One Grave Less
Rosetta said. She stretched up in the seat, looking at the bridge. “I’ll wait until we are across the bridge to tell you about them.”
“It won’t take long,” Maria said. “It’s a short ride. Would you like to walk across and wait?”
Rosetta shook her head vigorously. “I’ll stay with you.”
Maria approached the bridge slowly. She told herself that it was at least the width of a parking space. She could make that. The bridge immediately groaned from the weight of the front wheels but she didn’t stop. She listened for sounds of cracking, reminding herself they had to go only a few feet, and if it fell in, the creek was not deep. Of course, they would be without transportation.
She pressed the gas pedal and drove the rest of the way at a quicker clip, exhaling when they were on firm ground. From the rearview mirror she saw that it was still intact. Drama over nothing, she thought.
Rosetta looked relieved as she peered out the back window. “We didn’t make the crocodile mad this time,” she said.
Chapter 22
The body had been pulled up on the bank.
Not a good procedure for an agency with a crime scene unit on-site , thought Diane.
She saw David and two of the groundskeepers standing over the body. They turned toward her as she approached. Diane was still fifteen feet away when she recognized the body—the gray hair, charcoal skirt, and rose blouse. She stopped and put a hand over her heart. Her stomach turned over.
Dear God. It’s Madge Stewart .
David said something to the groundskeepers and walked over to her.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Right now it looks like she fell into the pond. No obvious evidence of foul play. The gardeners found her. They thought she might be alive. That’s why they pulled her out,” he said.
“Of course. How long?” Diane asked, still staring at the body, hoping it wasn’t there, that she was seeing things.
“Not long,” said David. “Perhaps an hour. One of the gardeners saw her drinking a glass of tea on the restaurant patio about an hour and a half before they found her.”
Diane put her hands on her face. She and Madge weren’t the best of friends, but Madge was a member of her board.
“You handle this,” Diane said.
“I thought I would,” said David. “I’m sorry. This is a shocker.”
Diane nodded her head. Poor Madge , thought Diane. She loved her life . Diane heard people approaching. She turned, half expecting gawkers from the museum, but it was the medical examiner, Lynn Webber, and the coroner, Whit Abercrombie. Diane saw Chief Garnett several feet behind them walking at a catch-up pace.
Lynn Webber was several inches shorter than Diane’s five feet nine. She had shiny short black hair that always looked as if she just left the beauty shop. She wore a white lab coat over her clothes, and expensive hiking boots.
Whit Abercrombie, a taxidermist by trade, had been the coroner of Rose County for several years. He had wanted to quit several times, but people always talked him out of it. They, like Diane, appreciated Whit’s apolitical, logical approach to his job. He was a striking-looking man with straight black hair, dark eyes, bright white teeth, and a neatly trimmed Vandyke beard.
The two of them eyed Diane for a moment.
“Is this someone you know?” asked Lynn, frowning.
“It’s Madge Stewart,” Diane said.
“Oh, no,” said Lynn, laying a hand on Diane’s arm. “I’m so sorry. I met her a couple of times. She loved the museum, didn’t she?”
“Oh jeez,” said Garnett. He and Whit shook their heads.
“What happened?” Whit asked.
“On the face of it, it looks as if she slipped in and drowned,” said Diane, and David nodded. “But I don’t know what happened.”
“Was she hiking the nature trail?” asked Whit, with a raised eyebrow.
Diane could see he was looking at the one foot that had a shoe—a dressy, fabric kitten-heel shoe—the inch-and-a-half heel not good for walking the nature trail.
“I don’t know,” said Diane. “I wasn’t aware she was at the museum today. We don’t have a board meeting. But she takes several of the classes and, as Lynn said, she loved the museum.”
Lynn looked at Whit and he nodded his okay. No one touched a body without the coroner’s clearance. Lynn squeezed Diane’s arm and turned toward her task.
Diane watched Lynn and David for a moment as they approached the body. She turned and looked from Whit to Garnett.
“I don’t want Vanessa
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