Page 13 of So Deranged


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That was good to know.If they could establish a timeline for Paul’s last moments, it could help them identify and rule out suspects.

Of course, it wasn’t necessarily Paul who sent that text.Finding that out for sure would help too.

“Did Paul seem any different to you lately?”Faith asked.“Any changes in mood or behavior?Anyone new in his life?”

Penny chuckled, but it was more of a sob than a laugh.“No.He seemed just as happy and loving as always.And there was no one new.This is a small town.We know everyone here, and we like it that way.Our friends are here, and we’re too old to make new ones.We just wanted to live a simple, quiet life.That’s all we wanted.”

Faith and Michael shared a look.Michael gestured for the door with his head, and Faith nodded.She stood and pulled a business card from her pocket.“If you think of anything else, Penny, please give us a call.In the meantime, you have my word that we’ll do everything we can to bring the person who killed your husband to justice.”

Penny took the card and looked at Faith.There was no animosity in her voice when she replied, “You can do whatever you’d like.It won’t bring Paul back.”

CHAPTER SIX

Michael opened the car door and slid into the driver’s seat.“All good?”Faith asked.

"All good.The neighbor confirms that Penny was with her from seven in the evening until eleven in the evening.She walked home, and Tanya stayed up until one in the morning and didn't hear Penny's car start or Paul's car come home.What about you?Did you get a hold of the buddy?"

She shook his head.“I left a voicemail.”

“Do you want to ask Penny where the guy works?”

“Maybe.Not yet, though.I want to talk to the medical examiner first.”

Michael raised an eyebrow.“I don’t have a problem with that, but I’m curious.I can see the wheels turning in your head.What’s on your mind?”

“I want to know a little more detail about the cause of death.We’ve got a good lead for the timeline of the murder, and we’re getting good information on the victim, but I want to learn about our killer.I want to know what inspires him to kill a retired veteran and bury him in the middle of an archaeological dig.”

"All right.I can't argue with that.We shouldn't keep Stan waiting for too long, though."

“We’ll visit him after we’re done talking to the medical examiner.”

“Sounds good.Where’s the ME?”

“Delhi.It’s a forty-five-minute drive north.”

Michael stared at her for a moment."That's at least a two-hour trip, including the conversation.You're sure we don't need to talk to Stan first?"

Faith sighed."You know, you can be really irritating when you're logical.How about this?We call state troopers and local PD and have them keep an eye out for Stan's vehicle.I can look his info up with the motor vehicle department."

“Damn.You’re really intent on this coroner visit.”

"It could just be another hunch," Faith said, "but I think the key to this case is the crime scene, not the victim.I'm not saying Paul isn't important, but this crime scene is intriguing to me.We have—as you pointed out—a mundane case in a lot of ways.The guy gets stabbed, then buried in a national park at night when no one's there.But then he's only placed in a shallow grave somewhere, and a lot of people are literally digging through the dirt.I want to understand that contradiction.If we understand that contradiction, or more specifically why it's not a contradiction to our killer, then we have our case."

Michael shrugged."Okay.You've convinced me again.Let's go talk to the doctor."

***

Delaware County had a population of forty-four thousand spread out over an area the size of Rhode Island.Faith and Michael drove through a couple more villages the size of Hancock on their way to Delhi, but most of the land was empty space.It was crazy to think that a place like this could exist only a few hours away from one of the largest metropolitan areas on Earth.

She wondered at the tendency of most people to cluster together in tightly packed communities that stretched the limits of the environment’s capacity.Biologically, she knew that was an evolutionary tendency of all social creatures, but it was interesting to see such a stark visual representation, especially when that representation demonstrated the exception and not the rule.

But then, not everyone needed a crowd.Penny told them that they had a few friends here and that they liked their small village.As long as people had a few close companions to keep themselves sane, the desire for the presence of strangers seemed almost arbitrary.

But if you didn’t have those close companions, then it didn’t matter if you lived alone in the wilderness or in a high-rise apartment building with thousands of residents.Without a social web to center them, humans could very easily drift toward insanity.

The county building in Delhi was literally that.A building.City Hall, the Sheriff's Office, the City Planner's Office, and the Office of the Medical Examiner were all in the same five-story red-brick structure.The only free-standing entity was the Courthouse, which sat across the street from city hall.

Michael parked the SUV in the guest lot between the two buildings.There were a dozen or so other people in view walking around the court and the hall.A small population meant not much crime and not a lot of government meddling in people’s lives.That was one of the great appeals of these not-metropolises.