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Chapter 62

CLAIRE LOOKED UP when Rich and I banged open the ambulance bay doors to the autopsy suite She wore a flower-printed paper cap and an apron, the ties straining across her girth She said, “Hey, you guys Check this out”

Instead of a corpse, there was a bisected tube of what looked likewas clamped open on the autopsy table

“What is that?” I asked her

“This here’s a trachea,” Claire told us “Belonged to a schnauzer Hanni found in the bushes outside the Chu house See how pink it is? No soot in the pooch’s windpipe and his carbonhe wasn’t in the house during the fire Most likely he was in the yard, raised the alarm, and someone put him doith a blow to the head

“See this fracture here?”

So much for the APB on Graybeard Whose sad task would it be to tell Molly that her dog was dead? Claire went on to tell us she’d spent the day getting George and Nancy Chu’s bodies from the funeral home

“It’s not our jurisdiction, not our case, but I finally got permission froainst the killer and I haven’t exaet diced into pieces by the attorney for the defense”

I“uh-huh” and Claire went on

“Ruben Chu was a nities,’ but anywayI got the release Both bodies are at X-ray now,” Claire added

“What was your take?” I asked

“They were burned pretty bad, a few extree Chu’s ankles still had several wraps of intact monofilament fibers on it So that, my friends, is evidence that they were absolutely, positively tied up”

“Great job, Claire”

“And I got enough blood for the tox screens”

“You gonna keep us guessing, girlfriend?”