Page 36 of Chosen Path
Molly groaned. “I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises. Those old records are a hot mess.”
Hope caught Molly’s eye. “I can help with the records. I am a librarian, after all.”
A broad smile—a real, honest-to-goodness grin—spread across Molly’s face. “Yes, yes you are. That would be fantastic.”
Officer Wolf used the arms of the chair to push herself up and out of the armchair. “I’ll see myself out.”
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
Bodhi listened closely as Molly excitedly recited her idea. He considered it carefully. And then he shook his head.
“In most jurisdictions, it’s a legal gray area.”
It was true. The next of kin always had the authority to consent to an autopsy. Beyond that, the rules governing autopsies were a patchwork of conflicting, inconsistent law. Gray area was too generous, he decided. It was a quagmire. In some states, the authorities could perform an autopsy over the family’s objections. In some, they could not. In some places, religious and cultural beliefs outweighed the public safety interest in an autopsy. But not everywhere.
In addition, other considerations, like divorced spouses and the rights of emancipated minor children, also came into play. There was no clear answer to the question of whether Hope could give permission to perform an autopsy on Corrine. More importantly, Bodhi wasn’t convinced it was morally defensible to ask her to do so, even if she could under the law.
“You’re absolutely no help,” Molly exclaimed. “I don’t know why Officer Booth insisted I had to talk to you about this.” She shook her head, frustrated and short-tempered.
“Ohhhhh.” He knew why Booth wanted Molly to talk to him.
“Oh, what?”
“Officer Booth wants me to deliver a message—more of a warning, really—to you. I’m really not comfortable with any of this, I want to make that clear.”
He wasn’t. He wasverynot comfortable. Molly’s idea may have been a legal gray area, but the longstanding practice of the law enforcement and medical establishment in Scandia Bluff was not even remotely gray. It was simply wrong.
“Your discomfort is noted. What’s the message?”
“The medical examiner’s office and the local first responders would like you to stop reporting deaths as suspicious.”
He wasn’t surprised when she exploded. “What? It’s in the statute, Bodhi. Sudden death when the person is in apparent good health is literally defined as a reportable death!”
“I understand.”
“It would be a gross dereliction of my duty if I didn’t report suspicious deaths. What difference does it make, anyway? The medical examiner has yet to investigate a single one of them.”
Bodhi switched his attention to Hope for a moment. He’d put together a big fruit salad in the hope of encouraging Molly and Hope to eat something. He’d yet to see Hope take a bite. He watched as she twirled a berry on the end of her fork and then dropped it back into the bowl.
“Hello?” Molly hissed.
He turned his attention back to the steaming mad doctor to his left. She was currently stabbing a melon slice like it owed her money.
“You apparently upset the apple cart. Officer Booth says there hasn’t been an autopsy performed on a resident of Scandia Bluff since some time in the 1950s. Before Rolf Larson started practicing.”
“You’re kidding me. They’re claiming there hasn’t been a reportable death in nearly seventy years?”
“No,” he said carefully, “she’s claiming there hasn’t been areporteddeath in that time.”
Molly stopped torturing her fruit and stared at him. “Doctor Larson was dirty?”
“I don’t know about that. He may have been scared. The reason he took over this practice was because his predecessor—the one who did report a death to the ME’s office—was kicked out of town by the enraged villagers.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No.” He glanced at Hope again. She was still lost in her own world. “And if Doctor Larson hadn’t died suddenly himself, Officer Booth is sure he would have told you that it isn’t done here. The central medical examiner’s office has an agreement with Scandia Bluff. They simply will not perform an autopsy over the family’s objection.”
“This agreement is only with Scandia Bluff? Not the whole county?”
