Point No Point by Mary Logue Read Free Book Online

where it sat on her cheekbone.
    “She doesn’t have favorites. And we’re not girls. I just happened to be there. That’s all. That’s why she asked me to watch and report on the medical examiner’s findings. Could have been anyone,” Amy said as she looked up into his big smiling face. He had a dimple in his left cheek. She wanted to reach up and poke it with her finger, but she tried to resist touching him during
    work. “You could have done it, Bill, but you left. You went home right at the end of your shift, like you always do. Anyways, you don’t like looking at dead bodies.”
    “You got that right. The less I have to be in the morgue the better I like it. Give me drunks any day over dead bodies, especially Mr. Bloatie.”
    “He was gross,” Amy agreed. “Did he seem familiar to you?”
    “Nope. Never saw the guy before in my life.”
    “How can you be so sure?”
    Bill rolled his eyes. “When you’ve been in this business as long as I have you don’t forget a face.” He paused. “Even if it is all spongy from a week in the muddy Mississippi.”
    “Speaking of his face, I’m in the midst of trying to track him down. The medical examiner figures that he’d been dead, at the most, a week, at the least, three days. Could you help me get on the computer and show me where the missing persons databases are? Is it by state?”
    “Can’t, Ame. I’m off on patrol this morning. You’ll figure it out. It’s easy.”
    Amy didn’t say anything. She was a better shot than Bill, but he was much more skilled on the computers.
    Bill stood up to leave, then asked, “Hey, what happened with that guy that shot his wife?”
    “I don’t think they know yet. Took him off to the hospital and I guess he was breathing. Hopefully he’s still alive.”
    “I heard that he hung himself with strips of the sheet. He must have been really desperate.”
    Amy gave Bill a slow look. “I think that attempting any form of suicide indicates a high level of desperation.”
    Bill stared at her. “You sound just like her.”
    “Like who?”
    “Claire.” Bill tapped her on the nose with his pointer finger. “Scary. That’s the way she talks. Are you starting to be a Claire clone?”
    Amy decided to break her rule of not touching him and picked up the report she had been going over and batted him with it.
    After he ducked away from her swing, he asked, “Any chance you’ll feel like a pizza tonight?” he asked.
    “Only if it comes with mushrooms.”
    “Half of it can,” Bill said.
    “So just tell me this, to find out if someone’s been reported missing, do I just go into the Wisconsin Public Records?”
    “Depends on if they’re missing from Wisconsin.”
    “I know. He’s just as likely to be a Minnesota guy. I’ll start on our side of the river, but plan to branch out later.”
    “If it’s happened as recently as the medical examiner thinks, he might not be in the database yet. In fact, he probably won’t be. He might not even have been reported as missing yet.”
    Amy stood up. “Okay, enough encouragement. Point me at the computer.”
    Bill put his large hand on her shoulder and pushed her toward the door of the computer room.
    Amy said hi to another deputy who was scrolling through a database of numbers and sat down in front of one of the free computers. A psychedelic pattern of blending and swirling colors mesmerized her. She watched the twirling colors for a few moments, then managed to find her way into the Wisconsin Missing Persons database.
    Working the database wasn’t as hard as she had feared. She entered the data that she knew about their bloated man: red hair, blue eyes, 6 feet tall—probably around 200 pounds, but hard to tell because of the water gain—a small scar on his lower back that the coroner had called her about, and a tattoo on his left shoulder.
    At first, she held off on the tattoo, just in case it wasn’t mentioned. She was hoping the tattoo would make all the difference.