The Coroner, page 10
“I’ll leave you two alone so you can enjoy your lunch,” Emily said, rising and grabbing her coat.
“We wish you’d stay,” Cathy pleaded. “There’s plenty here for three.”
“Nick’s waiting for me downstairs,” said Emily.
“Emily, remember what I said. Premiere. Take a second look. That’s all I’m asking,” said her father, digging into a fresh deli sandwich with enough mayonnaise dripping down the sides to clog an artery.
15
As Nick and Emily pulled into the Dobsons’ long driveway, Emily saw that now several news vans had relocated to the street in front of the Dobsons’ house. Apparently they had been tipped off that the Dobsons would be receiving the official autopsy report this afternoon, and this had alerted more media outlets to camp out. They were stretched out along the sidewalk in front of the Dobsons’ historic Tudor when Nick’s patrol car carved a path into the Dobson’s driveway.
“So, you ready for this?” said Nick.
Emily realized that she couldn’t still her quivering hand. “Actually, now that I’m here … I’ve never delivered this kind of news, Nick. Dad always did this part.”
“Just be straightforward. Like you’re giving a diagnosis. That’s all you have to do. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Emily nodded and looked to the front of the house. The Dobsons had hired two security guards, one stationed near the front door and one standing off by the driveway, waiting to escort them inside.
As soon as Nick placed the car in park, the media descended onto the lawn.
“Stay put a second,” Nick said, exiting the car. He rushed around to her side to open the door while the bodyguard shielded them from the pressing reporters.
Nick let her past the probing microphones and camera lenses onto the Dobsons’ front porch, where the reporters were not allowed to be. The bodyguard followed them in and led them down a hallway and into an empty drawing room. They were seated and told that the senator and his wife would be arriving shortly.
A housekeeper entered after a few moments and delivered a tray with coffee. They thanked her, and both downed the liquid adrenaline. Upstairs, they could hear the creaking of the family’s footsteps, but no utterance of voices could be discerned.
“My hands won’t stop shaking,” Emily said under her breath.
“You’ll do fine,” Nick replied and sent her a confident smile.
“I was at Brown’s this morning, and I found out something interesting,” Emily said, noticing how professional Nick looked in his smoothly pressed uniform, his hat in his lap.
“The barista said Julie had just broken up with her boyfriend, David,” said Emily.
“Breakups happen all the time. You know high school,” said Nick. “Relationships are fickle at that age. Right?” Emily detected a touch of sarcasm that she was pretty sure was aimed at her, but she let it go.
“I’m just saying, maybe you should talk to her. Her name’s Sadie. Apparently, she knew Julie from school. Unless you have a better lead?”
“Em, you did the autopsy. That’s all you need to do. You don’t need to go dredging up leads. I’ll do the detective work. Got it?” Nick said.
“I can’t help what I overhear.”
“Or what Delia tells you?”
“I bet you get a lot of good leads from Brown’s.”
“I swear the population of Freeport exists on baked goods and gossip,” Nick said, grinning. “And while the baked goods are solid, most of the gossip isn’t. Besides, you have your dad to focus on. How is he?”
“Stubborn.”
“That’s a good sign.”
Emily heard the Dobsons descending the staircase. She followed Nick’s lead and politely rose to greet them. Senator Dobson entered with his wife, Gloria, clinging to his arm. Emily noted how well put together they looked. If she hadn’t known the occasion, she would have guessed they were on their way to a luncheon. Both were dressed in business attire. Coat, tie, shoes shined. Dress, hose, heels. Gloria’s hair was done, and her makeup did a fairly decent job of masking her swollen eyes.
“Welcome to our home. Please have a seat,” Gloria offered as the senator placed her tenderly in an armchair. “Can we get you anything? More coffee?”
“No, thank you, Mrs. Dobson,” Nick answered.
“I’m fine, thank you,” Emily said. “You have a beautiful home.”
Emily immediately regretted adding that. This wasn’t afternoon tea.
They all sat awkwardly frozen while Nick made small talk and expressed his condolences. She was wondering when she should speak, when Nick nodded at her and she took this as her cue to give her report.
“Mr. and Mrs. Dobson, I am very sorry for your loss. If you don’t mind, I’d like to just get right to the point and discuss the findings of your daughter’s autopsy.”
The Dobsons nodded. “We think that would be best,” said the senator. “It seems like there’s some speculation running around, and we’d like to set things straight as soon as possible.”
“Of course. To get to the point, my autopsy revealed the cause of Julie’s death to be blunt force trauma to the head. I found several fracture areas in the skull, which led to hemorrhaging of the brain. This is the official cause of death.”
“So it was an accident?” Gloria interjected. “She fell off her horse and hit her head?”
Emily glanced at Nick, not sure what to do. Nick was about to intervene, when Senator Dobson said, “She didn’t fall. Julie’s a strong rider. She would never fall during a trail ride. That beast bucked her off. He’s been skittish and distracted all summer. I’m having him put down immediately.”
“No. Please don’t. It’s not Mercedes’ fault. Julie didn’t fall and she wasn’t bucked off. I’m afraid it’s much worse than that,” said Emily as both parents looked at her. “I’m ruling the manner of Julie’s death a homicide.”
“My daughter was murdered?” Senator Dobson formed the words carefully.
“Somebody killed Julie? Are you sure?” said Gloria, her voice pinched.
“The pattern of the fracture lines indicates several intentional blows to the head. There is no scenario in which this kind of fracture is caused by a fall.”
Senator Dobson noticed a cameraman pointing a lens into the picture window, which was draped with a thin lace curtain. The security guard quickly shot over to close the shades. Then, he disappeared into the hall, and Emily could hear him on his two-way radio, communicating with the outside security guard.
“Mr. and Mrs. Dobson, do you have any idea who might have wanted to harm Julie?” asked Nick.
“Absolutely none,” said the senator.
“She made friends easily. Everyone liked her,” added Gloria. “I mean, she wasn’t super popular or anything. But she kept a few close friends and never made any waves.”
“She has no enemies,” the senator affirmed.
“No, but you may,” Nick said. “Anybody you can think of who might do something like this to get back at you or send a message?”
The senator shook his head fervently. “I know there are people who dislike some of the things I stand for. But to kill my baby … I can’t think of … It’s not reasonable,” he sputtered, choking back tears. Gloria shot him a mistrustful glance.
“You have enemies, Gabe. And if you know of anyone who might have done this, you need to speak up. Now.”
“Gloria, I swear I don’t know,” he said.
“You hired two security guards. That says something about you,” said Nick. “What are you afraid of?”
Emily wondered if this was part of Nick’s tactics. Was he trying to push the senator? See where he might crack?
“Can we please stop wasting time on this?” said Senator Dobson. “What leads do you have?”
“Have you ever received any death threats? Threats on your family?” asked Nick.
“No. Never. And I’ve never bribed anyone or accepted a bribe, or mishandled funds, or cheated on my income tax! I don’t have those kinds of enemies!”
“What kinds of enemies do you have?” said Nick.
“The normal kind. The kind who write me nasty emails because I voted against allowing a medical marijuana facility to set up shop here.”
Nick waited for a moment to let the senator calm down. “Have either of you been unfaithful?” said Nick.
“No. Of course not,” said Gloria, looking to her husband. “Gabe?”
“Gloria. Darling. No.” He went to her side and took her hand.
Gabe’s answer seemed to pacify his wife. Still, Emily was curious to see where Nick was going with this line of questioning.
“Okay, let’s just go back to yesterday. When was the last time you saw Julie?” Nick asked them.
“I was the last to see her,” the senator said. “I dropped her off at the stables on my way to the office.”
“What time was that?” Nick asked.
“A little after seven,” the senator replied.
“Mrs. Dobson, how about you? When was the last time you saw Julie?” Nick questioned.
“I saw her the night before,” Gloria told him. “She was at the kitchen table doing homework. I kissed her goodnight, told her I loved her, and went upstairs.” Gloria started to tear up. Emily reached over and handed her a tissue box from the coffee table. Gloria took one and gingerly dabbed away the mascara smudging under her eyes.
“Anything unusual about her behavior recently? Anything out of the ordinary? Was Julie depressed, unhappy, stressed, acting out, or being overly secretive in the past few weeks or months?” Nick went on.
Emily observed how expertly Nick handled the victim’s parents. He leaned in when he spoke. Maintained eye contact with them. Let them breathe when they needed to. He knew how to handle people. It had always been his gift, she remembered. And now he was putting it to noble use to serve justice.
“She was stressed about some things,” Gloria sniffled.
“What kind of things?” Nick asked.
“College applications. Scholarships. The upcoming state equestrian match,” Gloria said.
“Sounds like normal senior-year stuff,” Nick replied.
Gloria nodded.
“Can you give me the names of anyone else you think I should talk to?” Nick asked.
“Gary Bodum. He owns the stables and does most of the riding instruction. He knew Julie pretty well,” said Gloria.
Nick jotted down the name. “How about friends? Teachers?”
“You can find a list of her teachers from the school,” said the senator.
Emily found it odd that Senator Dobson didn’t know the names of his daughter’s teachers and friends. He seemed to be an attentive father, taking his daughter to riding lessons, but perhaps it was part of the politics of being seen in a favorable light.
“Friends?”
“She didn’t bring them around here,” said Gloria. “At least not when we were home.”
“Anyone else come to mind?” Nick asked.
“There was that David Sands fellow,” said the senator. Emily side glanced at Nick as if to say, “I told you so.”
“Tell me about David,” said Nick catching Emily’s look. “Did she bring him around?”
“Oh no. They dated last year for a time. We didn’t like him from the start. Once they got serious, Julie stopped hanging out with her friends. Her grades dropped. She even started skipping riding lessons,” said Gloria.
“Sounds about right for two kids in love for the first time.” As Nick said it, a memory flashed into Emily’s mind. She and Nick ditching school to go ice fishing. It was the first day the lake was completely frozen over. Nick’s dad had built an ice shack for two, complete with stools, a lantern, radio, and six-pack cooler. She sat with Nick all afternoon, drinking hot cocoa from a thermos and catching nothing on her line. It didn’t matter that she was shivering the whole time or that she didn’t like fishing. It was enough just to be with him. “What about David didn’t you like?”
“He was pushing Julie to get married. We wanted her to go to college first. Pursue her riding. Get her degree. Meet other people and have bigger experiences,” said Gloria. “We didn’t want her tied down at eighteen.”
“That seems reasonable to me,” Emily said, and Nick shot her a look.
“How did she respond to that?” said Nick.
“She rebelled. So we asked her to stop seeing David. And when that didn’t work, we grounded her and forbade him from coming over,” the senator said.
“But they didn’t stop seeing each other, did they?” asked Nick.
“We know she was sneaking around some,” said the senator. “But eventually, things changed.”
“Can you explain?” Nick asked.
“Julie lost interest when David started seeing another girl,” said Gloria.
Of course, Julie would be depressed, thought Emily as she saw Nick jot down the words Loretta, Orion’s in his notepad.
What does that mean? Who’s Lorretta? She would ask him later.
“I guess that confirmation,” said Emily. “Did she say why?”
Nick shook his head.
“I don’t want this murder thing going public just yet, Sheriff,” the senator said. “I’m asking you to keep this out of the news and protect our privacy until we get some real answers.”
“I understand your concern completely. But I can’t make any promises,” Nick stated. “I don’t control the press, and they’re practically beating down your door.”
“I’m required to make an official registry of cause of death with the county,” said Emily.
“How long can that wait?” said the senator.
“Tomorrow?” replied Emily.
“We would appreciate that.”
“I’ll wait to release the official police statement until six PM tonight,” said Nick. “I want you both to know that we will be working tirelessly to find out who did this to your daughter.”
Gloria then turned to Nick. “We prefer to control the story when it breaks. If you can just give us a little time. Gabe will call his press secretary to help draft a public statement.”
“Of course, that’s the right thing to do, dear,” said the senator, pressing her hand into his.
“Is there anything else?” said Gloria.
“Do you mind if I take a look around in Julie’s bedroom?”
Gloria motioned to a sweeping staircase. “Upstairs. Last door on the left. And if you’ll excuse me.” Gloria rose and left for the kitchen. Nick headed upstairs, leaving Emily alone with the senator. Her hands had stopped quivering, but she felt uncomfortable in the silence between them.
“Dr. Hartford, thank you for stepping in for your father,” the senator said. “We wish him a full and speedy recovery.”
“My pleasure. And again, my sympathies on your loss,” she replied.
“Security will see you out when you’re finished,” said the senator as he left the room to join his wife.
Emily stood up and paced the room. She didn’t know if she should stay in that stuffy room and wait for Nick. Or just wait in the foyer with the security guard. That would be weird. Or go back to the squad car. Not with all those press out there. Curiosity got the best of her, and she bounded up the stairs to find Nick examining photographs hung in the hallway.
“What are you doing up here?”
“I don’t want to sit down there all alone. It feels … sad.”
“Fine. But please don’t touch anything. Put these on.” He handed her a pair of latex gloves. She followed Nick down the long hallway. There must have been eight bedrooms on the second floor.
“They seemed really composed for just learning their daughter was murdered.”
“People react in different ways to bad news,” said Nick. “Or maybe it’s the whole politics thing. They’ve been under the public eye for so long that they go into robot mode when bad news hits.”
“Maybe.” She thought they kind of reminded her of Brandon’s parents. Good news. Bad news. Always the same stoic look.
“Who’s Loretta Orion?” she asked Nick.
“Waitress. She works at Orion’s. Told me the Dobson’s came in there regularly and that Julie had been acting depressed for a few months.”
“I guess that confirmation,” said Emily. “Did she say why?”
Nick shook his head.
Nick and Emily went to the last room on the left. The door was open. They entered, and Emily’s eyes traveled to an impressive wall plastered with Julie’s equestrian trophies, ribbons, clippings, and awards.
“Wow. She was accomplished,” said Emily. “Not that I know much about the equestrian world.”
While Nick was rummaging through Julie’s dresser drawers, Emily’s attention was drawn to a scuffling noise from inside the room. She walked toward it, but Nick pulled her back and drew his gun, moving slowly toward the closet and, putting a finger to his lips, motioning for Emily to be quiet.
Nick threw open the door, training his weapon on a tear-stained and bewildered teenage girl sitting on the floor, clutching a photo album. She let out a little scream when she saw the barrel of Nick’s gun pointed at her. Nick immediately lowered it, and Emily jumped over to see who was in there.
“Hello? Sorry to startle you. We didn’t know there was anyone in here. I’m Dr. Emily Hartford. And this man is Sheriff Larson.”
Emily stepped between Nick and the girl as her diminutive figure shrugged a half-hearted hello. “I’m Sarah. Julie’s sister.”
“We’re really sorry about Julie,” Emily said.
“Sarah, I’m gonna have to ask you to please step out of the closet,” said Nick. “Emily, could you take her into the hall?”
Emily reached in to help Sarah up. “Sheriff Larson just needs to take a quick look around. Okay?”
Sarah nodded and Emily led them into the hallway. They took a seat on a wooden bench between two bedrooms.
“Pictures of you and Julie?” said Emily, pointing to the photo album wrapped in Sarah’s arms.
Sarah shook her head and cracked the book open so Emily could take a look. It was a brag book of Julie’s equestrian conquests. In most of the pictures, Julie wore the victor’s ribbon. Sarah flipped through the pages as Emily made small comments.
