Dead to Begin With Page 3

  Rhodes felt for a pulse in Marley’s neck, though he didn’t expect to find one. There was nothing but stillness. Marley’s skin was cool. He’d been dead for a while. It was cold in the building, which might make a difference in how fast the body cooled, but that wasn’t Rhodes’s concern at the moment. He patted Marley’s dark blue Levis and felt a wallet in one back pocket. There was nothing in the other.

  Rhodes started to turn the body over and heard vertebrae scrape together. The sound set Rhodes’s teeth on edge, but he continued. Rigor mortis seemed to have only just begun, but Rhodes didn’t try to estimate a time of death from that. Rigor varied too much from person to person. The autopsy would determine the time of death, so there was no need for guessing.

  Something in Marley’s jacket pocket jingled. Car keys. He wasn’t carrying a cell phone, which didn’t surprise Rhodes. If there was ever somebody who wasn’t the cell phone type, even well into the twenty-first century, it was Jake Marley.

  Marley’s head was crushed on the side that had hit the stage, but Rhodes didn’t see any other signs of harm. He wondered how a man managed to break his neck and mash in his skull in the center of a bare stage.

  It wasn’t possible, of course. Either someone had broken Marley’s neck or Marley had fallen and broken it himself. Rhodes didn’t think it was likely that someone could slip and fall on this stage and break his neck. Possible, yes. Likely, no.

  There were certain things in a theater that could break someone’s neck, however. Sandbags, for one thing. The theater was old, and it used what Rhodes had been told was a hemp rigging system, which meant that the lines used to raise and lower curtains and scenery were made of rope and that the counterweights were heavy sandbags.

  Rhodes looked for any traces of sand on the floor near Marley’s body. He saw none. He ran his hand over the floor, but his fingers encountered nothing as gritty as sand. He saw no sand on Marley’s clothing or face, either.

  Rhodes stood and looked up toward the grid deck high above in the fly loft. The spotlights were all in place, not that he’d thought one had fallen on Marley. He hadn’t seen any traces of anything like that, and it would have taken several people to move one away from the stage had it fallen. Traces of it would still be there, and Rhodes saw no evidence of it.

  Modern theaters had metal grids, but the one here was made of wood. That was something that would have to be upgraded during the theater’s renovation, assuming it continued. The grid was at least two stories above the stage. A man falling from up there could easily break his neck. The fall would knock him unconscious even if it didn’t break his neck, so he wouldn’t be able to get out his phone and call for help for a while. If he had a phone. In Jake’s case, help wasn’t necessary.

  One of the lights on the stage was directed upward, so it was possible that someone had been up in the grid, maybe Marley. Even with the light, it was too dark up there for Rhodes to see much. He’d be able to see better if he pointed all the lights upward, but even with that someone would have to climb up there and look around sooner or later. That someone would most likely be him.

  While Rhodes wasn’t afraid of heights, he didn’t enjoy them, either. Clambering around on the grid wasn’t his idea of a good time. He didn’t mind at all that it would have to wait.

  “You can call the EMTs now,” he told Aubrey, “and if you don’t mind, call Gene Franklin, too. He’s the justice of the peace.”

  “All right,” Aubrey said.

  Her voice was steadier now, if not exactly normal. She reached to the seat next to her and got her purse from under a coat that lay on top of it. While she was digging in the purse for her phone, she asked Rhodes what she should tell the paramedics and the JP.

  “Tell them that there’s a dead man in the theater, and tell them that I’m here. That should be enough.”

  “All right,” Aubrey said.

  While she was making the calls, Rhodes got out his own phone and took photos of the body from several angles. He checked to be sure they were sharp and then e-mailed them to himself so he’d have them on his computer at the jail. He also e-mailed them to Mika Blackfield, who did most of the forensics work for the department, in case she could see something that he’d missed.

  When he’d taken the photos and was about to leave the stage, he felt a current of cold air move through the auditorium. A couple of seconds later, Ruth Grady came in.

  “Hack thought you might need some backup,” she said.

  “I could use your eyes here, all right,” Rhodes told her, “but first go out and bring in some gloves.”

  Ruth went out of the auditorium and returned with a pair of nitrile gloves that she gave to Rhodes when she joined him on the stage again.

  “You’re treating this like a crime scene,” Ruth said.

  “You never know,” Rhodes said.

  He checked to make sure that it was indeed car keys that he’d heard in Marley’s pocket. He also removed the wallet to take a quick look inside it. He saw no credit cards, just a driver’s license. There were a few bills, but Rhodes didn’t take them out. Satisfied that nothing was unusual, he put the wallet back in the jeans and looked out at the auditorium, where Aubrey Hamilton was still sitting as she watched what was happening on the stage. Rhodes wondered if she thought it was like a play.

  “I’m sorry to keep you in this cold building,” he said to her.

  “I don’t mind, Sheriff,” she said. “I want to help if I can.”

  “I appreciate it,” Rhodes said. He turned back to Ruth. “Seen anything suspicious?”

  “Not so far,” Ruth said. “I don’t think there’s anything suspicious to see.”

  “Maybe not. How’s Elaine Tunstall doing?”

  “I took her home to Harvey. He said he’d watch her and be sure she got back on her meds. She was fine when I left. She and Harvey were drinking coffee. I think she’ll be all right.”

  “Did you give Harvey his sledgehammer back?”

  “I slipped it to him when Elaine wasn’t looking. He put it in the garage and said he’d hide it later, just in case. He’s going to have somebody bring his car to him this afternoon, so everything’s okay for the time being.”

  Rhodes hoped so. He told her what he knew about Marley’s death, but he didn’t know much.

  Ruth looked up into the gloom of the fly loft. “You think he could’ve fallen from up there?”

  “I can’t come up with a better answer,” Rhodes said, “but maybe you can. We have to consider all the possibilities. You look things over some more while I have a talk with Ms. Hamilton.”

  “All right,” Ruth said, and Rhodes left the stage and went to where Aubrey was sitting.

  Aubrey had finished the phone calls, and the purse was back in the seat beside her. Rhodes sat in the one next to it. The covering was cracked, and the stuffing showed through in a couple of spots, as did the springs.

  “The EMTs and Mr. Franklin said they’d be here quickly,” Aubrey said.

  Rhodes nodded. He could hold off the EMTs for a little while if Ruth needed more time to look things over. The EMTs would have to wait until Hamilton had pronounced Marley dead anyway.

  “Thanks,” Rhodes said. “You’ve already been a big help, but now I have to ask you a few questions.”

  Aubrey nodded. “May I ask one first?”

  “That’s okay. Go ahead.”

  “How did Mr. Marley die?”

  “I can’t answer that one,” Rhodes said. “We’ll have to wait for the autopsy. My guess is that his neck is broken.”

  “That’s what I thought. How could that happen? The fall wasn’t that bad, was it?”

  “I don’t know how it happened,” Rhodes said, “but I’ll try to find out. It could take a while.”

  “No one else is here. It must’ve been some kind of accident.”

  “That’s possible,” Rhodes said.

  Aubrey looked away from Rhodes. “You don’t commit yourself, do you.”

  Rhodes was bothered by that mark over Marley’s eye. “We have to investigate. I can’t just make guesses and hope I’m right the first time.”

  “Well, I hope you find out for sure. It’s very sad. Jake—Mr. Marley—was really getting interested in this theater and his play. It was wonderful to see how he was changing.”

  Rhodes saw his chance to get the conversation back on track and asked, “How was he changing?”

  Before Aubrey could answer, Rhodes heard the ambulance siren. He stood up. “Hold on. I’ll need to talk to the EMTs before you tell me. You’ll have to wait here.”

  “I can do that.”

  “Good. I’ll be right back.”

  Rhodes walked up the slanting aisle and into the lobby, where he met the EMTs, who were pushing a gurney. He knew both of them, Danny Watson and Fran Jellico. They were both good at their jobs.

  “You’ll have to wait for a few minutes,” Rhodes said. “The JP’s not here yet, and my deputy’s doing some work on the scene.”

  “Sure,” Danny said. “We can wait unless we get another call. Then we’ll have to leave.”

  “I understand,” Rhodes said.

  The lobby door opened, and wind rushed in along with Gene Franklin, who wore a topcoat and a golf cap. Not many people in Clearview wore topcoats and golf caps, but Franklin could pull off the look. Rhodes wondered how he kept the cap on in the wind, but it didn’t seem to be a problem for Franklin. He was tall and solemn and managed not to look like a member of a 1950s street gang in the cap, not that there were any street gangs in Blacklin County, as far as Rhodes knew.

  Franklin nodded to the EMTs and said, “Another body, Sheriff?”

  “That’s right,” Rhodes told him.

  “We could just do this over the phone,” Franklin s
aid. “You know, like they did for that Supreme Court justice who died out in West Texas. They just certified his death by natural causes over the phone.”

  “It’s probably better that you see the body in this case.”

  “He was an important person, that justice. We don’t have any Supreme Court justices visiting here, do we?”

  “It’s Jake Marley.”

  Franklin’s eyes widened. “That can’t be good.” He paused. “Not that it would be good if it were anybody else, either. You know what I mean. If there’s anybody in the county as important as a Supreme Court justice, I guess it would be Jake Marley.”

  “He’s an important man, all right,” Rhodes said. “Come on inside and take a look.”

  They went into the theater and down the aisle. Franklin stopped to say hello to Aubrey and then followed Rhodes onto the stage, where Ruth Grady stood beside Marley’s body.

  “Did you see anything unusual?” Rhodes asked Ruth.

  “No,” she said, and pointed to the fly loft. “I can’t see much up there, though. Too dark.”

  “We’ll get some more light there in a little while. Let’s get out of the way and let Gene examine the body.”

  Franklin pulled a packet of disposable vinyl gloves from inside his topcoat. He opened the packet, pulled out the gloves, and stuck the packet back inside his coat. He pulled on the gloves and knelt down to check the body. The examination didn’t take long.

  “I can certify that he’s dead, all right,” Franklin said. He stood up and removed his gloves. “But not the cause of death. Looks like a broken neck, but what caused it?”

  “We’re still working on that part,” Rhodes said.

  “Could be an accident,” Franklin said. “A fall or something like that.”

  “Maybe,” Rhodes said. “We can’t be sure yet.”

  “When you’re involved, it’s usually not an accident. I can see why you wouldn’t want to handle it over the phone, not that I plan to start doing that.”

  “My involvement doesn’t mean anything,” Rhodes said. “I just happened to be close by when the call came in.”

  “There’s no sign that it’s anything but an accident,” Ruth said.

  “Maybe not,” Rhodes said, “but it’s best to treat it as a suspicious death. That way there won’t be any mistakes that we’ll regret later.”

  Franklin put the gloves in an outside pocket of his coat. “That’s fine with me. I’ll put down that the immediate cause of death is a broken neck but that the underlying cause is undetermined, pending an autopsy. If that’s all you need me for, I’ll be going. You want me to send in the EMTs?”

  “Yes,” Rhodes said. “Thanks.”

  “This is really going to shake things up around town,” Franklin said, shaking his head. “It’s too bad it happened just when Marley was getting interested in the town and doing something for it.”

  “Too bad it had to happen anytime,” Rhodes said.

  “Yes, that’s true. I’ll guess I’d better go and get the paperwork done.”

  “If you don’t mind, when you give Dr. White a call about the autopsy, tell him that it should be done as soon as possible. Maybe this afternoon.”

  Dr. White was a retired physician who was a certified forensic pathologist, and he’d worked for the county for as long as Rhodes had been the sheriff. Rhodes thought the county was lucky to have him.

  “I’ll be sure to tell him,” Franklin said. He left the stage, and Rhodes and Ruth watched him walk back up the aisle.

  “Wait a second,” Rhodes called after him, and Franklin turned back. “Have them drive around to the alley. I’ll open the door for them. It’ll be easier that way.”

  “Sure, be glad to tell them,” Franklin said, and went on out.

  When he was gone, Ruth turned to Rhodes and asked quietly so Aubrey wouldn’t hear, “You do think it was an accident, don’t you?”

  “Let’s just say I hope it’s an accident. How’s that?”

  “And if it’s not?”

  “That’s what we need to find out,” Rhodes said.

  Chapter 3

  When the body had been removed, Rhodes told Ruth to ask at the few businesses up and down the street to find out if anyone had seen Marley come into the theater that morning.

  “That shouldn’t take long,” Ruth said.

  “You can come back when you’re finished asking,” Rhodes said. “I’ll still be here. I need to talk to Aubrey.”

  They left the stage together. Ruth went on up the aisle to the exit, and Rhodes looked toward the back of the theater and saw the little balcony that overhung the back few rows of seats. Above the balcony were openings for spotlights and the movie projector that had been installed when the opera house converted to a theater. Rhodes wondered if the old projector was still there. He hadn’t thought to ask anyone about that.

  “Did you ever come to the movies here?” Aubrey asked.

  “I’m older than you are,” Rhodes said, “but I’m not that old.” He sat down in the seat he had vacated earlier. “I’m sure there are people in the town who did see movies here, though.”

  For a second he wondered what might have played in the old theater. Abbott and Costello movies? War movies with John Wayne? Westerns with Roy Rogers?

  “Now we don’t even have a theater,” Aubrey said.

  Rhodes nodded. “People seem happy enough watching movies at home.”

  “Maybe so, but there’s nothing like watching with an audience.”

  “I was just about to ask you how Jake was changing,” Rhodes said, getting back on task. “Now you can tell me.”

  “It was obvious to everybody who was around him here,” Aubrey said. “He was getting out of his house, he was coming to town, he was dealing with people. Before, he was a very private person. As far as I know he hadn’t done any of those things.”

  He hadn’t done them as far as Rhodes knew, either, and he wondered what had happened to get Marley on the move.

  “Did you talk to him about that?” Rhodes asked.

  “No, I didn’t want to pry. I didn’t know him that well. I’d heard about him, but I don’t think I’d ever seen him until he called me and asked about buying this old building.”

  “I’m curious about that. Did he ever mention why he wanted it?”

  “For a play,” Aubrey said, as if surprised that Rhodes would ask. “I thought everybody knew about the play.”

  “I know about it,” Rhodes said, “but I don’t know why he wanted to do a play, and I don’t know why he wanted to do it now. For a long time he didn’t seem to care much about the town or anything else.”

  “He didn’t tell me why he wanted this building, other than for the play. I thought that was the only reason.”

  “Maybe it was,” Rhodes said, but he didn’t quite believe it. “Tell me what happened this morning to bring you here.”

  “It didn’t happen this morning. It happened last night. Mr. Marley called me and asked me to meet him here this morning. He said he had something he wanted to ask me about.”

  “He didn’t say what it was?”

  “No. I just assumed it had to do with real estate, that maybe he wanted to buy another building or something like that. It’s not as if we were friends and talked things over. And I’ve been helping a little with the restoration. Because of my work, I know a lot of the people around town who do carpentry and odd jobs.”

  Rhodes wondered if Marley might have had other motives for calling Aubrey. Her husband had died a couple of years previously in a pipeline accident, just as she was getting her Realtor’s license. She was an attractive woman, younger than Marley by a good many years, but that didn’t mean that Marley might not have been interested in her as someone who could be a friend. Or more than a friend. Rhodes looked at her left hand. There was no wedding ring on her third finger, but Rhodes had no way of knowing when she’d stopped wearing it. She wore no rings of any kind.

  “Maybe Jake wanted to ask you out,” Rhodes said.

  Aubrey hesitated. “You mean on a date?”