Page 16 of Beneath Still Waters

“When would you like to get this set up?” he asked, interrupting her sudden shifting around, dancing in her chair.

“Oh, we have time right now if you want?” She grabbed a legal-sized pad in one hand and drew a big rectangle with short dashes. “We can seat people here. Cameras can go here.” She added an x to two places behind the seating area. “Oh, and one behind the casket so we can see faces!” She added another x.

Her desk phone rang. She held up one finger and grabbed the receiver. “Marion Home Sweet Home, Maddie speaking.” She pulled at a loose thread on her violently orange scrubs. “Oh, I see.” Her head bent, blocking her face from view. “You want a what?!” she paused. “No, that’s not how we normally do things. Are you part of his family? The police didn’t give me your name when they released him into my custody.”

The volume of the speaker on the other end rose, but not enough to hear what was said.

“There’s no need to yell. I’m required to ask questions. It is illegal to steal or to do anything to a corpse. That’s why I asked.” Her tone sounded like she was reading from a script.

The person yelled many words in quick succession.

“Fine. If you have proof you’re the next of kin, then come down here and you can take the body for the water burial you have planned, but I cannot release him if you don’t have anything. In fact, after the way you’ve treated me, please take your proof to the police first. This is an active murder case, and I’m not willing to do anything that might get me in trouble with them.” She finally looked back up at Duke and gave a nod with her eyes slightly wide.

Duke gave her a thumbs-up. At least they’d know who this person was if they came in to prove they weren’t planning anything illegal.

“No. I won’t release him to you. Yes, this is an open investigation. Why? Didn’t you know that?” Her forehead gathered. “You’re not from around here. How did you know to call me then?” She jumped slightly, then pulled the receiver away from her ear. “He hung up on me.”

“Who?” Ferd asked just a moment before Duke.

“George Edward Ripley, the third was his name. According to what he told me, he was Bailey's nephew and he'd only just been notified of his uncle's death. He was quite rude. Sounded older than twenty, younger than thirty. Foreign, but not from another country. Like maybe California or Washington. Not from Wyoming.”

Duke snickered. “California isn’t foreign.”

Maddie didn’t miss a beat. “Around here it is.”

Ferd couldn’t hold in a grin. “What else did he say? You mentioned a water burial.”

Maddie grabbed a book off her shelf and flipped through the pages, then turned the book around. “He wanted the equipment to do something like this, where the body is held on a boat and winched off into the water. Oh, and he wantedmeto get the boat.” She tapped the page twice.

The image was of a crane device much like the cremation retort they’d watched her use when they arrived. “He’d have to buy a specific casket that would degrade quickly in water. You can’t just dunk a regular one over the edge and call it good. There are rules and laws.” She rolled her eyes. “Coffins aren’t Oreos.”

Duke blinked for a second, then shook his head with a laugh as he quickly punched something into his phone. “Found someone with his name on social media. Hopefully, we’ll hear from him at the station soon, confirm this is our guy, and findout what his real connection to Bailey is. Thank you for your help.”

“What about the clandestine funeral?” she asked, pouting. “I was already planning it.”

“We’ll have to put that on hold until George makes his relationship to Bailey clear to us. Now, if he’s telling the truth and we simply didn’t have record of any family, then we’ll have to let him do with the body as he pleases.”

“But you don’t think he does?” Ferd concentrated on Duke.

“No, I think this might give us more information about Bailey that we absolutely needed.”

FOURTEEN

“So?” Ferd let the word hang in the air as they got back into Duke’s car.

“I hate to make you wait, but that’s what we have to do. I’m not supposed to know about the conversation that George had with Maddie, so I can’t look him up and give him a call.”

Ferd dug her phone from her purse and poked the number in for the non-emergency number. “Hey dispatch, this is Ferd Kincade. I’m with Duke. Has anyone called in the last few minutes looking for an officer to help him get permission to take Bailey’s body?”

The woman on the line was silent for a moment, typing. “Not that I can see. Nixon allowed his number to get out, so sometimes he handles things directly and I don’t find out where he’s been until after the fact. Not like where I used to work. They had to report every breath they took. Want me to send a message his way?”

Ferd laughed. “Same. I’m not used to this. Cody definitely expects us to use dispatch, not only for communication but to make sure everyone is where they should be. If it’s possiblesomeone went directly to him, I’d like you to get him a message, please.”

“I suppose we’ve never had any of our own commit crimes, so we haven’t had to follow the chain of command as diligently. Hope we never have to for that reason, but you just never know.”

“I agree. If anyone does call in, can you let either me or Duke know? We were at the funeral home talking to Maddie a few minutes ago and happened to be there when she got a semi-unhinged call from a man named George Edward Ripley III who wanted Bailey’s body.”

“What?” her voice pitched higher. “Bailey had no family. I know because I dated him a year ago. I almost asked for his body sinceIwas the last one to have any sort of connection to the poor man. I just couldn’t justify what people said about him with working for the police. Business and pleasure don’t mix at all in that instance. I’ll leave a note, just in case he calls in on another line.”