3. A Body is Discovered

County Sheriff Ericsson arrives at his office on a hot Monday morning to find his secretary, the tall, slender Sue Johnson pouring herself a cup of coffee. “Good morning, Sheriff,” she greets the short, pudgy sheriff, noticing he’s wearing one of his fading uniform shirts that’s too tight in the waist. She’s wondering why he doesn't buy new shirts. It’s bad enough that his office is drab. He has no personal items on his desk or the walls. She knows he worries about what people think of him. Maybe he doesn’t see inattention to his dress and his office contributes to people’s opinion of him. He greets her in a cheerful voice. “Good morning, Sue. You got here early if you have coffee made already. Did you use fresh ground coffee from the brand of beans I like?”

“Yes, Sir, I’ll pour you a coffee in your favorite red mug. I woke up early this morning. Like most of the villagers, I can’t stop worrying about Pineville’s financial difficulties. That’s all people talked about over the weekend. Many of our businesses have closed since the zebra mussels destroyed salmon fishing. Businesses close, people lose their jobs and move away. It’s no wonder tax income is down. What’s going to happen to our village, Sheriff?” Sue asks.

“I don’t know, Sue. We’re county employees but the health of the county is dependent on the health of the village. Many of the people leaving when businesses close live in the county so county tax revenues are falling as well. I hear the County Commissioners have raised the assessments to the village for shared services like us. If the village can’t pay its’ share the county will have to cut the budget. That could mean we lose a deputy. I was hoping we could have our offices painted this year or replace these worn chairs. That’s not possible with budget cuts. The mayor assigned Glen Lund to help the treasurer scrub every detail of the city budget. Let’s hope they find the money or make sensible budget cuts. Oh, your phone is ringing, Sue.”

Sue rushes to her office and answers the phone. She listens, occasionally inserting an uh-huh. After she says goodbye she rushes back into the Sheriff’s office and says breathlessly, “That was Trudy Lund. Glen is missing and she’s coming apart. She said he’s been getting threats that scare her. He told her after 10:00 church yesterday he had to go to Ralph Hess’ house to work on the city budget. He didn’t come home last night and she’s afraid something has happened. She wants you to find him,”

“Did she call Hess?”

“Yes, several times, but no one answers at his home. She didn’t know his office number.”

“I see. Okay, you alert the deputies on patrol to be on the lookout for Glen or his car. I think he drives a white Chevy. I’ll walk over to the city offices and talk to Hess. Maybe he and Glen worked all night on the budget.”

When the sheriff gets to Hess’s office, Hess is at his desk staring at his computer screen. A second desk the sheriff assumes is Glen’s is unoccupied. The sheriff says, “Good morning, Ralph. Have you seen Glen Lund this morning?”

Hess turns from his computer screen with a blank look on his face and answers in a tone the sheriff can’t decide is due to his being annoyed at the disruption or disinterest, “Good morning, Sheriff. No, I haven’t seen Glen this morning. He’s supposed to be here helping with the budget analysis, but he hasn’t come in.”

“Was he at your place Sunday afternoon?”

“No, I asked him to come in the afternoon to go over tax assessments with me, but he didn’t show up. I waited for a while then gave up and went to Alpena to do some shopping and have dinner. I’ve been so tied up with the city budget I needed a break. Why are you asking about Glen?”

“His wife reported him missing this morning. She said he left for your place right after 10:00 church and never came home.”

“That’s strange. He wasn’t supposed to be at my house until 1:30. He must have gone somewhere else. If he shows up later I’ll make sure he calls his wife.”

“Good, and call my office as soon as he gets here.”

“I will, I wonder what he could be doing. Suppose he went fishing?”

“Could be. I’ll tell him to contact you if we find him. See you later.”

“Okay, Sheriff.”

When the sheriff returns Sue asks, “Did you find Glen?”

“No, he wasn’t in his office and Ralph Hess hasn’t seen him. Hess didn’t seem concerned. I guess he’s so consumed with the city budget he can’t think about something serious happening to Glen. An odd thing; he said he told Glen to come to his house at 1:30, not right after 10:00 church. Glen must have had something else to do first. He wouldn’t be seeing another woman would he?”

“I can’t imagine Glen doing that. He and Trudy seem like such a happy couple.”’

“Well, there’s not much else we can do now. Call Trudy and let her know Glen isn’t at his office and we are looking for him all over the county. Then bring me another cup of coffee. I have some paperwork to catch up on.”

“I’ll get your coffee then call Trudy. She’ll want to talk for a while. I can’t imagine the worry she’s going through.”

Just before noon a call comes to the sheriff’s office from the 911 dispatcher reporting a body found at a roadside picnic spot in Huron National Forest. The sheriff rushes out, sees Deputy Wilson, and says, “Let’s go. A body has been found. Sure hope it isn’t Glen Lund. He was supposed to meet Ralph Hess yesterday, but he didn’t and he didn’t come home last night.”

Arriving at the roadside picnic spot the sheriff sees two cars, one is a white Chevy. A young couple in khaki shorts, T-shirts, and hiking boots are waiting by the picnic table, cell phones in hand. Sheriff Ericsson says, “Are you the ones that reported finding a body?”

“Yes, Sheriff, we’ll show you. We haven’t touched anything. It’s obvious the man is dead. Flies are collecting already,” the young man says pointing to the edge of the woods.

The sheriff and Wilson go toward where the man is pointing and see a body lying face down in the un-mowed grass. The sheriff waves the flies away, touches the neck, and says to Wilson, “Dead alright. Help me turn him over.”

They turn the body face up and Wilson exclaims, “It’s Glen Lund. He’s been shot, right in the heart it appears. What’s the white packet that was under his body?”

“Yes, it’s poor old Glen. Who would want to kill such a nice man? Get some gloves and an evidence bag. That white packet may be a clue, or it may be only something picnickers dropped. I’ll call the medical examiner. He may want to examine the body before it’s moved. Oh, and bring a camera. We should take pictures of this crime scene.”

“Yes, Sir,” answers Wilson heading to the patrol car for a camera, gloves, and an evidence bag.     

After calling the medical examiner, Sheriff Ericsson turns to the young couple and asks, “How did you happen to find the body?”

“We saw the car parked here and figured it was someone hiking. We were planning a hike and a picnic later. We stopped and started looking for a trail into the forest. That’s when we saw the body and called 911,” the man answered.

“You did the right thing. Give your names and phone numbers to Deputy Wilson, and then you’re free to go.”

The couple talks to Wilson for a moment then get in their car and drive away.

Wilson takes pictures of the body, the area around the body, and the white Chevy. Then as he bends over to put the white packet into the evidence bag he says, “Do you suppose Glen met someone here to buy dope and got shot instead? Hess’s house is close by. Glen may have picked this place to meet his dealer because it’s on the way there.” 

The sheriff says, “I can’t believe Glen used dope. My guess is the packet is just sugar a picnicker dropped. If it turns out to be heroin or cocaine it must have been planted to make it look like a drug buy. I wonder why there isn’t a pool of blood on the ground. If the shot killed him here wouldn’t there be more blood?”

“I don’t know, Sheriff. If the bullet hit his heart he might not have bled much. When I hit a deer in the heart it doesn’t bleed much. That’s why you always have to slit a dead deer’s throat quickly to drain as much blood out as possible,” Wilson replies.

“We’ll see what the medical examiner says. Maybe he can tell if the killer shot Glen here, or somewhere else and moved him here. After you label that evidence bag, put yellow crime scene tape around this place. You can bring a metal detector and search for a shell casing later. While we’re waiting let’s dust the white Chevy for fingerprints. I keep a kit in the trunk of my patrol car. And bag anything out of the ordinary in the car.”

“I’m on it, Sheriff.”

While Wilson is dusting the car’s door handles for prints the sheriff calls Sue and asks her to tell Trudy Lund Glen’s body has been found. He concludes with, “Send a deputy to the treasurer’s office. Tell him to photograph Glen’s desk, bag the laptop computer sitting on the desk, and seal off the office until we can check it more thoroughly. Hess will have to find another office to work in while we investigate Glen’s murder.”