Petra stared directly at Doogie and said in an accusatory tone, “This could have easily been a double murder, Sheriff.”
Doogie lifted both hands to belly level and made a calming gesture. “Now we don’t know anything like that. But I’m going to go ahead and treat this as a crime scene . . . give it some serious investigation.”
“You’re going to call in the state crime lab?” asked George Draper. He hadn’t said anything up to this point. Now he looked colossally unhappy.
“First things first,” Doogie told Draper. “First thing I want to do is go back in there and take my own look-see. Is there anyone else besides you and Ozzie who worked back there?”
“Ozzie had a sort of lab assistant,” said Draper. “A young
man he’d taken an interest in. Helped him, really. Fellow by the name of Bo Becker. I think Ozzie was hoping Bo might study for a degree as a diener.”
“Get him in here,” said Doogie.
When Sheriff Doogie, Deputy Halpern, and George Draper trooped back into the embalming room, Suzanne didn’t hesitate to follow. Petra was a little more reluctant.
Doogie placed a black leather case on a rolling metal cart that normally held hemostats, dissecting scissors, and rib cutters.
As Doogie dug around inside his case, Suzanne asked, “Are you doing
CSI
stuff now?” She was feeling better. Not chipper, but definitely curious. And angry, too. After all, someone had tried to do her serious harm.
“Don’t call it that,” huffed Doogie. “Ever since that TV show, people put too much stock in all the whiz-bang assays and tests and electron microscope stuff. They don’t realize it’s good old legwork and deductive reasoning that really solves crimes.”
“So what’s your deductive reasoning on this?” Suzanne asked him.
“Just hold on,” grunted Doogie. “First thing I want to do is take a careful look. You can learn a lot just through simple observation.” He pulled a light from his case and untangled a long black cord.
“What’s that?” asked Suzanne.
“UV black light,” said Doogie. “These days, a county sheriff’s got to be prepared for anything.”
Suzanne had to agree. Kindred had been a sleepy small town for more years than she could remember. Now, like a bolt from the blue, they had a ripped-from-the-headlines type of murder on their hands.
“Kill the lights, will you?” Doogie instructed his deputy. The deputy, stumbling over his size-fourteen feet, hurried to comply.
Doogie flicked the switch on his SPEX Mini-CrimeScope 400, shone it on Ozzie’s knees, then slowly ran it up the length of Ozzie’s body. Everyone clustered behind Doogie, holding their breath. They weren’t sure what Doogie was going to find, but they were watching his every motion with rapt attention.
“Anything?” asked the deputy. He sounded wistful, like he’d been purposely left out of the action.
Doogie continued to run the light across Ozzie’s neck and up onto his face. Hesitating for a split second, Doogie ran the light in a circle, then his eyes widened and his jaw dropped onto his second chin. “Oh, horse pucky!” he exclaimed.
Don’t Miss the Next Scrapbooking Mystery
Fiber and Brimstone
It’s a week before Halloween and Carmela is designing a giant puppet for the French Quarter’s Monsters and Mayhem parade. But the murder of a Ponzi scheme partner sends her into investigation mode and takes her to the Ballet Dracula, a treasure hunt in a cemetery, and strange encounters with the mysterious Mr. Bones.
Watch for the Next Cackleberry Club Mystery
When Ozzie Driesden, Kindred’s local mortician, ends up on his own slab, the ladies from the Cackleberry Club launch their own investigation. But as friends become suspects, one suspect turns traitor.
Don’t Miss the New Tea Shop Mystery
A back alley candlelight tour ends in murder and sends Theodosia Browning, proprietor of Charleston’s Indigo Tea Shop, seeking justice for a friend. But who stands to benefit from inheriting a map store, how are the ladies from Jardin Perfumerie involved, and why is a mysterious woman suddenly stalking her?