Waiting to Heal

by Sr Phillip N Hancock

  “Yep, bought and paid for so to speak,” Megan said as she shook hands with the good doctor.

  “Sit, sit, you got to tell me about this.” Dr. Yang sat back at his desk and held up a finger asking for a moment as he pushed the intercom button and shouted, “Patricia, get someone, get Dumbledore. It isn’t Harry Potter it’s Lord Voldemort.”

  Megan and Dr. Yang both could hear Patricia laughing at her desk. “I just had to come back with something or she wouldn’t know how much I appreciate her humor. How are you doing, are you ok.?” Dr. Yang asked.

  “I see you both are J. K. Rowling fans, me too. Actually I’m very well. I was severely injured but unbelievably lucky and that’s why I’m here. The location where I got hurt was the same place a Mr. Logan plunged to his death from a fourth floor fire escape. I need your input on his death as I believe his remains were brought here for the autopsy .”

  “Mr. Sam Logan, right?”

  “That’s correct, an elderly gentleman, his widow is a client of mine.”

  “She doesn’t buy the suicide conclusion the investigators arrived at, I’m guessing.”

  “Right and she is adamant about it, determined to get the actual truth. Who did the autopsy, was that you?”

  “Yep, yours truly. You want my opinion on the state of the body and my findings?” Dr. Yang said this as he turned to a file cabinet and rifled through a couple of folders before pulling out a particular folder and laying it on his desk. “This is the folder right here with the whole Kit and Kaboodle.”

  “The Whole Kit and Kaboodle, haven’t heard that saying in a long time. So, in your opinion would you say Mr. Logan killed himself on purpose or was it possible there was some other factor involved?”

  “You’re not squeamish are you, some of my details are a little gory to most laymen?”

  “I haven’t been so far but one never can tell until one goes through a situation that is so repulsive as to cause a uncontrolled reaction.”

  “Ok, we will go in then. I see from the cranium trauma he landed on his head with bone crushing speed and the severity is consistent with a fall from four or five floors,” Dr. Yang paused for a moment with “mmmm” then continued, “he had both legs broken and I wondered how that happened, after all, he had landed on his head.”

  “Well that is inconsistent with a simple head first plunge to his death I would think.”

  “I put that in my report and it is right here,” Dr. Yang showed Megan the write up he had made and the notation also listed to who he had given the final report.

  “Anything else in there suspicious or gave you a pause for thought?” Megan asked then followed with another question, “did you know that his death was ruled a suicide before you did the autopsy?”

  “No, I had no information on what the police were thinking and I hope they didn’t finalize their findings until after they got my report.”

  “I would hope so too, I’ll check on that as date and time should give me those facts,” Megan added.

  “Now, looking at the report, except the damage done by the fall, the brain weight and appearance was without any signs of a possible disorder like Alzheimer or Dementia and it had good color suggesting normal blood flow. I must also add that there is no particular quick black and white determination of those diseases without extensive testing of the expired person’s brain.”

  “Ok, I understand this is strictly from appearance.”

  “Right, Now there were no real abnormalities otherwise and his bodies total health was well within the bounds of a active person around his age. As far as the autopsy went there was nothing to suggest suicide and, as far as I could tell, he had many happy years in front of him.”

  “I agree, all the people I talked to in the building told me he was a happy well adjusted senior citizen living the relaxed life of a retired person.”

  “Were he and his wife destitute?”

  “No, they have a good retirement, sufficient savings and all their bills are paid on time. They also have a good health insurance policy and had a good life insurance policy on each in case one should die and leave the other with funeral expenses and such, however, with the suicide conclusion by the police, the life insurance company has rejected Mrs. Logan’s claim.”

  “So, now I ask you, how did the cops come to their conclusion?” Dr. Yang asked.

  “That’s what I came here to ask you, I’m at a loss,” Megan said shaking her head.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Rooftop Residue

  “Hey, this is Megan,” Megan said as she answered the ringing phone while Christine was out getting some lunch for both.

  “Well, I didn’t expect to get the boss when I called,” Colleen Jimenez said with surprise in her voice.

  “I am multi talented and multi taskable, is taskable a word?”

  “I don’t think so but I understand the reference. I got some results on the residue you gave me from that rooftop, how would you like it?”

  “Can you give me a quick run down and then fax the details to our office?”

  “Not a problem, I’ll also include my bill with the fax, that ok?”

  “As expected, before you start, thanks for rushing this as I don’t want this case to get any colder than it already is.”

  “What I found was mostly bits and pieces, you know, different color conducting wire clippings. There were also some clippings that must have come from some very sensitive electrical components. Evidently the leads were shortened to fit the installation location. Those bits and pieces were for the most part. I also found quite a few small pieces of some high priced fiber optics. This is normally used for sophisticated video operations or high definition surveillance cameras,” Colleen paused then before Megan could ask she continued, “The bits and pieces of wire and component wire can easily be explained as there is more than likely electrical outlets, fans or many other types of equipment on the roofs of these old buildings, the fiber optics was a definite surprise.”

  “That is a surprise. I know this old building doesn’t have any surveillance much less anything with any expensive equipment. What the heck were they building up there?” the question was rhetorical so Megan continued without allowing Colleen to answer, “anyway, I really appreciate your speedy results and I will take care of the bill right away and, I will send you an invitation to the next Case Closed party as you seemed to be having a great time at the last one.”

  “Well, it was fun and had nothing to do with that young police officer that showed up.”

  “If you say so, got to go JJ just came in and I need to catch him before he flies out of here again, I’ll see you soon, bye for now.”

  “Understand, say hi to JJ for me.”

  “Will do,” Megan heard Colleen say bye again as she replaced the phone in its cradle.

  JJ came into Megan’s office sat down and Megan brought him up to date on her visit with Dr. Yang and the results of the trace evidence found on that old rooftop. JJ too was very surprised at the findings of expensive fiber optics in amongst the bits of wiring. She and JJ went into the conference room and Megan pinned the roof top residue lab test notes on the murder board. She also pinned a copy of the autopsy report, Dr. Yang had allowed her to copy, on the board.

  “Any ideas on the residue?” JJ asked.

  “Nothing comes to mind right now. I’m going to let it sink in for a couple of days and see if I can see any light at the end of that tunnel. So what about you?”

  “As you know, Darrel and I went up to the ranch. He flew that drone all over the area, even chased some geese that were coming in to land, amazing stuff. After that I was totally convinced that taping the activity on top of those buildings we had identified would be a piece of cake. Well, you were there when we set up and I was right. The pictures from those fly bys were as clear as being up on the roof myself. Unfortunately there was nothing up there and we ran passes from all different directions and there was nothing suspicious going on anywhere up there.”
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  “Ok, but it was a good idea and a logical deduction. Where did they go? I feel as if we are close but maybe they have gone to ground for awhile.”

  “What do we do now?” JJ asked as he posted some still shots they had made from the video taping of those rooftops.

  “I am meeting Jim from DMV tomorrow for a round of golf and hopefully we will get the names of those fourth floor residents from him,” Megan said as she took a close look at the stills JJ had posted.

  Friday morning found Megan on the putting green in front of the club house. She was using her Odyssey putter and practicing her six foot putts with three new ladies Noodle’s golf balls. Six foot putts were her nemeses and had cost her numerous rounds as they always seem to find a way to go somewhere around the cup, just not in.

  “Hey, trying to get a leg up on me are you?” Jim Blackstone said as he walked on to the practice green.

  “Need all the help I can get as I am as rusty as an old junk yard vehicle,” Megan replied.

  “Did you warm up on the range?”

  “Sort of, I hit half of the balls in a small bucket and all the parts seem to cooperate without any pain so I’m good to go. How about you?”

  “If I did it would just take the edge off my game. I got us a cart and there are a couple of walk on players that will play with us. The starter guaranteed them as ok and on par with our play,” Jim looked at Megan’s frown, “That’s ok with you right?”

  “I hope I don’t embarrass myself with my lack of recent play.”

  Well, she didn’t and she even amazed herself on several shots. The game was fun and the couple, husband and wife, who joined them was as the starter suggested and fun to play with.

  “That was just what I needed,” Megan said as they sat in the club house both having a tall glass of beer.

  “You played great and it was really a pleasure to just be with you again. I could do this all the time if you were there,” Jim said as he took Megan’s hand.

  “You are going to give me a big head if you keep this up. Seriously, you make the little time I get to relax so enjoyable it makes my heart happy.” Megan said as she took both his hands in hers and leaned in and surprised him with a totally unexpected kiss.

  “Well, wow, that settles it, we are playing golf more often.”

  They spent the rest of the day at the club. They danced to the songs the piano man played and they joined the other members at the lunch buffet when it was ready. Many golfers she knew came by to let her know that they had been monitoring her recovery and were very pleased to see her back at the course. All in all it was a wonderful day and one she had been looking forward to for some time. Megan now felt that she was well again and, thanks to Jim, she was back amongst the living.

  The golf outing ended with another kiss and an envelope passed to her during that last embrace.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Brain Itch

  JJ, Christine and Megan sat in the conference room at the office, each with a fresh cup of coffee. The small manila envelope that Jim had given Megan at the golf course lay on the desk in front of her just begging to be opened.

  “Well, let’s do it. I hope there is something in here we can use,” Megan said as she slit open the envelope with her personnel letter opener. She then gave the contents to Christine, “scan these into the computer real quick so we can put them up on the flat screen.”

  “You seem far away, what are you thinking about?” Megan asked JJ as he seemed to be distracted.

  “You have that uncanny ability to see that I have a brain itch, you know, something on my mind that I can’t scratch.”

  “A brain itch, nice name for that condition,” Megan said. “So, as you know, it is best to bring things out in the open so we can all take a look at them. Sometimes second opinions can help one decide if this is something we should check on.”

  “I have been trying to wrap my head around those social security checks. There are so many checks and balances that are automatically taken when a person passes away that it is almost impossible for one to die without Social Security reacting. They get their obituary notices from so many different agencies that the error that one agency might make would not prevent them from cancelling distribution of monthly checks to that individual. As a matter of fact they have reacted in the opposite direction on false rumors more often than not. I’ve seen it, a live person’s checks cancelled because Social Security mistakenly thought he had died. They did not get that info from a doctor either, it was some other agency.”

  “Have you thought about contacting a member of this Betsy Myers’s family or do you know if she has any relatives living?” Megan asked.

  “No, actually, these questions just came to me while I was on my way in this morning,” JJ replied after taking a sip of his coffee.

  “Maybe that would be the avenue to take. Try to find a living relative and, who knows, you might get a client who would be interested in the passing of Mrs. Myers and those checks from Social security.”

  “Got it loaded, you guys ready,” Christine said as she retook her chair.

  Christine picked up the remote control and selected the scan file from the D: directory. She then picked the first file there which was a numbered .JPG scan.

  “Ok, Jim got us the actual photo of the driver license. This is better than I expected. I will really have to thank him if he isn’t in jail for this,” Megan said.

  “You’re right but this guy, John Strong 25 years old, hasn’t changed his address yet. He’s still listed as living in the Logan’s apartment building,” JJ put in.

  “Well, that is disappointing, go on to the next one,” Megan said as she pointed at the screen.

  The drivers license of Clyde Salworth, also 25 years old, came up on the screen. His address had not been changed either.

  “Is there a third file?” Megan asked Christine.

  “Here you go boss, the third and final,” Christine said as she clicked the remote control again for the last file. She then took the three photo originals over and pinned them to the murder board in the blank spots that were left for them.

  They all sat up a little straighter as the drivers license of Mimi Stroud, 19 years old, came up on the flat screen.

  JJ was the first to speak, “Hey, maybe we got something here. Her address is not that apartment building.”

  “I’m calling Jim at work right now. I’ve got to thank him for this info and hopefully I’ll get a little more info on this young lady,” Megan said as she rose and left the room headed for her office and some privacy.

  “She’ll probably get another golf date out of this too,” JJ said when she was out of earshot.

  “Jim Blackstone please,” Megan said when the operator at DMV asked how she should direct her call.

  “This is Jim.”

  “This is Megan, how’s your day going?”

  “It’s getting better every minute now.”

  “Shut up, you big lug. Really everything alright?”

  “Actually, the only way my day could be any better is if we were out on the golf course playing another round.”

  “Speaking of Golf, you know that young girl who played with us, I think her name was Mimi Stroud?”

  “Mimi Stroud, Mimi, oh, she was with those two guys that didn’t play that day, right?”

  “Correct-a-mundo, they did not play golf.”

  “She is such a good golfer and since she is a friend of yours, I was wondering if you have her phone number. I have her address but I hate to just pop up there one day without calling first. Oh, and, do you know how long she has lived at her current address, that is such a nice neighborhood, I might look there for a place for sale, you know, moving on up.”

  “I think I have her number, let me check my phone.”

  Megan could hear the clicking as Jim typed into the DMV computer. She hoped that Big Brother wasn’t looking over his shoulder as he checked for the info she needed.

  “Hey, you are one lucky bu
g. I have both her home and cell.” Jim gave her both, “be sure to tell her hi when you reach her and if I get the chance I might call her and tell her you’re going to call. That neighborhood she lives in is nice and quite old, as far as I can remember, she’s been there for about three years now.”

  Megan thanked Jim and promised to make another play date so he could use some more PTO and she could keep her game on the track back to where it was before her injury. She added the phone numbers to the murder board under the photo of Mimi’s driver license.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The Ruse at the Brewhouse

  Megan was having a hard time deciding if she should use Mimi’s cell phone number or her house phone number. If she used the cell number the girl might get a bug up her posterior wondering where this stranger got her personal cell number. If she did, things might somehow work its way back around to Jim at DMV and that could be disastrous. Going with the less personal she dialed the house number.

  The hello she got after the third ring did not sound like a twenty year old so Megan assumed it was an older relative or at least someone older.

  “Hey this is Megan, is Mimi there?”

  “Mimi, no she doesn’t live here anymore, she moved out over a month ago. Can I help you, who is this again?”

  “Sorry, this is Megan. I thought she might be there as she has moved out of the apartment she was in two or three weeks ago. I was out of town and she didn’t leave a forwarding address and when I called her cell she didn’t answer. She had given me this number to use if her cell didn’t work for some reason. Are you her mom?”

  “Yes, I’m her mom. What cell number are you using?”

  Megan gave her the cell number and then follow it up with the address of the apartment she was living in. That info and the friendly approach Megan used confirmed that the number she had was the current one. Mimi’s mom wasn’t sure where she was living now, she didn’t even have the address that Megan had given her for the apartment where the Logan’s lived. She did confirm that she had talked to Mimi just a few days ago so the cell should work, maybe she was just away or had it turned off for some reason.