get him to the morgue. I’ll do the autopsy tonight.”
Max pointed above Myles’s eye. “That bruise and the cut, from an altercation, you think?”
“Could be from somebody hitting him,” Doc said. “Or could be from the rocks when he fell in, or those at the bottom. I’ve read that drowned bodies look pretty much like they’re crawling until decomp sets in and they start to rise. I’ll need to take a look.”
“We were lucky to find him,” Mueller said.
“Yes, you were,” Doc agreed. “Cold water like this? He wouldn’t have floated until April.”
“Will you be able to tell if it was suicide?” Max asked Doc. “Or homicide?”
Doc looked wary. “That can be hard with a drowning. Water destroys a lot of evidence,” he admitted. “And I’m not an expert in these types of deaths. I’ve only seen a couple in my career. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Give me a chance to get him on the table.”
“I’m going to follow you to the morgue,” I told Doc. “Max can head back to his office with the CSI crew.”
“No,” Doc said. “I’m going to have a cup of coffee at home first, explain to my wife what’s happening, and then I’ll get on this. I’ll call you when I’m done. I don’t need you looking over my shoulder, distracting me and hurrying me along.”
Thirty-Two
From the river, we headed back to the station, where Max had left his car. We saw the street glowing from a block away. It looked beautiful, sparkling like fallen stars. All along Main Street, folks were lined up holding candles: women, children, men. The signs were still there, and some held a candle in one hand and a placard in the other. Although the scene shimmered, the signs screamed: Apostate Leave! Another: Outsiders Not Wanted Here!
“Clara, they’re—” Max started.
“Voicing their heartfelt appreciation for all I’ve done,” I said, not sparing the sarcasm. “I understand.”
My Suburban with Alber Pd on the side wasn’t hard to spot, and I thought about taking a side road again but decided to hell with it. I pulled up right in front of the station and put on my blinker to turn toward the parking lot. When a sea of the protesters flooded in front of the SUV, I decided I’d probably made a bad choice. But I was tired of backing away. I hadn’t done anything wrong, and I resented this. Being as careful as I could, I drove slowly. The sea of faces and flickering lights parted, and eventually I drove past them. As we got out of the SUV, Max said, “I’m going to head home and look in on Brooke. Call me when you hear from Doc.”
There’d been murmurs, but at that point the crowd called out: “Go home! Go home! Go home!”
“Sure, I’ll call,” I said. Max looked worried, and he started to walk toward me as if he was going to guard me as I walked into the office. I mouthed “No.”
I couldn’t have the people in town thinking that I was afraid, that I needed Max, any man, to protect me. He reluctantly turned and walked to his car, glancing back a couple of times to check on me while I made my way to the building. The crowd continued their chant but didn’t approach me. I keyed in the access code, and as the door slammed behind me, something flew in my direction from the crowd. I turned to see something blood red on the glass. I glanced down at the asphalt outside and realized that someone had thrown a tomato.
Inside the station, the night dispatcher had replaced Kellie. Except for her absence, it looked like afternoon in the office; Conroy was at his desk and Stef sat on the couch in the waiting area reading a textbook entitled Death Investigation.
“Stef, haven’t you had enough for today? Shouldn’t you be home?” I looked over at Conroy. “You too. You’re both done for the night. Time to go off duty.”
They shared a glance, and Stef gave me one of her half-apologizing expressions. “We don’t think it’s safe for you to be alone here with just the dispatcher, Chief. The night shift is all out on patrol. Conroy and I are staying until the protesters leave.”
“No,” I said. “There’s no need to—”
“Chief, I’m sorry, but it’s not up for discussion,” he said. “We’re not leaving. Plus, we both have work to do. You don’t have to pay us overtime. Don’t worry.”