The Body on the Roof

by Kevin Creager

  “It is a body on a roof, sir. And it was a bad storm last night. I can’t see her going out for her cat in that.”

  Pierson slowly nodded. “You may be right, Speed. I just hope she hasn’t been lying up there not dead, just unconscious, waiting for us to get another ladder.”

  Reasoner looked stricken. “The body really looks dead. Oh my God, the report just said, ‘dead body’. I didn’t think to check it...”

  “Apparently neither did Bud.” He pointed to Addams, who was Bud because Pierson couldn’t think of anything else to call him and he was already Bud to everyone else. “Or the joggers.” Then gestured to the other neighbors. “Or anyone else. So maybe we better take a look. Just to make sure?”

  At that moment the fire truck pulled up, causing a murmur among the crowd, who probably hadn’t even been thinking fire.

  “Let’s get that ladder and see just what we have up there. Bud!” He called to the other officer. “Have them back that truck up to that corner. We’re going to meet them on top.”

  While Addams, only a few years younger than Reasoner but already starting to put on a little weight, was directing the fire truck to a good spot to reach the body, Pierson walked around the back of the house, with Reasoner following. He went straight to the ladder, looked up at the roof, then reset the ladder closer to where they could reach Mrs. Mathison, or whoever. He placed one foot on the bottom rung and tested his weight before climbing to the roof. Reasoner seemed to hesitate, but followed in her boss’ steps.

  Pierson wiped his hands as he stood leaning into the peak, then strode purposefully, or as purposefully as one can on a pitched roof, to the chimney, resting his hand on the top to balance himself. He reached down with the other and plucked the cowering Reginald up. The cat was so drenched that it didn’t even complain, but lowly mewed and lay limp as a rag.

  He handed the cat to Reasoner. “Here, find someone down there with a towel and try to dry him off. I’ll go look at Mrs.....” He stopped after a step and looked back. “Just as a question, did anybody ring the doorbell to see if Mrs. Mathison was in the house?”

  “Yes, sir, there was no answer.”

  He gave her a thumbs up. “OK, then I’ll go check on what is probably Mrs. Mathison.”

  He stepped over the peak just as the fire ladder was arriving from the other side. He brushed some more piles of wet leaves, picked something shiny up, looked at it for a second, and put it in his pocket. He bent down next to the vent and tugged the shoulder of the body over to him so he could see the face.

  An EMT poked his head over the edge of the roof.

  “Yeah, Jim, it’s Grace Mathison. Damn.” Pierson put his head down for a moment. “And she’s dead.” He started to shift the body and sighed. “Can we get her down your ladder there?”

  “Chief Pierson.” Reasoner was right behind him, with no cat. That was pretty quick, he thought. That’s why I call her Speed. “This is a death under suspicious circumstances. We have to call the county coroner.”

  Pierson sighed and looked at the EMT, Jim McGarry, who had now joined him beside the body. Jim shrugged and whispered, “By the book, is she?”

  “Officer Reasoner, you are correct. I hate to leave her up here to the elements, though. Make that call quick, and see if we can get a tarp or something to cover her up.”

  The call was made, the coroner confirmed he was on his way, and a tarp was found. Pierson spent a few moments next to the body and walking the apparent path from where the ladder had first been to the vent, and finally descended to the ground.

  He tried the back door next to the ladder, found it unlocked, and opened it to go inside. Reasoner followed him in.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered, feeling like they were breaking in.

  “The house is open. If you think there is more to this than meets the eye, then let’s see if anything was going on in here.”

  He looked around the kitchen. “Not much here. A couple of glasses.” He picked up one. “Do you think it’s suspicious that there’s more than one glass, officer?”

  She bent down and looked carefully at the floor on the other side of the kitchen table, reached out and ran her finger across a spot.

  “It’s damp here. But she didn’t come back in after going out. Not if she died out there.”

  “Unless it’s from us, just now.”

  “You didn’t walk over here on this side of the room.”

  Pierson shrugged and slightly shook a sleeve. Water sprayed everywhere, including where he hadn’t walked. He continued into the living area, what would have been a family room if she had family living with her, but now was just where Mrs. Mathison had done much of her single living. Running his hand along the surfaces, he walked throughout the room, occasionally picking up an object, then putting it back down.

  “Wait!” Reasoner called from the doorway.

  He took another step before turning to look at her.

  She pointed. “That looked like a wet spot there, but you just stepped into it.”

  “Speed – Stephanie – I’ve been walking all over this room. There are plenty of wet spots. All mine.” He waved his arms to include the entire room. “I don’t see anything missing. At least there are no blank spaces.” He rubbed a corner of the mantel. “And I don’t see anything disturbed. If you want to go through the rest of the house, go ahead. I doubt if you’ll find anything here.” As she moved past him, he continued, “But, if you do, let me know.”

  He walked back through the kitchen and out the back door, stepping foot on the lawn just as Officer Addams came around the corner, leading a man, mustached and middle-aged, which, in Pierson’s mind, made him older than Pierson himself.

  He held out his hand. “Pete, sorry to bring you out in this, but there’s a body on the roof, and we don’t get too many of those.”

  Dr. Peter Ross shook his hand. “Would think the body would rather be down here in a nice warm bed, wouldn’t you? But, I take ‘em where I get ‘em.” Ross headed to the ladder and up.

  Pierson turned to Addams. “Bud, are the EMTs still here?” At Addams’ nod, he said, “Go ask them if they can stick around for a little while, unless there really is a fire or emergency somewhere else. We will still need their ladder and their help to get Mrs. Mathison down after Doc Ross is done. And then,” he pulled out his wallet and gave Addams a couple of bills, “go get some coffees for everybody, what, six-seven of us now? At Mac’s Café down the street. You know what we want and ask them what they’d like.”

  He then went up the ladder to join the doctor.

  Ross was already bent over the body, but hadn’t touched anything yet.

  “Anyone move the body? Position looks even more unnatural than I would have thought.”

  “Yeah, I checked to see if there was any way she was still alive. She wasn’t. Then I started to shift it to take it down before we realized we better wait for you. Sorry.”

  Ross just shook his head. “Probably not much harm done. Don’t think it made her any deader than she was already. But don’t do it again.”

  He pulled on gloves and spent a few more moments examining the body itself, then the area around it, up to the spot from which a slip was likely to have occurred, seemingly trying to determine just how the death could have happened.

  “Not much more I can do here.” He tugged the gloves off. “Don’t see anything yet that would indicate foul play. Probably broke something when she slipped, or lost consciousness and died from the elements. But have somebody take some pictures, and I’ll take a better look at her when I get her on a table.” He waved to another man on the ground. “Jerry would normally take the pictures, but I happen to know he’s
scared to death of heights. So to speak. Can give his camera to someone else.”

  Pierson nodded. “I’m sure Officer Reasoner would be glad to help. She’ll take every angle she can think of.”

  They descended to the ground. Addams was already handing out the coffees. Doctor Ross refused his. “Don’t drink coffee. Seen too many things between my practice and this side job that I don’t need any help staying awake. I’ll take a look at her later and let you know if there’s anything different.”

  He walked away as Reasoner came out of the house. Pierson raised his eyebrows in a question at her, and she shook her head in return. She moved closer and inclined her head toward Ross’ back. “He’s done already?”

  Pierson shrugged. “Not much he can really do here once he’s taken a look at the body. Can you get a camera from Jerry and go up there to take some pictures? He doesn’t like heights. Take shots of the body from some different angles and of the roof between her ladder and her. Anything you can think of.”

  He walked to the small group of men sitting on the side of the fire truck. “Bud, you’ve got the statements from the joggers?” Addams gave him a quick nod and held up a notebook. “Good. Then you can send them home. After Speed comes back down, the three of you,” he included the EMTs, “can bring the body down and get it over to Doctor Ross. Just don’t drop it. We don’t want any unexplained bruises or fractures. Any more of them, I should say. I’m going back to the office and find out what else the storm brought us.”

  CHAPTER 2

  Pierson sent the only other Summerfield officer, George “Pops” Peabody, to supervise the moving of a tree that had fallen across the street next to the elementary school. More to keep the students from gawking at it than it being a real nuisance, but might as well get it done. Peabody had been with the department longer than Pierson, longer than anyone tried to remember, but he kept saying he had nowhere else to go, and he took on most of the busy work that couldn’t be avoided. Which was fine with everybody.

  A lot of complaint calls related to the storm had come in, but most of them could be handled by a single phone call or a referral to the town’s maintenance department, run by Sally Grochuk. Once people had complained to her, they usually wished they hadn’t. She took care of the problem, one way or another, as the woman who complained about a delay in getting the snow plowed off her street discovered when the next storm’s snowfall was immediately all dumped in front of her driveway.

  A quick few hours later, Dr. Ross walked into the chief’s office and threw himself down in a chair.

  Pierson raised his eyebrows. “You don’t look happy. Something besides the weather and an older woman dying from exposure. An unexpected problem?”

  “Didn’t hit her on the head, did you?”

  Pierson paused, then slowly shook his head.

  “Didn’t think so.” Ross took a deep breath and blew it back out.

  “Her skull has been shattered, just over the left temple. By a rounded object. Nothing on the roof to cause that, not the corner of the chimney or the vent. Afraid you’re going to have to send someone out to take a closer look at the roof and the grounds below it. Couldn’t have gotten up to the roof with that wound, and can’t explain it with what’s up there and the position of the body. Can’t rule it an accidental death at this point.”

  It was Pierson’s turn to sigh. “Oh, hell. You mean we might really have a murder here? Mrs. Mathison?”

  “Unless you can come up with something at the scene that explains it otherwise.”

  “Damn. The more I thought about it, but I was hoping...” Ross raised an eyebrow. Pierson raised and dropped a hand. “I’m going to have to apologize to Speed. She was right about not disturbing things. And I’m going to have to get the county crime scene guys out there right away. They’re not going to be happy about the mess we made this morning, on top of all the rain.”

  He spun in his chair to look out the window. “We haven’t had a homicide in this town for, what, six years? Who would have thought? Mrs. Mathison wouldn’t hurt a fly. Not Mrs. Mathison.” He turned back. “You sure there isn’t any way it could have been an accident?” At the headshake, he went on. “What happened there, Doc? An older lady and her cat on a roof in a storm. What could have led to that?”

  Ross shook his head again. “You’ll find out. Not many secrets in this town. But it’s going to be hard to figure why. May never know that.” He stood up. “Got some things to finish up. Ladder still leaning against the roof? Might take another look myself.”

  Pierson snorted. “Probably. I never told anybody to take it down.”

  After Ross left, Pierson sat for a minute, then slowly walked to the door of his office. “Hazy!” He called for Marie Hazlett, the secretary-receptionist-dispatcher-“fill-in-for-whatever-is-needed” for the department. “Get hold of Reasoner, Addams, and Peabody, and tell them to meet in Room A in...” He looked at his watch “...an hour and a half. You too.” He closed his door behind him as he stepped out. “Also, call the Lincoln County crime scene unit and get them out to the Mathison house. Doc Ross will be there and can fill them in.” He sighed. “There’s something I better take care of first.”

  — — —

  Mrs. Grace Mathison didn’t have any children, but she did have a nephew in town. Harry Townsend hadn’t been in Summerfield long; his aunt had arranged for a job interview for him with the Johnson & Johnson Insurance Company about six months before. It was rumored that she and Mel Johnson had always had an unfulfilled thing for each other, and that he would likely do anything for her. So Mel interviewed her nephew and, finding nothing immediately objectionable and a willingness to learn the business, hired him.

  As the insurance office was only three buildings down (almost everything to do with business in town was on one side of the green or the other), Pierson walked to it. He expected to find Harry in his office with a window overlooking the green, either with a client or doing paperwork. Reports were that he was fairly successful in the business, so he should be busy with something. But he probably didn’t know about his aunt yet.

  “No, he doesn’t have a client right now, Chief Pierson.” Sherri Northrup, the receptionist, smiled at him. “Are you looking for some insurance? Maybe life insurance in your line of work? You never know.”

  “No, Sherri, the city pays for that. I just need to talk with Harry for a moment, if you don’t mind. But you might want to make sure we’re not disturbed.”

  “Oh, personal stuff, huh? Or legal, maybe?” Her smile broadened. Sherri was at the center of much of Summerfield’s gossip. If she didn’t know it, it hadn’t happened yet. But apparently, Mrs. Mathison’s death was too new even for her. “Come on back.” She stood up and led Pierson down the hall to Harry’s office.

  Mel Johnson was standing in the doorway, apparently just chatting with Townsend because they didn’t appear to mind the interruption. Johnson looked fit for his age, but retirement was just around the corner. Townsend was closer to thirty than forty and husky, as if football had been in his background.

  Mel put out his hand. “Hello, Jeff. Good to see you. I think. I hope you’re not here to arrest my best agent.”

  Townsend started at that remark as he stood, but quickly put on his best customer smile and also reached out a hand. “Chief Pierson. What does bring you out on such a fine day?”

  Pierson inwardly grimaced at the client-pleasing comment. A fine day? Hasn’t he looked out the window? And he’s certainly not going to continue with that thought after he hears what I’m here to tell him.

  “No, no, I’m not arresting anybody. Nobody’s in trouble. But,” he paused, “I’m afraid I do have some bad news for Mr. Townsend. Mel, if it’s okay with Harry, you might as well stay to hear this.”
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  He looked from one to the other and took a deep breath. “Mr. Townsend, there isn’t any good way to say this, but your aunt’s body was found this morning. She died sometime last night.”

  Townsend abruptly sat back down. Johnson leaned back hard against the wall and pulled out a handkerchief. The breath appeared to be knocked out of him.

  Townsend was the first to respond. “Aunt Grace?” At Pierson’s nod, “You say her body? What do you mean? Did she die in her sleep?” He put his hand to his mouth. “Was it a heart attack?”

  Pierson shook his head.

  “A stroke? A fall?”

  “Her body was found on the roof.”

  That drew a startled “What?” from both Townsend and Johnson.

  “At first we thought she had gone up to get her cat during the storm, had slipped and knocked herself unconscious, then died from exposure. A couple of joggers saw her on the roof early this morning. But then Dr. Ross examined her and found that she had been struck on the head by some object that doesn’t fit anything up there. So it looks like somebody hit her somewhere else and put the body on the roof.”

  “Somebody...put the body...on the roof? What the...?” Townsend was having trouble getting the words out.

  “We don’t know what or why yet. But we’ve started a complete investigation. We will try to figure this out.”

  “Harry,” Johnson finally appeared to have recovered his speech and stepped towards Townsend. “We’ll find out what’s going on.” He turned to Pierson. “Is there anything else you can tell us, Jeff? As you can see, Harry’s in shock right now.” He wiped his brow with the handkerchief. “We both are. Oh my, I, I don’t know what to say. But please keep us up on everything you find out.” He stood up straighter. “Whatever you need from us, let us know.”

  Pierson shook his head. “No, there’s nothing else at the moment, we will be back in touch. Mr. Townsend, I want you to know that we are truly sorry for your loss. I knew your aunt, and we all liked her.”