From what he’d been able to find so far, the family business and family social functions were the only real professional or personal contact that Fredrick had. The problem was that was just a wild ass guess. There wasn’t anything even suggesting they’d have a reason to off Frederick, let alone that they’d done it. Since Frieda’s death was almost certainly tied up in her investigation into Frederick, that would mean they’d also have to have her killed.
If they were passing Taylor to a lawyer and a flunky, it seemed like a long shot that they’d actually give up anything that would help him along.
Taylor was once again awake, staring at the ceiling, struggling to fall asleep.
When morning finally came, Taylor was worn out. He’d taken hours to fall back asleep, and the dreams had returned. He’d managed to get over the worst of his nightmares years ago as he learned to cope with his PTSD, and it had been almost a year since his last nightmare. Even Whitaker’s leaving him hadn’t triggered their return. The one last night was particularly bad, with Whitaker as a supporting player, and had left him shaken.
He pushed the thoughts aside as best he could and tried to focus on what he needed to do. His first step was the Medical Examiner’s office. It was located in an ugly, squat cement building nestled in the middle of a block of businesses with a large roll-up door on one side. Except for the small sign next to the door, Taylor would have assumed this was some kind of warehouse.
A security guard sat at a desk right as he came in and found Taylor’s name on a list. Taylor waited for nearly half an hour before an older man with wild, grey hair came out wearing a stained doctor's coat.
“Herr Taylor?”
“Yes,” Taylor said, standing up.
“I am Doctor Petzold. Leftenant Graf called ahead and asked that I speak with you. If you’ll follow me, I’m very busy today, so let us make this quick.”
While his German accent was very thick, the man spoke with a very British inflection, making him sound almost like a caricature of old British WWII films Taylor remembered seeing as a kid. The doctor lead Taylor through a row of corridors, past examination bays, and offices, eventually ending up at a fairly nice although spartan office.
The doctor went around and sat behind the large desk and indicated that Taylor should take one of the seats opposite.
“I’m to understand you have questions about the death of Frederick Wissler?”
“Yes. I wanted to know more about how he died. His widow was concerned enough about his listed cause of death that she hired an outside investigator to look into it. I was hoping you could shed some light on why she thought that was necessary.”
“I cannot tell you what caused Frau Wissler to doubt our findings, beyond saying that I have seen unusual reactions from grieving family members before who are unwilling to accept their loved one has passed away. Admittedly, that type of disbelief is usually based on the loved one dying from an overdose or self-harm and not an old man dying from natural causes, but people react oddly to the death of loved ones.”
“So, there was nothing unusual in this case?”
“Beyond Frau Wissler’s insistence? No. I didn’t perform the initial autopsy, but I did look the case over thoroughly and discuss the case with Doctor Niehaus, who performed the initial examination. Nothing in the case stood out. Herr Wissler was in poor health, suffering from the effects of Alzheimer's along with high blood pressure and a fairly severe heart arrhythmia. His actual cause of death was Hemorrhagic stroke, which is when a blood vessel ruptures and leaks blood into the brain. While this type of stroke is a common concern for patients with high blood pressure, it is even more common for someone suffering from Alzheimer's. The disease often causes micro-bleeds into the brain as part of the ongoing deterioration. Doctor Niehaus recorded signs of these types of bleeds in Herr Wissler.”
“Do you always do autopsies for elderly patients?”
“Not always, but it also isn’t uncommon. Since no one was present for his passing and he wasn’t under active hospitalization, an autopsy was ordered. Had he passed in a managed care facility or hospital, then an autopsy would most likely not have been done. I want to understand, nothing in this case, beyond Frau Wissler’s accusations, is out of order. I’ve been a medical examiner for twenty years, and I can tell you that Herr Wissler’s death was completely ordinary. His cause of death was completely ordinary and the timing of his death in relation to his disease's progression was not unexpected. The only issue out of the ordinary was the length to which his widow was willing to go to feed into her denial.”
“What do you mean by extraordinary lengths? This can’t be the first time a family member disagreed with a listed cause of death and pressured you to change it or re-investigate.”
“No, it isn’t the first time, but normally those families limit the pressure to personal pleas or legal appeals. Frau Wissler didn’t stop there, as you know. At first, she tried calling and having her lawyers send requests, all of which were reviewed and answered according to our policies. The difference here was when she started having investigators look into our work, specifically the woman Leftenant
