Jamison and Denning on the crime scene van. As they
set up floodlights so that Percy Denning could photo-
graph the remains from all angles, Richards took down
the witness’s name and address and the few pertinent
facts he could tell them, then Dwight thanked him for
his help and told him he was free to go.
“I can get someone to run you home.”
22
HARD ROW
“Naw, that’s all right. Like I say, I just live around the
curve yonder.” He seemed reluctant to leave.
An EMT truck was called to transport the legs over to
Chapel Hill to see what the ME could tell them from a
medical viewpoint.
“We already checked with the county hospitals,”
Detective Jack Jamison reported. “No double amputees
so far. McLamb’s calling Raleigh, Smithfield, Fuquay,
and Fayetteville.”
“We have any missing persons at the moment?”
Dwight asked.
“Just that old man with Alzheimer’s that walked away
from that nursing home down in Black Creek around
Christmas. His daughter’s still on the phone to us al-
most every day.”
Despite an intensive search with a helicopter and
dogs, the old man had never been found.
“I hear the family’s suing the place for a half a million
dollars,” said Mayleen Richards.
“A half-million dollars for an eighty-year-old man?”
Jamison was incredulous.
“Well, a nursing home in Dobbs wound up paying fifty
thousand for the woman they lost and she was in her nine-
ties. And think if it was your granddaddy,” said Richards,
a touch of cynicism in her voice. “Wouldn’t it take a half-
million to wipe out your pain and mental anguish?”
Jamison took another look at those sturdy legs. In the
glare of Denning’s floodlight, they looked whiter than
ever. “That old guy was black, though, and they said he
didn’t weigh but about a hundred pounds.”
“Too bad we don’t have even some shoes and socks
23
MARGARET MARON
to give us a lead on who he was or what he did,” said
Richards. “You reckon he’s workboots or loafers?”
She leaned in for a closer look. “No corns or calluses
and the toenails are clean. Trimmed, too. I doubt if they
gave him a pedicure first.”
It was another half hour before the EMT truck ar-
rived. While they waited, Denning carefully searched
