The Skeleton's Knee

In this book, as in its predecessors, I have used real settings and, in some cases, real organizations against which to place my story. This is to add an element of realism, which readers have told me they enjoy. I do not do this, however, either to embarrass or bring discomfort to anyone associated with those settings or organizations, and I wish to stress that any such possible results were purely unintentional.

The Skeleton’s Knee
has, at least in part, an unusual inspiration. My brother, Michael, who is a surgeon, had served as my medical advisor for the first two books of the new-and-growing Joe Gunther series, but not for the third and (at that point) latest. I had actually worried that I might be bugging him by asking too many questions along the lines of, “What’s it feel like when you get stabbed?” etc, and so had demurred.

It turns out, however, that he was thoroughly enjoying the process, a fact that was revealed in a small note he mailed me following his reading of
Scent of Evil
. The phrasing was along the lines of, “Enjoyed the book, but felt a little left out, having not been consulted this time.”

Startled and delighted, I called and asked, “Really? Then have I got an idea for you!” Thinking of both his profession and his handicap (he has but one leg) I quickly traveled to his house and proposed that we tackle the following question: How do you uncover a long and deeply buried skeleton when you have no access to a ground-penetrating radar? Instinctive response? A metal detector. Problem? Skeletons aren't made of metal. Unless this one has a prosthesis made of steel.

And therein lies the genesis of
The Skeleton’s Knee
, for which I once again thank my brother, who so helpfully provided so many of the details to follow (and who plays a thinly disguised role that I’ll leave you to discover on your own…).

“I HAVE A BODY FOR YOU.”

The voice on the line—smooth, cultured, and completely serious—was Beverly Hillstrom’s, Vermont’s chief medical examiner.

I cradled the phone between my shoulder and cheek and poured several packets of sugar into my coffee. Unlike the larger urban charnel houses of New York or Los Angeles, the Brattleboro, Vermont, Police Department did not export corpses to the ME’s office for autopsy every day of the week, nor even once every six months. When we did, it was usually an “unwitnessed death”—an elderly person who’d died alone in bed, and for whose demise the law required an explanation.

Homicides, the only other professional reason for the ME and I to talk, were rarer still, although recently we had given those numbers a boost during a particularly bloodthirsty case. But that was now history; to my knowledge, we hadn’t shipped a body from either category since.

I was, therefore, totally baffled. “It came from here?”

She was suddenly, and uncharacteristically, less sure of herself. “It’s an adverse-occurrence case, sent to me by Dr. Michael Brook. You know nothing about this?”

“I don’t even know what an ‘adverse occurrence’ is.”

“It’s when a patient dies of something other than what he’s being treated for. For example, a cardiac patient dying of undiagnosed cancer.”

“Uh-huh,” I muttered, waiting for the inevitable punch line.

“Or an orthopedic patient dying of an aneurysm caused by a bullet.”

I let out a little puff of air. “Who are we talking about?”

“Someone named Abraham Fuller, age forty-seven. He was sent to me by Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, where he’d checked in with severe back pain and lower-limb paralysis, which X-rays revealed to be acute osteomyelitis. He suddenly up and died in the hospital two days later, and Dr. Brook wanted me to take a look.”

“And you found a bullet wound.”

“Specifically, I found a traumatic aortic aneurysm caused by a bullet crease some time ago.”

I put my feet up on my scarred wooden desk and rocked my chair back, getting comfortable. “Some time ago? How long?”

“I’ll give you the long-winded answer to explain why I have to be a little vague on the timing. When a bone is damaged, as part of Mr. Fuller’s spine was by the same bullet, it undergoes a series of sequential changes before stabilizing, much as the skin does when it scars over. But the process with the skin occurs rapidly, whereas the bone takes its time, five years generally, from start to finish. Technically, all I could say is that since Mr. Fuller’s bone-tissue exhibits having gone through this entire process, his wound is at least five years old.”

I caught her inference. “And not so technically?”

“Between you and me, based on my own experience, I’d say it was easily twice that, and maybe more. But I couldn’t back that opinion up with one shred of scientific data.”

I sighed and closed my eyes. A time-honored policeman’s adage has it that with homicides, if you haven’t nailed your killer inside a week, your chances of ever doing so divide by half for every subsequent week that passes. “So in a nutshell, you’ve just given me one very old, cold homicide.”

“I’m afraid so.”

“The aneurysm could only have been caused by the bullet?”

“I found trace elements of metal and had them sent to Waterbury for analysis under the scanning electron microscope. They were consistent with the lead used in bullets. Also, I have both an entrance and an exit wound, and internal scarring defining the trajectory within the body. So yes, the aneurysm was caused by a bullet and death was due to the aneurysm.”

“What took the aneurysm so long to burst?”

“That’s hard to say. I could venture a few guesses, but none of them would do you any good. Let’s just say he’d reached his time.”

I turned all this over in my mind. “He must have been wounded before he moved to the area. I don’t remember any local ending up in a wheelchair from a gunshot wound.”

“He wasn’t confined to a wheelchair. The paralysis I mentioned was recent, stemming from a sudden infection that formed around the old bone and lead fragments.”

“A sudden infection? Did he reopen the wound?”

There was a pause at the other end. “He might have done something to precipitate it; not reopen it, precisely, but perhaps to cause a shifting of sorts. You see, those fragments were not frozen in place. To a certain extent, the ones that weren’t encapsulated by the healing bone were free to wander a bit. It was one of the fragments that triggered the osteomyelitis, which in turn led to an abscess—a dumbbell lesion, specifically—that expanded into the spinal canal, put pressure on the lower cord, and thereby cut off the use of his legs. This is not so rare, by the way; it’s part of the reason why surgeons are so careful to remove everything they can from a wound. There are dozens of stories of people stepping on shards of glass and having them pop out of the skin years later far from where they entered.”

I paused a few seconds, reviewing the little I had. Over the phone, I could hear the faint strains of the classical music she favored in her office. “Could you tell if Fuller was treated at the time he was shot? Were there any suture scars, for instance?”

“None, and I looked carefully. Either the attending physician decided to leave well enough alone or Mr. Fuller never sought treatment. If the latter was the case, I’d say he used to be a very lucky man.”

“Would he have required professional home care, at least?”

“Not necessarily. I followed the scar tissue the bullet left behind. It entered between the navel and the left rib cage, missed the liver, spleen, and left kidney, nicked the aorta and the left transverse process of the spine, and exited. It must have been extremely painful at the time, but neither fatal nor permanently debilitating. Aside from the aorta, nothing vital was hit. He had to have been terribly uncomfortable, and it’s amazing the wound didn’t become infected, but he could have recovered simply by staying put. The irony was that his recovery turned out to be a false one. One millimeter the other way and he would have been dead. As it was, the wound became a time bomb.”

“But wouldn’t he have had a limp, or chronic back pain?”

“You’ll have to confirm this with Dr. Brook, but I doubt Mr. Fuller had much trouble with his spine until recently. His muscular development in the area of the wound indicates a full and normal range of motion. There were also no signs of long-term chronic infection. If I had to guess, I’d say he’d led a perfectly normal life until the abscess developed. In fact, I’ve rarely examined a healthier specimen. He didn’t smoke, wasn’t overweight, his stomach and intestinal contents revealed a vegetarian diet, and his liver was so good-looking, I doubt he drank much alcohol.”

I smiled at her enthusiasm. Despite the derision it attracted from my colleagues, I, too, enjoyed autopsies for the insights they provided. They reminded me of searches I’d conducted through people’s homes, apartments, and luggage, which also were usually rich in personal details.

“You couldn’t guess what the caliber was, could you?”

“Not with any precision, but it wasn’t large. Say anything from a .32 on down.”

I let out a small grunt. “Well, it looks like I better start digging. Could you send me copies of what you’ve got, especially a shot of his face?”

“I have a courier heading to Rockingham in a couple of hours. I’ll ask him to extend his trip a little.”

“Thanks. By the way, who has claim on the body?”

“No one. The record shows no next of kin and no claimant.”

That surprised me. “What about an address? Could he have been a street person?”

“He had none of the outward signs. His teeth, nails, hair, and general hygiene didn’t reflect that kind of life, unless he was new to the street. The hospital probably has all that.”

Familiar sensations were beginning to stir in my mind, the first signs of the case taking hold of my imagination. I knew that, like most homicides, this one probably had an easy and reasonable solution. I was fully prepared to discover that Fuller had been shot accidentally by a .22 pistol ten years ago. But until such a possibility metamorphosed into legal fact, I thought I’d better hedge my bets. “Could you put Mr. Fuller on ice for a few days, until I get a better handle on him, or until someone claims him?”

She hesitated. “It’s a little unusual. We normally don’t do that unless it’s a study cadaver… But sure, I don’t see why not. I have space. If it causes a problem down the road, I’ll let you know. Don’t leave me out on a limb for too long, okay?”

“I promise.”

I hung up and stared out the window that separated my office from the rest of the detective squad, grateful that this was cropping up when our work load was comparatively light. My cubicle, small but well lit, and recently remodeled, along with the rest of the ancient building, was the sole display of rank I could brag of as chief of detectives.

I got up and opened the door. Off to one side of the central cluster of four desks was a fifth one, facing the entrance to the public corridor outside. This was Harriet Fritter’s station, the squad secretary, or clerk, whose frightening efficiency and competence allowed me to duck most of the paperwork that would otherwise have kept me anchored indoors.

“Harriet,” I asked her, “could you call Dr. Michael Brook at the hospital and see if he’s available for a quick chat? Also, did you see anything from the town clerk’s office listing the week’s death certificates? I thought we were supposed to get a copy of that as a matter of routine.”