Page 31 of 1000 of You
“I’vealready called dispatch to send over the meat wagon. Coroner should be here anyminute,” Halliday commented, answering the sheriff’s unspoken question.
Watchingwhere he stepped, Mandel leaned over the bed to examine the woman’s body, whichwas partially slumped over the male’s, who’d been sitting propped up againstthe headboard. “Talk to me, Curtis.Who’mI lookingat?”
“Victimsare David and Denise Wesner.”
Mandel gavehim a surly glance. “You sure about that?”
Hallidaypointed in the direction of the living room. “Their names are on the mail.Pictures on the wall gave me a firm I.D.”
The sheriffnodded. “Go on.”
“We got acall into the office this morning a little after nine from Sassy Look BeautySalon. Ava Hearn runs the place.”
“My wifegoes there,” Mandel remarked. “What did Ava have to say?”
“She saidMrs. Wesner didn’t arrive for her eighty-thirty hair appointment. She said thewoman never missed. Not even when the weather was less than friendly. She saidin all the years she’d been doing the woman’s hair, she could count on one handhow many times the woman had been late arriving. But she always showed.”
“So youcame over to do a welfare check?”
Hallidaygave a nod. “Yeah, especially when Ava mentioned that Mr. Wesner had been realsick for the past couple of weeks.”
Mandelpeered closer at the couple on the bed, then eyed the paraphernalia gathered onthe nightstand. Picking up one of the prescription bottles, he read the label.“This is some pretty strong stuff. It was filled over at Brook’s Pharmacy justrecently. Call Dr.Mitnardand let him know hispatient is deceased. Ask him what he was treating Mr. Wesner for.”
Hallidayexited the bedroom to use the telephone located in the living room. At the sametime, Mandel heard another car pull up to the house, and went outside to greetthe coroner. “Arnold.” He held out a hand to the grizzled man, who shook it.
“Sam. I’llbe honest with you. I was expecting this call a whole lot earlier.”
Mandel gavehim a surprised look. “You knew Mrs. Wesner was going to kill her husband?”
The coronerfroze, a shocked expression on his face. “What? No!”
Rather thandebate the issue, Mandel led him into the house to see for himself. As he wasleading the man into the bedroom area, Halliday waved at hand at him to get hisattention. “Dr.Mitnardwants to speak with you.”
Mandel tookthe receiver. “This is Sheriff Mandel of theOesteCounty Sheriff Department. You’re Dr.Mitnard?”
“AnsonMitnard. I’m a general practitioner here inGobbell.”
“You wereDavid Wesner’s physician?”
“Yes. For bothhim and his wife, Denise.”
Mandelpulled out the bottle he’d tucked into his breast pocket. “Deputy Hallidayinformed you that bothWesnersare deceased,correct?”
The doctorsighed. “He mentioned that they may have been victims of foul play, but youwouldn’t know for certain until after the autopsies. What can I do to help?”
“I’mstanding here looking at a bottle of prescription meds you wrote for DavidWesner. This is potent stuff. What were you treating him for?”
“We’ddiscovered a tumor on his prostate.”
“A tumor?You mean cancer?”
“That wasour diagnosis, yes.”
“What washis prognosis?”
“The cancerwas aggressive and pretty advanced by the time it was discovered. I gave himsix months to a year to live, but I seriously doubted he’d make it anothercouple of months.”
Mandelstared again at the bottle. “I take it he was in a lot of pain.”
