Dead Wrong

The daunting amount of paper that flowed across her desk each day made Joa

She paused just inside her office door. “Any calls?” she asked.

“Just Reverend Maculyea calling to remind you about today’s lunch. And speaking of lunch,” Kristin added, “there’s an errand I need to run at noon today at the same time you’ll be out. I know you don’t like to leave the office unattended, so I already asked if one of the clerks from the public office could come over and cover for me. I hope you don’t mind.”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Joa

Once at her desk, she forced herself to put this latest homicide case out of her head and buried herself in dealing with the stack of correspondence. Her years of ru

Pulling into the parking lot at Daisy’s Cafe, Joa

Gri

And “everything” was exactly what they had. Half of the restaurant had been cordoned off with strips of pink and blue crepe paper to accommodate the party Much to Joa

“Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” Joa

“Grandma,” Je

“It’s a big occasion,” Eva Lou Brady declared. “I didn’t think she should miss it. And I wouldn’t miss it, either, not for the world.”

Andrew Roy Brady, Joa

“Thank you,” Joa

Eleanor stepped in the moment Eva Lou moved away. “Don’t make a spectacle of yourself,” she warned. “It’s only a baby shower, for Pete’s sake. No reason to burst into tears.”

Joa

During lunch, Joa

Maria

“You certainly did,” Joa

The whole thing was great fun and about as diametrically opposed to the grim way Joa

Kristin was already back at her desk by the time Joa

Joa

Chief Deputy Montoya emerged from his office and joined the conversation. “Did you pick up a lot of good loot?” he asked.

“You mean you knew about the shower, too?”

“Of course I did,” he said. “The only person who didn’t was you. So how was it?”

“The party was great,” Joa

“Dull,” Frank said. “Thank God for small favors. We weren’t in the hot seat for a change. Today’s meeting mostly concerned sanitary landfill issues, so we lucked out.”

“I’ll say,” Joa

Frank nodded. “Coming right up. Ernie just got back from that autopsy. We can have the Double Cs sit in on the briefing as well.”

When Joa

“Do we have a cause of death?” Joa

Ernie nodded. “Blunt-force trauma to the head from a single blow. But the cause of death isn’t what makes this such an interesting case, Sheriff Brady. I’ve been in Homicide a long time, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Like what?” Joa

“All ten of the guy’s fingers have been whacked off,” Ernie said, letting his breath out slowly. “All ten of ‘em! And not with a knife, either. Whoever did it probably used kitchen shears or maybe garden pruning shears of some kind. The only good thing about it is at least the guy was dead when they did that part.”

Ernie’s chilling words washed across Joa

“What actually killed him, then, and when?”

“The doc says he’d been dead for a good twenty-four hours and maybe more before he was found, and that he was killed somewhere else and brought to the dump site much later. There are some signs of defensive wounds-bruising and that kind of thing-that would indicate some kind of struggle.”

“Any trace evidence from the perpetrator?”

“Doc Winthrop collected some hair and fiber from the body. I brought that and the bloody tarp back here to the lab. Dave is starting to go over it now-looking for prints, blood smears, and so forth. The bloodstains we saw on the tarp were due to leakage from the wounds to his fingers.”

“Any ID found on the body?” Joa

“None at all,” Ernie said. “Doc estimates John Doe to be in his mid- to late fifties. Lots of dental work, done on the cheap, that would help identify him if we end up having to use dental records. Other than that, the only distinguishing mark is a tattoo-a homegrown, do-it-yourself job-that says ‘One day at a time.”“