The Coroner, page 11
“Who’s that guy next to Julie? I keep seeing him,” Emily said, pointing to a newspaper clipping of Julie with a first-place trophy and a young man standing next to her and holding up a second-place trophy.
“That’s Vince. He and Julie have been competing since their freshman year,” said Sarah.
“Looks like Julie does most of the winning,” Emily said with a comforting tone.
Sarah nodded and turned the page to a picture of Julie sitting proudly atop Mercedes.
“So, I’m just curious, what happened to your sister’s horse?”
“Mercedes went to the vet’s ranch to Dr. Lillen. I’m afraid my dad will put him down” said Sarah.
“I hope that doesn’t happen,” Emily answered.
“Me too. He doesn’t deserve it. It’s not his fault,” said Sarah.
“What’s not his fault?” Emily was curious to know what Sarah had been told.
“Her accident.”
Emily remained silent.
“You were the doctor who looked at my sister, right?” Sarah asked.
“Yes, I was. I did,” said Emily.
“Did you find out why she had an accident?”
“I did. Probably best for you to talk with your parents about it.”
“They won’t tell me the whole truth,” said Sarah.
“They won’t? Why not?”
“They don’t think I’ll understand.”
“How old are you?”
“Fifteen.”
Emily could relate. She wished someone had sat her down after her mom died and told her the truth. Her father hadn’t. Or couldn’t. No police officer or family friend ever broached the subject with her. And when she tried, they dodged her questions. And there were so many unanswered questions that still hung in the balance from that early fall day of her mother’s accident. A surge of anger ripped up in Emily.
In that moment, Emily decided that she needed to level with Sarah. She wouldn’t trust the Dobsons to do it. Parents could be overly protective to the detriment of what was actually good for their children. She would not run the risk of allowing Sarah to endure years of emotional torment like she had.
“Julie was killed because somebody struck her.”
Sarah blinked and kept calm. Too calm. For a second, Emily wondered if Sarah might freak out. What would she do? She hadn’t thought that telling Sarah the truth might backfire on her. But instead, Sarah just looked at Emily with remarkable maturity as it sunk in.
“Did it hurt her?” she asked.
“Probably a little. But only for a second until she blacked out.”
Sarah glanced down at the photograph of her sister. Then she looked up at Emily, “Who would hurt my sister?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out.”
Sarah looked up at her with the empty eyes of a confused fifteen-year-old whose world had just been shaken to the core. The yearning to provide Sarah with some answer that would ease her agony swelled in Emily. A simple trip home had mushroomed into something bigger and deeper, touching on places of Emily’s life that she hadn’t examined for a long time. But there were no coincidences; Emily believed this. So why now? Why Sarah? Why Emily? There was no uncertainty about whether this was meant to be; Emily was meant to help Sarah through this.
Nick came out of the room, snapping his gloves off. “I’m all set. Thank you for letting us intrude, Sarah.”
Sarah responded with a doleful look as Nick headed toward the stairs. “I thought of a few more questions for the senator,” he told Emily. “Meet me downstairs when you’re done.”
“Okay. I’ll just be a minute,” she responded and turned to Sarah. “I know it’s hard to believe right now, but it won’t always feel this awful and raw. I promise.”
“It hurts right here,” Sarah put her hand in the middle of her chest. “Like my lungs are going to collapse.”
“I know. Just keep getting up every day. Talk to her. Like she’s here. It helps.”
“Dr. Emily, did Julie have her bracelet on?” asked Sarah.
Emily was unsure. Had she missed something during the autopsy? “Can you describe it?”
Sarah held up her wrist to reveal a gorgeous silver bracelet loaded with charms.
“Like this. We had matching ones. Different charms, of course.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t see anything like that,” said Emily. Disappointment spread over Sarah’s face.
“Can you find it? Please?”
“You’re sure it’s not in her room? I can help you look.”
“It’s not. I looked a million times,” Sarah said.
“Have you checked the stables?”
This caused Sarah’s gaze to go to her feet. She choked back a few tears. “I can’t go there. Please. Julie never took it off. Can you look for me?”
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll have Sheriff Larson send an officer out.”
“No, I want you to do it.”
Emily was impacted by Sarah’s woeful insistence. She couldn’t deny that she connected deeply with Sarah’s heartache. In these past few minutes, she and Sarah had formed an inexplicable bond. A silent pact. If only someone had been Emily’s advocate during the time of her mother’s tragic passing. Perhaps her life and her relationship with her father would look a lot different than it did now.
Emily felt her father’s request to revisit the scene gnawing at her. She knew it was the right thing to do, and she wanted to find that bracelet for Sarah. Did she need to tell Nick that she wanted to look at the scene? She didn’t want him to think she was going behind his back. He might not understand, and she didn’t want to cause a row. He had enough on his plate right now. He didn’t need to be traipsing around the countryside looking for a lost charm bracelet. And really, it wasn’t like she would be stepping into the territory. She wouldn’t be questioning anyone or handling any interrogations. The scene wasn’t cordoned off. Anyone could go out there. It was fair game. And if she did find anything out of the ordinary, she would call Nick immediately.
“Sure, I’ll take a look for you,” Emily told her.
Immediately, Sarah’s arms encircled Emily in a hug. “I miss her so much.”
I get it, thought Emily. I so get it.
16
Emily exited her car and wandered through Premiere Equestrian Center stables toward the office located at the back of the large barn. She hoped the owner, Gary Bodum, would be able to escort her to the site where Julie’s body had been found.
She reached the office and found the door closed and locked. On Bodum’s desk was a half-eaten breakfast sandwich and a glass of soda, bubbles fizzing up the sides. He was here. Or had been here recently. Emily took her time strolling through the barn and scanning the area for any sight of Julie’s charm bracelet.
Up ahead she noticed a stall adorned with flowers, ribbons, handwritten notes, and candles. It belonged to Julie and Mercedes. She stopped to admire it and noticed some of the newspaper clippings were the same ones she had seen in Julie’s album.
“You here to pay your respects?” said a deep male voice from behind her.
Emily turned to see a man in his forties approaching with a long, thin tool in his hand. He was looking inquisitively at her.
“I’m Dr. Emily Hartford.”
“Gary Bodum. Owner and trainer,” he said.
“Just the person I was looking for.”
“You’re Doc’s daughter,” he said.
“Yes, that’s right,” she replied.
“I thought you ran away to Connecticut or something, like, ten years ago?”
“Chicago. I went to live with my aunt in Chicago.”
“I heard your old man suffered a heart attack. How’s he doing?” Gary asked.
“He’ll pull through.”
“He took a big hit,” Gary said. “Tell him I said hello and wish him a speedy recovery.”
“Do you know my father well?”
“As well as anyone does here in Freeport. Run into him at the Farm and Feed from time to time.”
“I see.”
“And a couple years ago he did an autopsy on one of the horses that died suddenly.”
“He did?” Emily had no idea her father’s business extended to the animal kingdom.
“Was hit by a fast-attacking viral disease, and because of your dad’s findings, we were able to treat and save the rest of the stable.”
“That’s a happy ending,” said Emily. “Nice memorial you’ve got set up here.”
“I didn’t have much to do with it. People kept bringing things. I’m not really used to strangers just dropping by, but I think it’s important for folks to be able to grieve,” said Gary.
“You trained Julie, didn’t you?” she asked.
“Since she was ten.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
Gary lowered his gaze and fixed it on the empty stable.
“So, was it an accident?” said Gary.
“I can’t really comment on that just yet,” Emily said.
“I understand. Let me know if there’s anything I can do,” he said.
“There may be something. This may seem like a weird question, but you didn’t happen to find a silver bracelet with a lot of charms?”
“I know which one you’re talking about. Julie never took it off. But no, I haven’t seen it.”
Emily glanced toward the pasture behind the stables. She surmised that the site of Julie’s demise lay somewhere in those fields. “Do you mind telling me how to get to the scene of the … the accident?”
“I can do better than that. I can take you out there,” said Gary. “You ride, don’t you?”
Emily nodded slightly, “I’ve ridden. Before.” Which was the truth, but it had been years.
“I’ll saddle up one of my older, gentler ones,” Gary said, noting her apprehension.
“That sounds good,” replied Emily. She followed Gary into the stables.
“After Farmer Gibbons found Julie, we went out looking for Mercedes and found him about a quarter mile from Julie’s body,” Gary said.
“Was he okay?”
“He was injured. Couldn’t get up to walk.”
They reached a stall marked “Laney.” Inside was a beautiful, brown mare with jet-black eyes and a light brown mane. Emily reached out her hand, and Laney nudged it playfully.
“I called Dr. Lillen, the vet, and she rushed over, gave him something to calm him down and loaded him into her horse trailer so she could bring him back to her ranch.”
Gary strapped a blanket and saddle onto Laney. As he snugged up the saddle, he took one look at Emily’s slim black dress pants and heeled boots.
“I got some extra sets of waders hanging up by the office. You might wanna put on a pair. It can be pretty mucky out there, especially down by the creek, where Julie was found. You can slip ’em right over your own boots.” Emily looked down at her prized Italian leather footwear, which she had saved up for and purchased on a vacation to Milan the year before. They were coated in sawdust. She turned up the bottom of her right heel to discover a small patch of matted manure on the sole.
“I’ll take you up on that. My footwear is more familiar with asphalt and concrete.”
Gary pointed her toward the office and told her he would meet her in the riding area with Laney. Emily found her way back to the office, where there was a line of waders hanging from wooden pegs along the wall. They seemed to all be about the same size, so Emily grabbed the nearest pair and pulled them on over her boots and pants.
Emily waddled out to the ring in her waders, which were three sizes too big. Gary was already there waiting with Laney. He boosted Emily onto the old mare and gave Emily a quick riding refresher. Soon they were off, with Gary leading out of the ring toward the pasture beyond.
“So, you were the only one here that morning?” Emily called up to Gary, who steered them onto a dirt trail.
“Yeah. I was the first employee in here. Got here about eight,” Gary replied. “Tim is supposed to come in around seven and get things opened up. Feed the horses. Exercise them.”
“Tim?”
“My stable hand and groom,” Gary said. “He cares for all horses in the barn.”
“What time did he arrive?” she continued.
“He was late that day. Came in about eight thirty. I was livid.”
“Did he say where he had been?”
“Home,” said Gary. “Vehicle trouble, I think, or some such excuse.”
“And was anyone else here that morning?” she asked.
“Not that I know of, and I really doubt it. But in all fairness, the horse owners all have keys to the stables so they can have access to their horses at any time,” Gary said.
“And when did you notice something was off?” Emily asked.
“I was saddling up my horse to take a ride when Jack Gibbons from the farm just north of my pasture pulled up in his pickup with Julie’s body in the back.”
“So, help me understand this: Why did he remove her from the scene?”
“Thought there was something that could be done for her. There isn’t any cell service out there, and he didn’t want to leave her,” Gary said.
These people have no idea how much they screwed up this case, Emily thought, pursing her lips to keep her exasperation from slipping out and giving anything away.
“Gary, for the future, it might be helpful for you all to know that it’s illegal to touch a dead body before the medical examiner does,” she said.
“Thank you for the pointer, but I hope I’m never again in a position to remember that,” said Gary.
Emily knew this one misstep could throw a monkey wrench into the investigation, especially once it got before a judge. There was a chance it might be dismissed altogether if it was ruled that evidence had been tampered with.
Gary’s horse trotted up ahead, leaving Emily and Laney to lag a little behind in a steady pace that allowed Emily time to think. For the rest of the way, she rode silently along the trail running along the edge of the pasture. She found she had nothing to distract her. No iPhone. No texts. No surgical procedures to prep for. No annoying passengers on the “L.” It was refreshing, like a burden lifted, and she felt lighter. She relaxed into the atmosphere, drinking it in with all her senses. The sky was heavy with thick, grey, billowy clouds that held the promise of rain. The smell of the musty ground rose up. The grasses were browned and rustling in the wind. It was the only sound.
She had forgotten how quiet the world could be without the constant roar of trains, horns, sirens, people yelling. She breathed in and out. In and out, each exhale releasing notch by notch the tension she continually carried with her. By the time they reached the outskirts of the scene of Julie’s homicide, Emily discovered she had completely given herself over to the country. She didn’t have to fight off the hundred distractions that were usually coming at her in the city. She was simply focused, calm, and clear headed. It was the best meditation she had experienced in years.
Gary stopped his horse, and Emily did the same. Gary pointed north, “Over there, under that grove of trees by the stream. That’s where she was lying.”
“I think I’ll just slip off my horse and walk in from here,” Emily said.
“If you give me a minute to tie these guys up, I can go with you,” Gary offered.
“No, thanks. I’d like to preserve the scene as much as possible,” Emily said. “Please. Just stay here.”
“All right, then.” Gary grabbed Laney’s reins as Emily dismounted.
“Have there been a lot of folks out here since her body was found?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Sherriff Larson?”
“He and his crew came for half a day. Cordoned off the area. Did their photographs and searches, then cleared it.”
“Yeah, it’s difficult to prevent animals and weather from intruding on what’s theirs by nature.”
Emily strode over the small crest that led to the stream. She was careful to watch her steps and the ground below her feet for any remaining shreds of evidence that might have been missed. It was not that she didn’t trust Nick. She just knew, from many experiences returning to scenes with her dad, that even in the best circumstances, no one is perfect, and police resources are limited and the force overworked. Sometimes, things got overlooked because they were hidden in the first place, under soil, leaves, branches. These pieces of evidence weren’t necessarily useful in court, but they might prove helpful to the case in some other way. Like her father had always taught her, you had to stay open to possibilities and think outside the box. Criminals often did things, and left things, without thinking.
She stopped about thirty feet from the stream and took in the entire scene, trying to recreate the murder in her mind. A few small, wild shrubs gathered here and there along the trail, big enough to shield an adult from view. If the killer were on foot, he would have to traverse the narrow path into and out of the stream. Julie would have heard and seen him coming. She would have had time to change course or turn around. That is, if she suspected danger.
What if the killer was someone she knew? Maybe someone from the stables? Another rider? A horse owner? A trainer? A local who knew the back trails between the farms?
Emily crept her way closer, scanning the ground. She started to spot numerous shoeprints crossing the scene in all directions, realizing quickly they belonged to Nick and his police team. And probably a set to Jack Gibbons and Gary Bodum.
Emily padded toward the stream. She could easily identify the spot where Julie’s body had lain. In a small area near the edge of the stream, the weeds and river grass were matted to the ground. As she drew closer, she could see an imprint of small geometric impressions in the mud. Curious, Emily studied it a little longer, soon determining the impressions were from the charms of a bracelet. A tiny horse. A horseshoe. And a heart.
17
Nick learned from the secretary at Freeport High School that David Sands had been absent the day Julie was found dead and hadn’t been back to school since. So he drove to David’s home and found him sitting on the front porch, a distant, apathetic look on his face.
