“That’s an understatement.” I added, “The fact that Walsh has been bullshitting us leads me to conclude that this was not a routine surveillance.”
“I think we already know that.”
I looked again at Harry’s cell phone and saw my call to him on Sunday afternoon when I suggested we make hunter’s stew, then my final call at 9:45 this morning. After that, there were a few more calls from Lori.
Kate was staring at the cell phone. “This is so sad…”
I nodded. I didn’t have Harry’s password, so I couldn’t play any of his messages, but I knew the Tech people would be able to do that.
I scrolled through Harry’s recently dialed numbers and saw the call he made to Lori Bahnik at 7:48 A.M. on Saturday morning, then the text message on Saturday afternoon at 4:02 P.M., then nothing.
I was about to shut off the phone when it rang, startling both of us.
I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Lori Bahnik. I glanced at Kate, and I could tell she was upset.
I considered answering the call, but I wasn’t prepared to deliver the news with Harry’s body five feet away. I shut off the phone and put it back on the gurney.
I glanced at my watch. It wouldn’t be much longer before the state police and FBI agents arrived from Albany. Plus, the two guys from the Task Force must have landed at Saranac Lake airport by now. I wondered who Walsh had sent to replace us. Probably people who followed orders.
I said to Kate, “Let’s look at his clothing before the fuzz arrive.”
She went to the sink and washed the mentholated jelly off her lip while I took the opportunity to pocket the terrain map. Taking evidence from a crime scene is a felony, but I thought I might need the map and justified it by recalling Walsh’s lying to me, and by the fact that I, and not Harry, could have been on that slab.
Kate was at the second gurney now, sniffing at Harry’s shirt. She said, “I’m not sure… this could be tobacco smoke…”
I couldn’t smell anything except the menthol under my nose, but I said, “Who do we know who smokes?”
She nodded.
We went through the clothing, piece by piece, noticing the cellophane tape that Dr. Gleason had used to fix the four animal hairs. We weren’t exactly doing anything we weren’t allowed to do, but on the other hand, we weren’t supposed to be here; we were supposed to be at the state police headquarters in Ray Brook. Also, there’s the chain-of-evidence thing, and anyone who handles evidence needs to log in, which we hadn’t done. And then you had the FBI and state police investigators who might not take kindly to seeing us when they arrived. In other words, we were in a sort of gray area, which is where I spend a lot of my time. More important, we had a good jump on this, but now it was time to leave.
I said to Kate, “Let’s go.”
But she said, “Look at this.”
I moved closer to her. She was holding Harry’s camouflage pants, and she had pulled his right-side pocket inside out. “See this?”
I examined the white pocket lining and saw blue marks that appeared to have been made with a pen.
Kate said, “These could be letters.”
Indeed, they could be. As though Harry had written on the white fabric with his hand in his pocket. Or, if Harry was as careless as I was, maybe he’d just shoved an uncapped pen in there.
Kate put the pants on the gurney and we both bent closer, trying to decipher the blue marks, which were definitely ink and did not look random.
I said to her, “You go first.”
“Okay… there are three groupings of marks… the one that is most legible says, M-A-P… the next group looks like… an N… then maybe a U or a V… then an asterisk… no, a K… then the last group looks like… E-L-F…” She looked at me and said, “Elf?”
I stared at the ink marks. “M-A-P could be M-A-D. I mean, he’s writing this blind with his hand in his pocket. Right?”
“Probably…”
“Then, NUK… and here’s another mark almost hidden in the seam… so… maybe NUKE.”
We looked at each other, then Kate said, “Nuke? Like, nuclear?”
“I hope not.” I added, “This last one looks clear. ELF.”
“Yes… what was he trying to tell us? Madox? Nuclear? Elf? What is elf? Maybe he was trying to write HELP.”
“No. This is pretty clear. E-L-F.”
I glanced at my watch again, then at the door. “We need to get going.” I pushed the pocket liner back into the pants and said, “Let them work for this.”
We took off the latex gloves and put them in a covered trash can. Then I went to Harry’s body and looked at him. Kate came up beside me and took my arm. I’d be seeing Harry again soon at the funeral home, wearing his old uniform. I said to him, “Thanks for the clue, buddy. We’re on top of this.” I pulled the blue sheet over him and turned toward the door.
We left the OR and walked quickly down the hallway to the nurses’ station. I said to the state troopers, “Do you have the deceased’s gun and credentials?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I need to take his NYPD shield to give to his family.”
The guy in charge hesitated, then said, “I’m afraid I can’t do that. You know… it’s-”
“It hasn’t been inventoried yet. Who’s going to know?”
The other trooper said to his boss, “I’m okay with that.”
The man in charge opened an evidence bag that was sitting on the counter, removed the shield from the cred case, and slid it toward me.
I said, “Thanks,” and pocketed Harry’s shield.
The second trooper asked me, “You think this was a homicide?”
“What do
“Well,” he replied, “I saw the body on the trail before they put it in the ambulance, and the only way this guy- your friend-could have been shot square in the back in those thick woods is if the shooter was standing directly behind him on the trail. Understand?”
“Yeah.”
“So, this was no accident-unless maybe it happened at night, and the shooter thought he saw a deer on the trail… I have to tell you, your friend should have been wearing something reflective or orange. You know?”
“Yeah. Well, it’s not hunting season.”
“Yeah, but still… some locals don’t wait for the season to open.”
“I understand.”
“Yeah. Well, sorry.”
“Thanks.”
The other trooper also offered his condolences, as did the two nurses behind the counter. I guess they felt badly about the off-season hunting accident, or worse about the possibility of a tourist getting murdered in their nice little corner of the world.
Kate and I walked into the lobby just as two guys in suits were coming through the door. I made them as law enforcement types-FBI or SBI-and they went directly to the information desk and flashed their creds.
The info lady noticed Kate and I leaving as the two guys were talking to her. She seemed to want to draw the guys’ attention to their departing colleagues, but we reached the door before the introductions could be made.
We moved quickly to our car, I slid behind the wheel, and we got the hell out of there.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
We headed back toward the center of town, then followed the signs for Route 56 south. The word “Nuke” was very much on my mind.
