JO03 - Detour to Murder Read Online Free PDF Page A

people would flock. Yeah, right. I took a sip, smiled, sat at my desk and opened the Roberts file. Carefully, I flipped through the pages, now yellowed with age. I continued turning the pages until I came to the coroner’s reports.
    Pausing briefly, I glanced at the grotesque black and white glossies. Then I set the report relating to the strangled woman aside and picked up the Haskell autopsy file. Other than the deep gash on his forehead, there was nothing to indicate he had been in a struggle before he died. He had an ancient scar on his forearm and a few minor scratches on his wrist. The scratches, which could’ve been made by a cat or an animal with claws, had been there for a few days prior to his death. But that was all. Other than the wound on the forehead, there were no new bruises or other lacerations.
    I found something interesting, but it wouldn’t help. The official cause of Haskell’s death was listed as a heart attack. But the DA’s addendum alleged that Roberts had beat Haskell on the head with a blunt object and then he had the coronary, and the latter was the direct result of the savage blow administered by Roberts. Could’ve happened that way, I thought, and if it did, then it was murder.
    My eyes started to glaze over; detailed autopsy reports will do that. When I reached the page on serology, I set the papers down and walked around my desk and glanced out the window at the traffic jammed on Lakewood Boulevard. Cars were lined up trying to get into Stonewood Shopping Center. A street sweeper had stalled while making a U-turn, blocking the entrance to the parking lot. Horns honked in anger and frustration, the populace ready to riot. Women were frantic. There was a big sale going on at the Broadway.
    Returning to my desk, I wiped my hands across my face and picked up the report again.
    When I turned the page, a sentence caught my eye: “Creatine phosphokinase was present in blood traces located on the decedent’s left anterior fronto-occipital in near proximity to the laceration.” Wait a minute. I read the sentence again, slowly, focusing on each word. I knew from a forensics seminar I’d taken that creatine phosphokinase, an enzyme, is only in the blood after a heart attack had occurred. I rapidly flipped through more pages. Maybe I was on to something. I found another vital sentence buried on page sixteen. It said that when the body was discovered, there was no evidence of blood flow from the head injury.
    Leaning back, I took another sip of coffee and let my mind mull over what I’d just read. Blood flow from the head wound should’ve been substantial. Digging deeper into the autopsy report, I found that there was no subdural bleeding either. The only blood found anywhere on the body were the few traces that had surrounded the wound, the blood with the enzyme in it, which had trickled out after he had died.
    I sat there flabbergasted, staring at the words on the report. No blood flow meant Haskell’s heart had stopped before he was struck. The guy had died before the beating took place.
    I wondered why Roberts would whack a guy who was already dead. He wouldn’t. Nobody would. In a robbery, what would be the point of beating up a guy after he died?
    But what if Haskell had the fatal heart attack and then fell out of the car, banging his head when he did? Yeah, that would explain the wound and the blood traces with the enzyme. That would mean Roberts hadn’t struck him. It would mean he wasn’t lying. It would mean, in spite of everything else, Roberts hadn’t murdered Haskell.
    The addendum had been signed by the District Attorney holding office at the time, Frank Byron. That’s odd. The DA himself handled the case. But anyway, he’d stated that Roberts had beat Haskell with a blunt instrument, which resulted in his death. Then, according to Byron, Roberts killed the woman to keep her from squealing about Haskell’s murder. How could that be? The DA had to know that Haskell was dead