It had to be You

Beacon. I’m sure it’s murder. Even I recognize the signs. But I need an expert to examine him to confirm my view.“
    “Can’t your own town provide a doctor who could do it?“
    “Our town doctor’s specialty is warts and gossip.”
    That made the man laugh out loud. “I see the problem. Let me make a few calls and see what I can find out. Call me back in three hours.”
    Howard added, “I’m sending a few product samples up to Albany as well. Could you arrange to have someone examine them to see that they’re what they say they are on the label?“
    “That’s easy to do. Address the package to me and I’ll see that it gets to the right person.”
    His next call was to the funeral home, warning the operator once again to hang up. He said to the owner of the home to do nothing to the body until he found an expert to examine it.
    “We already know that it was suffocation. All the signs,“ he was told by the owner of the establishment.
    “So do I. But neither of us is qualified to stand up in court and say so. I’ll need someone who’s officially an expert in cause of death to testify when I find out who did it. I might even have a judge look over the other evidence I have and let him order the process just to have it on the record.“
    “Okey-dokey. We’ve already put him on ice.”
    His next call was to his deputy, Ralph Summer. “Ralph, go up to the nursing home near Grace and Favor and ask Lily Brewster to describe the bus that Kelly Connor was driving. And then drive around Voorburg and see if you can find him. I understand his name is on the bus. Should be easy to spot.”
    Howard knew that Ralph would blab to his cousin Jack Summer, the town’s newspaper editor. There was no helping that. He sighed and then proceeded to write down in a fresh notebook what everyone at the nursing home had said.

Chapter 6

    When Howard Walker called the auditor back, the man said, “I’ve found what you need. A good judge who’s in Fishkill. And he knows a doctor who can do the autopsy. You’ll need to bring the evidence and anyone who supports your view. I don’t think from what you’ve said that it will be a problem. Oh, and he mentioned that he’s an old friend of Mr. Prinney, your lawyer in Voorburg, so he’ll come to Voorburg at ten tomorrow so that Prinney can sit in on the discussion.”
    Howard thanked him effusively, offering to return the favor anytime it was needed, and immediately called Miss Twibell. “We need to present the evidence at ten o’clock tomorrow to a judge from Fishkill who’s coming up to Voorburg. I have the sheet and pillow in a paper bag. Bring Betty, and if you can locate this Miss Quincy, bring her along as well. I’ll tell Dr. Polhemus he needs to be there, too. Lily and Robert Brewster can hold down the fort for an hour. It shouldn’t take longer than that since it’s so close.”
    Howard then cleared the plans with Mr. Prinney.
    “I’d be glad to sit in,“ Mr. Prinney said. “I like Judge Grayson and haven’t seen him for a long time. But let’s get together at Grace and Favor. My office in town is too small for all these people plus the evidence. I’ll bring my secretary along to take down what’s said.”
    The only objection came from Robert. “Lily and I in charge of a nursing home? Dear God. What if one of them gets sick or croaks?“
    “That’s not likely in the hour it will take. Don’t be such a sissy. If you can’t cope, Lily will.”

    Tuesday morning at ten o’clock, they assembled in the dining room at Grace and Favor. Judge Grayson took a seat at one end of the table, Mr. Prinney at the other. Miss Twibell, Betty, and the visiting nurse sat on one side. Chief Walker, Mr. Waverly, who owned the funeral home, and Mr. Prinney’s secretary, with her pen and shorthand pad, were on the other side of the table along with Dr. Polhemus.
    Judge Grayson started by saying for the record, “This is a hearing conducted by Judge George Grayson on Tuesday, March seventh, 1933, in Voorburg-on-the-Hudson. The hearing concerns the death of Mr. Sean Connor, a resident of Beacon, New York, who on March sixth died in Voorburg-on-Hudson.”
    Then he asked those who were present at the hearing to give their full names and their relationship to Mr. Sean Connor.
    Judge Grayson looked at the evidence as Howard described what was on the pillowcase and the bottom sheet when it was discovered. The judge then asked Chief Walker a few questions about the events