Page 24 of Death at a Scottish Halloween

“I don’t like the idea of the close proximity. I’m going to assign someone to watch your place tonight. I would, but I need to deal with another case.”

“You don’t have enough staff for that sort of thing. We’ll be fine,” I said. “You’ve given us a top-notch security system, steel doors, and locks that no one can get past.”

“And yet, that outdoor light wasn’t working. Jasper told me. I also know you won’t rest well, either. Best to have the body guarded until you finish up.”

I shrugged. There was no use arguing with him when he was like this.

“Thanks. I appreciate you looking after us.”

“Always,” he said, and left.

Abigail giggled, a noise seldom heard in this room.

“What?”

“He’s always looking out for you,” she said, grinning.

“He does the same for you.”

“I may be naïve, but even I know that isn’t the same thing. You two used to butt heads, but it isn’t like that anymore.”

“I wouldn’t say that, but we do tend to give each other grace nowadays. He’s good at his job, and I think he appreciates what we’re doing here.”

“Right—appreciation,” she said under her breath.

I cleared my throat. “Don’t you have some tests to run?”

“I am. It’s sad, isn’t it? If we hadn’t been at the pub, maybe we could have saved him.”

I didn’t want to admit it, but I’d been thinking the same thing. It wasn’t our fault. But that didn’t stop the guilt. A few seconds earlier and maybe we would have had a chance.

“It’s odd, that he ended up here,” I said.

“I agree. Though anyone could look you up on the Internet. You said as much, yourself. You’re the only doctor for sixty miles or so in all directions.”

She had a point.

“Hmmmm.” We’d cut off his clothes. The right side of his body had seized at some point.

“Stroke?” she asked.

I nodded. “It’s a possibility. Again, he seems young, but it’s happening earlier and earlier these days. Could have also been brought on by drugs or an adrenaline spike. We’ll know more when your tests come back.”

I continued, “Let’s do prelim tests now, and I’ll examine the body. Then we’ll do the rest tomorrow. I don’t know about you, but I could crash right now.”

“I wouldn’t be far behind you.”

During the initial examination, I didn’t find anything outwardly that would have caused his heart to stop. There were marks on his wrists, but those alone would not have killed him.

Hopefully, we’d have better luck with the tests.

She pointed to the marks on his wrists. “Zip ties or rope? Maybe some kind of metal, like handcuffs?”

“Test for fibers. They are thin and barely visible. At some time, he was restrained, but there is no way of knowing if that helped lead to his death.”

We cleaned everything, and Abigail readied for the full autopsy the next day while I wrote up my notes. By the time we were finished, I was a zombie.

“Do you need some PJs?”