No One Else to Kill (Jim West Series) by Bob Doerr Page B

third technician, a short
woman walked alongside the stretcher holding something connected to Randi.
    “ You feeling better now?”
    I looked away from the gaggle with the stretcher leaving
the room. A man I did not recognize squatted next to me.   He had a small flashlight in his hand.
    “Let me look in your eyes.” He didn’t wait for permission,
but pointed the small light in one of my eyes and then the other.
    I cringed and had to wipe the tears away, but tried to be
a good patient.
    “How do you feel?”
    “Okay,” I don’t know why I said it.   My shoulder hurt and I felt horrible.   If I were a few decades younger, I’d be
calling for my mommy.
    He stood up and walked off.   I didn’t watch him go, but before he left the
room I heard him, “He’s all yours.”
    That’s when I noticed the deputy in the room with me. He
looked young and frightened. I also heard voices in the hallway. I realized a
lamp had been brought into the room to provide light.
    I started to stand up.
    “Stay down!” barked the deputy.   “My orders are to keep everything just like I
found them, and that includes you.”
    I didn’t argue. My back and shoulder hurt when I tried to
stand anyway, and I needed to get the last couple of cobwebs out of my mind.
    “Is Detective Bruno on his way?” I asked.
    He looked at me. I wondered if he thought telling me would
violate some rule he had learned at his training academy. Finally, he came to a
compromise answer.
    “I’m not sure who is coming.   I’m just following orders.”
    “I understand.   Did
you notice that?” I pointed at the wall.
    He nodded.
    “I don’t think she did it,” I said.
    He took a step further into the room and studied the
wall.   He looked back at me. I could tell
he was debating whether to speak or not.   Finally his curiosity won out.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I don’t think she killed Benson, and I don’t think she
tried to kill herself.”
    The deputy looked back at me.   He didn’t say anything.
    “The lady they took out on the stretcher, was she alive?”
    “I think so. You should know.”
    “I think I hyperventilated or something like that.   I don’t actually remember when
everyone arrived.”
    He nodded but didn’t say anything more.   I heard people talking again in the
hall.   I thought I heard Geri’s voice but
couldn’t be sure.   The deputy momentarily
glanced out the door to see what was going on. It must not have been Bruno,
because everything returned to its quiet, peaceful state. Except for the rope
hanging from a rafter, you might think nothing had happened in this room.   That would change when the crime scene folks
hit the room, and that happened after another three minutes of waiting.
    Detective Bruno walked into the room with another deputy I
remembered seeing earlier in the day.
    “Everything the same as when you got here?” He asked the
young deputy who had been guarding the room.
    “Yes sir.”
    “Good.   He said
anything?” He nodded at me.
    “Just that he didn’t think it was a suicide.”
    “Hmm!” Bruno looked at me for a
few seconds.   “Go get yourself a cup of coffee,
but stick around.”
    “Yes sir.”   The kid
left.
    “Did you see anyone up here with her?”
    “No.”
    “Touch anything besides her?”
    “Yeah.   The chair, the light switch, the rope,” I
said.
    “You got her off the rope?”
    “Yeah.   She was still warm and limp. I had no
choice.”
    “Did she say anything to you?” He looked around the room
when he asked this.
    “No.   She never
regained consciousness.”
    “Too bad.”
    I didn’t like the way that sounded.
    “How is she?” I asked.
    “Died before they got her to the
hospital.”   His eyes focused on
the clothing and the writing on the wall.
    “Damn,” I felt sick again.
    He looked back at me.   “You good enough to wait for me down in the dining
room?   We need to talk.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Okay, clear out.   We’ve got work to do.