“Signs of a struggle?” I ask.
Mindy says there weren’t any. Everything was pristine.
“No scuffs in the carpet like she’d been dragged. The only thing I found was a puddle of something wet just inside the bathroom doorway. I almost didn’t notice because the toilet was right there, but it smelled like urine. I touched it with a glove and did a very scientific test. I sniffed it. It was definitely urine. I took a sample and I’ll check it later. I’m thinking she was grabbed there and her bladder emptied. I found clothes in the clothes hamper. There weren’t any blood or urine stains on them.”
I fill her in on Weena’s story. “I just told Sheriff Gray she said she smelled the stink and came in the house. In fact, she saw the body. Her dog was with her and it was lapping up the blood.”
“I’ll check for dog hairs,” Mindy says.
That gives me another question for Rowena Perkins. I’ll have to make another trip to see her.
“Do you think she was going to get a shower when it happened?” I ask. I had almost stepped in it. It was insignificant at the time. I chalked it up to being water from the tub.
“I’m almost certain,” Mindy says.
“The bloody smears on the bathroom tile were all leading to and from the tub. Was there a lot of blood inside the tub? I didn’t look.”
Mindy says something to one of the techs and picks up where she left off.
“There were bloody footprints in the tub, Megan. The body appears to have been skillfully skinned. I would guess a taxidermist or a surgeon. They know their way around anatomy and a scalpel. The crime scene techs will check the bathtub drain with a scope to see if there’s anything trapped. They’ll take swabs too. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find some hair that isn’t the victim’s.
“But, Megan, there’s no way the bloody footprints belong to the victim. I checked the shoes in her closet and she wears a size eight. The prints on the floor seem small but they’re so blurred it’s hard to tell. Sheriff Gray has her Washington driver’s license and she was five feet ten inches. Her killer is much smaller.”
It was as bad as I thought. “So you think she must have let her killer in? Or it was someone who had a key?”
“Looks like it, Megan. Was she a friend?”
“No,” I lie. “I think I met her once when I was going to school. Name sounds familiar.”
My denial sounded weak even to me.
“You’d better be careful. People don’t just take random shots like that and leave it to be found unless they’re disturbed.”
She was right.
“I heard Sheriff Gray on the phone. So the woman who called the police lied about being in the house.”
“She was afraid she would be a suspect.”
“Sheriff said she’s about eighty years old and frail looking.”
“Rowena Perkins likes tea spiked with Johnnie Walker and puzzles of half-naked firemen waving a hose.”
“Who doesn’t?” Mindy says with a laugh. “Maybe they got in a fight over the puzzle.”
I think it would be more likely over the Johnnie Walker, but I keep that to myself.
Nine
I have to talk to Dr. Andrade’s office to find out when the autopsy will be, but I don’t think he’ll talk to me. During the last case, I called him at home in the middle of the night. I needed to know his findings. He hung up, then called me back and hung up on me again. I’ll have Ronnie call him. She’s my weapon. She’s beautiful, red-haired. Men can’t resist her. Women want to be her. Not me, though.
Rowena Perkins is waiting for me at her front door. I follow her through to the kitchen, but I decline tea this time in favor of a shot of Johnnie Walker. It burns going down but I need something to keep from screaming at her.
“You’re still not telling me everything, Mrs. Perkins.” I use her formal name to let her know I’m not playing around.
She sits with her hands in her lap. Age spots mottle the backs of her hands, and her knuckles are dry and red. I don’t think hand cream will help this late in the game.
“I knew you’d be back,” she tells me. “You strike me as a very smart girl.”
I liked being called a girl much better than being called “ma’am,” but flattery will get her nowhere. “What didn’t you tell me?” I look around and there’s no sign of Gonzo. I imagine he’s outside watering the lawn.
“When I saw the body, it shocked me. I must have screamed, because Gonzo yelped and then the poor dear puddled on the floor.”
“He peed on the bathroom floor?”
“He’s old and I must have scared the bejesus out of him. It’s not his fault. I shouldn’t have taken him in there.”
You shouldn’t have been in that house.
“I understand,” I say. “I’ll tell my crime scene guys so they know it’s dog urine.”
Her eyes well with tears and then the dam breaks. In between racking sobs she asks, “Are you going to take Gonzo into evidence? I don’t think I can be without him. He’s all I have since my Stevie passed ten years ago. He’s my family. I just don’t know what…”
I feel my own eyes tearing up. Her son seldom contacts her and she is obviously lonely. I can relate. I’ve had little contact with Hayden and I miss him. The dog is Rowena’s only friend. The dog and the bulging fireman.
“Rowena, no one is going to take your dog. No one will bother Gonzo or you. I promise.” I give her a card with my phone number at the office. “If you have questions, you can call me. If you think of anything else, call me. I’ll try to come back and tell you what I find out. How’s that?”
She stands and wraps me in a hug and weeps. Her emotions come from the horror of what she saw. She weeps because she’s all alone and because I’m kind to her.
I ask one more question.
“Did you notice anything else unusual while you were in that house? When you walked through the bedroom?”
I’m wondering if she saw the two pictures of me laid out on the bed. Especially the laminated one.
She shakes her head.
“Did you see anything on the bed?” I need to know.
She looks at me like I’m stupid. “I was drawn to that smell. That’s all I saw, except for Gonzo doing what he… you know.”
As I drive back to the office I call Mindy.
“It’s dog pee, isn’t it?” I say right away.
“Yes. It’s dog urine.”
“She said her dog ‘puddled’ on the tile because she screamed and scared it.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
“I’m going to the office.” I don’t need to tell Mindy to call if she finds anything. I disconnect and watch the road play out. What I saw in that bathroom will stay with me forever. That my photo was found on the bed will give me nightmares. Someone knows that picture and the one of me leaving the sheriff’s office are the same person. Sheriff Gray picked up on it right away.
Ten
I park in the same place as I parked when the picture was taken. I look around for the spot where the photograph was snapped. I remember the angle and make my way toward the firs and cedars that ring one side of the parking area. Here, I think, is the place where the photographer likely stood.