said under his breath. “Question is why someone—bare feet or not—would come in, kill Doc Hartnup, attack the cleaning lady, and then carry off a corpse. ”
Scott sucked his teeth. “Maybe this was all about stealing the body. Someone breaks in to do that and didn’t know Doc was there. Might have been opportunistic. ”
“Doc’s car’s parked right outside,” said Goss.
“Yeah, but Doc could have arrived after the perp was inside. Ditto for the cleaning lady. ”
“Which brings us back to why someone would want to steal a corpse,” said JT. “And it might have been more than one person. Corpses are heavy as hell. ”
“Yeah, dead weight,” joked Scott. No one laughed. He cleared his throat and said, “Seems like an obvious motive to me. ”
“Not to me,” growled Goss.
“Are you kidding? Celebrity corpses are hot,” Scott said, gesturing with the clipboard, “especially one like this?”
The word “celebrity” hung in the air for a moment, and then Dez snatched the clipboard out of Scott’s hand. She scanned the form and gasped.
Goss and JT read over her shoulder. The top sheet was a standard mortuary receiving order for the transfer of a body from a prison to a local funeral home. However, it was attached to a signed and notarized confidentiality agreement from the warden of the State Correctional Institution at Rockview. It was couched in complex legalese that promised fines, loss of business license and criminal prosecution if Dr. Lee Hartnup broke the seal of secrecy to reveal the name of the deceased prisoner entrusted to his care.
Standing there under the harsh morning light, they read the name.