Chapter 6 #3
“We’re still trying to ID all the bodies that were found, and we don’t have any matches for quite a few of those.
In the previous property owner’s letter, a couple names were mentioned, but nothing we could use to make specific conclusions at this point.
So, everybody’s looking for next of kin and potential DNA matches.
” She talked with him for a little bit longer, and he grew annoyed.
“What did you find on the other victim, the third one in this file you gave me?” he asked.
“I’m still trying to figure out a cause of death.”
“You and me both,” he muttered. When she just stared at him, he shared, “I’m not seeing anything here for our John Smith.”
“I hate those cases,” she cried out.
He laughed. “Yeah, but we’ll find it, even if it takes whatever it takes. Now I’ll just have to wait until the tox screen comes back.”
She asked, “Anything else you would do?”
“I don’t see anything suggestive in the stomach, and I’m not seeing any needle marks—which, considering that he’s both fit and active, would make some sense.
Unfortunately not enough sense that we can get anything done here fast enough to confirm COD in a hurry, but we will run what we need to run. ”
She stayed and watched as he worked, both amazed and saddened that such a fit, healthy young man ended up dead at this relatively young age.
She was still pondering that as she walked back outside and took several deep breaths of fresh air.
Something about a morgue always made her want to stand outside and feel the goodness of being out in nature again.
She got back into her vehicle and headed to her office. She was pondering what she could do next without a cause of death. Thinking about the other two victims, the one who had no autopsy done—Kurt Conner—came to mind. She found it questionable, so she pulled over and called the sister again.
When Esther answered and realized who it was, she sighed. “I really don’t want to be hashing all this up again. My husband is very unhappy about it as it is.”
That seemed to be an odd thing for her to say. Kate quipped, “I’m sorry to disturb your husband, but this is about your brother’s murder, and presumably you want to know what happened to him.”
“Yes, of course I do,” she snapped. “Look. I’m not trying to be difficult, but my husband is not a big fan of the police, and just you calling here or visiting me can cause me trouble.”
“I get it,” she replied, “and I’m not calling to cause you trouble, but can you tell me why there was no autopsy done on Kurt?”
“Yes,” she began, “because I figured there was no reason to cut up my brother when it seemed he died of a drug overdose.”
“What do you mean?”
“I knew that he was using, that he had done drugs in the past, and there was no visible sign of trauma. The police thought it was suspicious, and they mentioned something about it on the phone, but I never questioned it,” she explained.
“They told me that it was foul play and that they were concerned about not doing an autopsy. I fought them on it, mostly because I knew my husband was very against it.”
“Good Lord,” Kate muttered. “Why were you against that? I mean, how do you expect the police to solve your brother’s death if you don’t have a cause of death?”
“There were needle marks on his arms,” she pointed out. “That should have been reported somewhere in the file.”
“Yes, but I’m really surprised that an autopsy wasn’t done.”
Silence came from the other end. Then Esther stated, “That would be because my husband went off on it quite heavily, saying it was against our religion, and a few other choice words at the time.” She took a breath, stifling a sob.
“He complained that we wouldn’t have a proper burial if it were about drugs, and, if Kurt overdosed, it would bring shame to the family.
” She sighed. “I don’t remember everything.
It was just a very sad time. The police told me that, if I had a strong reason to suspect it was a self-administered overdose, then they might let it go, but, if it was classed as a homicide, they would have no option but to proceed with an autopsy. ”
“And you signed off on that?” Kate asked.
“I did. I knew what Walter thought about it, and I tried to fight the police at first, but my husband stepped in and made quite a scene about Kurt and his problems with drug abuse, especially since he had the needle marks. I think they ran some drug testing, and it came back positive, and that was the end of it.”
Kate looked down at her file copy and did find notes to that effect. “Interesting.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s not usually something we skip,” she told Esther. “Drugs can be administered by someone else, so it could have been murder.”
“That fact won’t solve anything though, will it?
He’s dead. Kurt is gone, and no amount of anything will bring him back,” Esther declared.
“I wanted him back so badly at the time, and just the thought of everybody cutting into him and doing things to his body upset me horribly. Then Walter just basically threw a fit and did everything he could to stop it.”
“What religion are you?”
“We’re not terribly religious, but he was at one time. At least for a while, and then he walked away from it. So, at the end of the day, I don’t know what he was,” she muttered.
Kate found the notation as she went through the file.
It wasn’t even in the autopsy notes, where they would document observations and everything they did do, even if it wasn’t a full autopsy.
“They put it down as a drug overdose. I’m just telling you that, because we have another case that’s very similar, it may impact that ruling. ”
An audible gasp came from the other end.
“Was any life insurance involved?” Kate asked her.
“No, not that I know of,” she muttered. “Walter would have dealt with that.”
“That may be,” Kate replied, “but, from an observer’s point of view, it looks very much like you and your husband were doing everything you could to hide something by not allowing justice to run its due course.
And that,” she stated, “now that I’m looking into this case file, makes me extremely suspicious. ”
“Of what?” she asked, with an audible shriek. “We had zero contact with him.”
“You say zero contact, so what does that mean? No visits, no calls? In how long?”
“It means almost no contact. I hadn’t seen him in a long time prior to his death.
We used to be quite friendly, but then I got married, and he was doing drugs, and my husband would not tolerate that and didn’t want me around Kurt.
So, it became very difficult to even see him.
… I had to stop, and Kurt seemed to be happy with that.
We would text every once in a while. I knew he was living life large, and he was doing lots of drinking, and he was …
just being Kurt,” she muttered. “It’s not the lifestyle that we wanted for ourselves, and, with the prospect of kids coming, it’s definitely not anything we wanted around them. ”
“And when you say living life large, what do you mean?”
“When he was in high school and in college, he was always involved in whatever the latest craze was. He didn’t miss a party.
” She took a deep breath. “He was always the popular guy, but that involved a lot of drugs and alcohol. I assumed a big part of him was seriously unhappy, and he was just trying to hide it. I don’t know.
He was pretty broken up about his engagement ending. ”
“How so?”
“For him, it was really serious, but they broke up, which had a really negative effect on Kurt. He went off the wall, but, for him, that meant he just partied more and more,” she shared.
“We couldn’t understand that. I mean, if you’re trying to clean up so you’re in a better position to get married, why would you turn around and go off the wall like that? ”
“Rejection can hit people in different ways,” Kate noted, “so maybe that was just his way of dealing with it.”
“He fell back into his same old bad habits, and I didn’t see any reason to put up with that or to deal with anybody being difficult about it.”
“Did he have any insurance?”
“There was no life insurance as far as I know. My husband handled it all. I already mentioned that.”
“Money?”
Esther gave a dry laugh. “There was no money for anybody,” she stated, “but we made sure he was buried properly. There wasn’t anything else I could do except mourn him. Walter took care of everything. Honestly, I would like to park this conversation and never have you bring it up again.”
“That’s one way to never remember your brother,” Kate replied. “I hope you find some way to honor the life that he had and to try to understand that, even though he wasn’t necessarily the happiest of people, it doesn’t mean that he was less than anybody else.”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” she protested, but then she fell silent. “I don’t know,” she added, sobbing now. “Maybe I did. I don’t know. It’s been a very difficult time for me because we used to be quite close. But growing up and getting married, everything changes.”
“It’s supposed to change, and I get that.”
“Yeah, it does, but not necessarily in the way I expected or understood. So pardon me if I don’t come across as the grieving sister. It hit me very hard at the time. My husband did whatever he could to minimize the damage and to keep me sane because it wasn’t that easy.”
“I get that too.”
“You lose somebody important in your life, and it’s easy to lose perspective,” she noted. “Now, if there’s nothing else, I have to deal with the baby.” With that, Esther ended the call.
Kate didn’t have a chance to ask her about anything else.
*
Simon stood at the top of the building on a bare girder. He had his safety line on as he just stood here, taking in his surroundings.
Joe, his foreman on this project, stared at him anxiously.
Smiling, Simon pointed out, “You know that I come out here all the time.”