The Floating Corpse Page 8

  He smiled, “Actually, I sent him to retrieve it, but I am glad the thought finally occurred to you. There is hope for you yet, Collin.”

  Before I could reply, I heard the faint sound of an engine. William heard it too.

  “Ah! That should be the inspector and the doctor.” William turned and called up to Frank, who was just starting to cut the branch. “The authorities have arrived. Frohman and I will wait for them; hang on to that for now.” Frank acknowledged with a simple nod, and we pushed out way back into the clearing.

  We had just managed to brush off and straighten our clothes as the police car came into view. I could tell by the sound of the motor it was a Ford.

  Sitting on extra wide tires was an elongated Model T chassis with the biggest engine Ford had made to date. There were two seats, front and back and a large metal box behind the rear seat. Black, with white highlights, the side was emblazoned with POLICE.

  I gave a low whistle. “Gee, Uncle Will, for a one-horse town, that’s quite the machine.

  William raised his brows. “I had it built and donated it to the town in honor of Rowan’s ascension to Chief Inspector.”

  I thought that a mighty big gift to the town. My Uncle was a kind and generous man, but he had a reputation for deep pockets. I began to see just how much my uncle respected the danger regarding Captain Roy.

  I shrugged and grinned up at him. “It’s always good to have the coppers in your corner.”

  The wagon finally jolted to a stop some forty-feet from us, and all four doors were flung open. Two men in uniform headed around the front of the car to join the other two. The man from the front seat was tall and thin, with a head of dark hair. He dressed like an official, in a dark suit with a long coat over it. His eyes swept over the area around him and I could tell he took it all in. He pulled a small notebook from his jacket pocket. He, most assuredly, was Chief Inspector Rowan.

  The man from the back seat was obviously Dr. Blum, as he was older and toted a large black bag. He smiled grimly and waved when he saw us.

  Rowan was far more intent. He ignored us for the moment and began barking orders to his men.

  “Sargent get the kit out of the back. Fenn, you set up the camera.”

  “Set it up where, Sir?” the younger blonde policeman asked.

  “Just fetch it out of the back!” Rowan snapped. “I’ll let you know in a minute.”

  Without acknowledging their salutes, he turned his eyes on us and strode over to us like he meant business. The doctor rolled his eyes and followed on his heels. The inspector slowed, swiveling his head to take in the surroundings, and the doctor passed him and stuck out a hand to my uncle.

  “William, it’s been too long.”

  William took his hand briefly, but before he could reply, Inspector Rowan stepped in front of us and his two men came barreling up behind. The one he called Sargent had large leather satchel and the other carried a box camera on a tripod. When the men reached his side and stood at semi-attention, waiting orders, he turned to my Uncle.

  “William.” He said and nodded like he was Caesar come to conquer.

  “Chief Inspector, what is all this?” He waggled his cane at the two officers.

  Rowan beamed like a new father. “The Sargent here has our crime scene kit. Everything one needs to measure, record, and collect evidence, including talc powder, blotting paper, and magnifiers to identify fingerprints.

  “Fenn here is trained to photograph the scene to allow us to study the clues for as long as we need back at the office. I told you I was going to bring this department into the twentieth century! Now, where’s the victim?”

  William pointed over to the bundle, still sitting on top of the flat rock. The doctor was the first to recognize the bundle for what it was, and he hot footed it over, while the Inspector and his men simply gaped in confusion. By the time Rowan ambled over, the doctor had already peeled back the layers of cloth to reveal the child’s face completely. Rowan was staring at it mutely as we joined the circle around the child.

  Without looking up, the Chief Inspector growled in a low voice. “Your cook told me there was a murder.” He turned his head to look at my uncle with undisguised distain, “How does this constitute a murder?”

  William’s face tightened, and I could see his eyes begin to smolder. “If ever there was a victim, it is that infant who lies there! My men discovered the babe, tied to an upper branch of that pine.” He paused to turn and pointed at the tree and added, “While they were clearing this patch.”

  The Inspector looked up, then grunted and slapped his forehead. “Ugh! Another flying corpse?”

  I could see William was about to erupt, but the doctor forestalled any rebuke when he looked up from his examination and asked, “Just why are you clearing this land, William?”

  Uncle turned to the sawbones and barked, “Irrelevant!” Then he looked Rowan square in the eye, “Someone brought the child by boat to the nearby riverbank, then trudged up to these woods and tied the child’s swaddling to a tree branch that ended twenty feet in the air!”

  Rowan mulled that over for a second then exploded. “You don’t even know if it was alive or dead when it was left here! If it was the latter-how can you call it murder?”

  “Alive or deceased-the question still stands, Inspector.” Uncle Will had his dander up now.

  Rowan mulled it over some more as we all looked at him expectantly. Suddenly he nodded and went into a tirade. “I can tell you this much, there are no missing babies in my district! Even if there were, why go to all this trouble? No Sir! This was the work of some outsiders! Gypsies or Redskins.”

  “Or WHAT?” Frank growled from my side. I jumped, as I never even heard him join us.

  “Don’t get your feathers in a ruffle, Chief” Rowan warned, when he saw the anger on Frank’s face. He pulled back his jacket to reveal a small thirty-two caliber tucked into a waist holster. I was pleased to see that mine was bigger. “Besides, don’t Indians bury their dead up in the air?”

  “That is the mid-western plain Indians custom, Chief Rowan!” Frank snapped back. “I assure you that we don’t hang our children alive or dead -- out like laundry to dry!”

  “And I’d watch that Gypsy talk too! We’re not exactly sure where Ma hails from.” I put in, just because I never liked a bully who hid behind their gun.

  Rowan snapped his head towards me and suddenly I was the center of attention. I tried to look bored as he eyed me up and down. “And just who might you be?” he asked

  William, looking irritated by the interruption, stepped up. “Forgive me. Chief Inspector Kevin Rowan, this is Collin Frohman.”

  The inspector recoiled as if he was slapped, but he quickly recovered and stuck out a hand, which I took briefly. “Pleased.” He mumbled.

  If his greeting was a bit subdued, the doctor more than made up for a welcome. His eyebrows shot up, and his mouth formed an O. Breaking into a big grin, he stepped up and thrust out his hand.

  “Frohman? Charlie’s son?” I nodded, and he pulled me into a near hug. “Tom Blum. I admired your father greatly.” He took my hand in both of his and stared at my face. “You have your father’s eyes.” Then he winked and added, “And his mouth!”

  “Now that we have dispensed with the socials, may we please return to the matter at hand?” William said loudly in exasperation. Doctor Blum rolled his eyes and winked at me again, but he released my hand and went back to examining the child.

  The younger officer, sagging under the weight of the camera, asked tentatively. “Take it back to the car, Paul!” he snapped, and then added, “Go with him Sargent. Stow the kit and get the car started. We’re leaving soon.”

  Uncle Will was not happy with that decision. “Is that all the effort you are willing to expend? You intend to disregard your resources and rely on felonious conjecture? Certainly, I know you for a better investigator than that!”

  Rowan straightened up to his full height and placed his hands on his hips. He
was looking pretty steamed. “Damn it, William! I can’t be responsible for what some outsiders left in your yard!”

  When William just glared back at him, Rowan plowed on, pointing at the child, “Look at the coloring of its face! Be it negro or Indian…”

  “NO!”, The Doctor said sharply, straightening up and turning to face us.

  Rowan glared at him and asked, “What do you mean, no?”

  “The child is Caucasian. The coloring is due to exposure and decomposition. The baby is white.” He avoided the Inspector’s glare and said to Wiliam. “Blue eyes.”

  William looked almost triumphant. “I already knew that, Doctor. Only a progeny of both a white mother and father can have blue eyes.”

  He turned his head back to Rowan and added, sarcastically, “Imagine what we might glean if there was some actual police work done!”

  Rowan went beet red in the face and snarled, “There is no need for sarcasm, Gillette!”

  “The fact is--there are still no missing babies in my jurisdiction!”

  Blum held up a hand to stop William’s retort. “He’s right about that, William. There have been only two births this winter, and I attended them both. Mothers and children are doing fine. I saw them all last week, in fact.”

  That set my Uncle back a pace. I could see why. It was just another piece of this strange puzzle that didn’t fit. While he mulled the possibilities over, Rowan took the bit between his teeth.

  “And it doesn’t change the fact that you lured me out here, under false pretenses, and in the process pulled me away from a matter of paramount importance that needs my personal attention.

  And all for what? For a case that most likely wouldn’t amount to more than trespassing and perhaps the illegal disposal of human remains; we even have a statue on the books to cover that! Calling it a murder is nothing more than dramatics.”

  Uncle Will took some umbrage I can tell you. His eyes went dead cold as he barked back. “If someone bringing a child by boat, then grounding his vessel on the bank and trudging up the hillside in deep snow to leave a human being in the snow covered branches of a pine tree, is not worthy of your talents, perhaps you should have brought a junior detective along and dumped it in his lap.” Then strangely, William smiled viciously and added. “Well, perhaps not. Look how that ended with your predecessor.”

  It took everything within me not to wince at that barb myself. Rowan looked like he had been backhanded, but to his credit, he didn’t wince either.

  “That is as unfair as it is rude, Gillette!” he said in a loud hard voice. “There is absolutely no sign of foul play here! It’s all in your head -- and your ego!”

  “Can you be so blind as to not see the incongruities here? If so, your promotion had quickly dulled your skills -- and your wits.”

  “Now you listen here, Gillette…”

  “Cease fire!” Blum yelled at the top of his lungs, causing all of us to jump. When he had our complete attention, he said calmly. “Perhaps you gentlemen can continue this conversation AFTER I have made an examination back at my office. If I can determine whether the poor babe was left alive or dead- then you may at least resume your debate.”

  Uncle Will looked like he was going to go on, but I held up my hand to stop him. “He’s right. Perhaps more hard facts are needed before we proceed.”

  William gave me a surprised look, nodded, and was calming down. “You are correct, Frohman. Let us see what the good Doctor can glean from his examination.” He turned to the Chief, “Agreed?” Rowan nodded, and William turned back to the Doctor. “Do you need assistance on getting the child to the car?”

  Blum had already covered the child back up and gathered it in his arms. “I can manage, William. Thankfully, the smell is gone by.

  “Ride back to the castle with us. There is plenty of room.”

  With that, he headed back to the car and William trailed after him. Rowan didn’t look pleased at the doctor’s invitation, but he just fell in alongside William.

  William hesitated for a moment and turned back to Frank and me. “Coming?”

  Rowan added, “There’s no room up front but you can ride in the back.”

  Frank frowned and shook his head. “No. Thank you.”

  I wasn’t sure why he turned him down, but I decided to walk back with him. I wanted some more time to mull the situation over, so I could talk intelligently to him, when I rejoined him at the castle. “I’ll walk with Frank.”

  William gave me a curious look, and just nodded and continued on.

  Rowan shrugged, “Suit yourself.”

  As they walked away, I heard Rowan say to my Uncle. “You’ll be eating crow by the end of the day Gillette!”

  “Ha!” he replied, “It is you that shall dine on humble pie for your supper!”

  Quiet you two!” Doctor Blum admonished. “I’m not listening to you two bicker the whole ride…”

  As they piled into the car, I turned to Frank, curious. “You don’t fancy a ride in a paddy-wagon?”

  “White man cages have sticky locks.” he said defiantly.

  I clicked my teeth and grinned. “That’s what my gypsy Ma always said!”

  8

  Frank and I looked at each other and laughed.

  “I think a walk would be much more peaceful anyways, eh?” I quipped.

  “Usually is.” Frank responded, and we headed out ourselves.

  Lost in my thoughts about the dead infant I had unanswered questions. Where it came from and why it ended up here? If it was abandoned-why? Why here, on William’s property? Who were the parents?

  It was all a bit much. To be honest, I couldn’t garner much empathy for the infant. I understood William’s point of view, but I also agreed with the Chief Inspector. If it wasn’t one of the town’s residents, why lose any sleep over it? Babies die all the time.

  I turned to my Indian escort after a while and asked him, “What do you think of all this, Frank?”

  ..“Mr. Gillette should bury the child, say a prayer to his God and forget about it.”

  “Well, you can’t give her a Christian burial. She was probably too young to baptize.”

  He shrugged, “It doesn’t matter. The newly born is nothing more than flesh. It has no spirit.”

  That was interesting. “Funny you should say that. Ozaki once told me that Japanese people don’t name their children for thirty days, because that’s when a spirit will inhabit the body. He says a lot of babies die soon after they’re born, but they’re not really considered a person yet according to their Shinto religion.”

  Frank made a thoughtful face. “I will ask Mr. Ozaki of this. It sounds like something I could believe in.”

  That struck me as odd. “I’m not sure you can decide to believe in something. Either you believe, or you don’t!”

  “What’s the difference?”

  I wasn’t about to start waxing philosophies with an Indian! I got enough of that from Ozaki. We reached a small meadow when my tongue broke loose.

  “William says you’re the best tracker in these parts. Who taught you?”

  “My father, uncles, and mostly my grand-father.”

  I wondered whether his grandfather was as much a brutal taskmaster as my ‘Pop-Pop’. “I learned a lot from my Grandpa too. Only about the sea. I never spent much time in the woods.”

  “It’s all about reading the world,” he replied. “The land, the sea, and the sky just have different languages.”

  Good Lord! This man was a Native American Confucius! “Read the world, eh? I like that!” I stopped and motioned for him to do the same. “What do you read right now?”

  He smiled and said in a low voice. “A menu. If I had my rifle, I would get my dinner.”

  I raised my eyebrows and looked around. There wasn’t any movement for as far as I could see. I whispered back “Just what were you planning on shooting?”

  In one swift motion, Frank stooped and plucked a rock off the ground. Sidearm, he whipped the rock acr
oss the meadow to land in a thicket of grass. Instantly, there was an explosion of grass and feathers as a large bird, spooked by the stone, burst out, wings flapping hard for freedom. In one smooth motion, I slid my pistol out, aimed and hit it with my first shot. The bird instantly began to tumble to the ground not twenty feet in front of us. We walked up and found a fat, female pheasant, with its head blown off.

  “Dinner’s on me.” I told him, as I holstered my piece.

  William must have seen us walking across the lawn, as he came out to greet us from the veranda. They came down the steps, around to the front and crossed the small bridge to the road by the time we walked up.

  “That’s a nice hen you have there, Frank,” he commented. “What happened to its head?”

  Then he looked at me and barked a short laugh. “I heard the shot. My nephew has been showing off, hasn’t he?”

  “I have never seen such and expert shot from a pistol,” Frank replied, “And I doubt I ever will again.”

  I was a bit embarrassed by the praise, so I pointed out, “Yeah, well, I would have walked right past it if it wasn’t for Frank.”

  “Would you like it Mr. Gillette?” Frank asked, holding it out, the neck still bleeding out a bit. “It was Mr. Frohman’s kill.”

  William held up both hands, looking a bit apprehensive. “Oh, no, Frank. Take it home and enjoy it with your family. Besides, Mrs. Woods would have a fit if I brought that into her kitchen.”

  “Alright then. Thank you.” Frank said, and turning to me he added, “And thank you, Mr. Frohman, for my dinner and the conversation.”

  I was just as happy William didn’t take it. After watching him tote that dead and oozing fowl for the last mile or so, I had no desire to actually eat it!

  “The pleasure was all mine,” I replied. “Are you sure your wife won’t mind you bringing that home?”

  He shook his head. “And I’ll clean it on the ferry.” He had the strangest grin on his face. He turned to William, “Are we working tomorrow?”

  William mulled that over for a minute. “Yes, I believe so. There’s nothing much else we can learn from the site. Meet Ollie at the usual time. He knows what to do. If you happen to come across anything or even have a new thought on the matter, report it to me as soon as possible. I’ll let Ollie know you can do as you see fit.”