No Accounting for Murder

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Carly resisted the urge to clap. This was the best news yet. Not only was suicide distasteful, but murder lent credibility to her suspicions that everything else was somehow connected. Instantly, however, her sensibility returned and she was remorseful for thinking that way.

Carly popped another french fry in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. "How do they know a thing like that anyway?"

"They checked out the car and the accident scene-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Carly interrupted. "Don't tell me his brake lines were cut. That would be pretty stupid to try it again."

"No, the lines weren't cut. As I was saying, they checked the accident scene for skid marks and such. There were skid marks, but they were at a different angle than the tread marks in the gravel."

Carly leaned forward, her mind running through the possibilities. "What does that mean?"

"It could mean the skid marks and the gravel marks were made at different times. Or, it could mean the skid marks don't belong to the gravel marks. It's hard to identify skid marks, since they tend to be very blurred. They did check the operation of the car and everything was in order."

"So what did they find that caused them to suspect something other than suicide?"

Mike placed his hand on Carly's arm, again.

Carly sighed. That was the second time he'd used their secret signal for her to stay quiet.

In one day.

"Up to this point, everything pointed to suicide. And now these possibly unrelated skid marks could mean he didn't try to stop. Unless of course he had fallen asleep at the wheel. But in a case like that, we normally find the car drifts off the pavement gradually before going off the road. In this case the car veered off fairly sharply according to the angle of the tire treads on the shoulder of the road where the car went over the cliff." Bert paused and sipped his coffee. "Also, there were tire marks in the gravel at the point the car left the road that look like a vehicle had turned around there. We're going to make a cast of the treads and see if it matches the mayor's car. We haven't ruled out anything. The coroner will send me his final report as to cause of death within the next day or so." Carly breathed deeply through her mouth, feeling kind of green at this point. She glanced at Denise out of the corner of her eye. Even stalwart Denise wasn't looking at Bert anymore, her lips pinched tightly together.

Mike was the first to break the silence. "So, if he didn't fall asleep and there wasn't anything wrong with the car, where do they look next for evidence?"

Bert realigned the salt and pepper shakers on the table before answering. "Well, there was an autopsy, of course. To check for alcohol or even drugs that might have contributed to the accident. That's usually how we handle a case like this."

A case like this.

Carly's mind whirled with conjecture. How was this connected with the MacQuarrie estate, the threatening fax, the tan sedan, the missing money, and now the threatening note? Not to mention the mystery post office box and the mid-west company that seemed to be at the root of everything that was happening?

Carly shook her head. This couldn't be happening. "So, what did they find in the autopsy?"

"The coroner thinks the mayor was already dead before he went over the cliff."

Bert's statement hung in the air like a dark cloud.

Carly's voice croaked. She took a sip of water as the reality of the situation sank in. "And that means?"