Page 11 of Water's Edge

She says that like it’s disposable.

“What’s your cell phone number?” I realize I never asked that. She tells me. I don’t have to write it down. I’ll program it into my phone later. “Can you put Larsen on the phone? The coroner.”

Larsen gets on the phone. His voice never ceases to amaze me. He’s well past sixty, with longish white hair, a six-inch white beard, and laugh lines at the corners of his eyes—all topped off with a merry tone in his voice. He’s taller than me, which isn’t surprising, and thinner as well.

“I’m coming down, Megan,” Larsen says. “I haven’t been rock climbing in years. An adventure is in the making.”

“You don’t want to come that way.” I say this nicely. He can be grumpy if I try to tell him what to do. “I’ve sent a boat to pick you and Crime Scene up at the boat ramp.”

“Oh. Okay.” He sounds disappointed. He can be pigheaded too, but I can’t let him get hurt. Sheriff Gray would disapprove, and Larsen is the only one with authority to order the autopsy.

“I fell on the way down,” I say.

Not a lie.

“You would have to be lowered down in a sling,” I go on. I know he won’t go for that. He stays quiet.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I don’t do boats,” he says. “I get sick. Don’t repeat that to anyone.”

“We’ll bring the body to you, then.” It will be a while. He’ll have time to go home, have lunch, watch television or take a nap, then come back. Jeez. I really don’t like being in charge. I almost always work alone. This is why.

“How am I supposed to examine the scene from here?”

Good question. I want to tell him I can have him airlifted in, but I don’t want to get that sarcastic. He’s a good guy. I can count on him to give an honest off-the-record opinion.

I hear Ronnie start to chatter in the background.

“I can use FaceTime on my phone. I can hold the phone where the coroner can view the scene and the body.”

“Is that okay with you?” I ask him.

“If I can get a cell phone that has that Face-do-hickey on it.”

“Put Ronnie on.” I hear him asking in the background if she is Ronnie. Then she comes on the phone again. “Ronnie, give your phone to the coroner.”

It’s not long before Captain Marvel is back with Deputy Copsey and blue power suit girl, who is becoming my appendage. She is smiling and chatting everyone up, especially Captain Marvel, who is favoring her with his strong profile in tight pants. I reluctantly admit he’s a good-looking man.

Deputy Copsey is the first off the inflatable and helps Ronnie onto the shore. She’s wearing bright orange rubber boots at least four sizes too big. Captain Marvel hands off several plastic cases of gear to Copsey, then jumps off himself.

My phone rings. It’s Larsen wanting to know what’s going on.

Ronnie has gotten Larsen fixed up and I have her give the phone to Davis. I don’t want her to get too close to the body until they have cleared the scene. Larsen gives Davis directions where to point the phone. Davis moves the phone around to different angles and up closer, then farther away. Larsen says something about very little blood and tells Davis to gently feel around the victim’s neck and head. He does.

“There’s a knot on the back of her neck, Jerry. Feels like the bone is sticking through the skin. I’d have to move her to tell you more.”

“Lift the face up a little and hold the phone so I can see it.”

Her long red hair is partially covering the face. Davis smooths some of it away and gently lifts her head. He holds the phone close to her face.

Her lips are deep blue, her eyes open. Davis cants her head to the side. She is younger than me.

Open contusions on her cheeks and chin and several big splits on her lips mar what was once a pretty face. If she washed ashore, the rocks might account for almost every injury. However, it can’t account for the dark blue ligature mark around her neck or the positioning of the body.

She was strangled and deliberately posed.

Six

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