Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

Since adulthood, I’ve considered myself an enlightened woman. I keep myself informed about issues that are important to me, including my health. That said, I’d rather stick my hand in a running garbage disposal than go to the doctor. Aside from a few trips to the ER for minor injuries sustained in the course of my job, I’ve managed to avoid that particular displeasure. But with my pregnancy looming large, it’s no longer just about me, so when Skid and I arrive back at the station, I make the call and set the appointment for tomorrow at noon.

I’m packing my laptop into its case, about to call it a day, when my phone buzzes. I glance down to see POMERENE HOSPITAL blink on the display and I hit SPEAKER. “Burkholder.”

“Hi, Chief. It’s Doctor Megason over at Pomerene. I thought you’d want to know.… Jeramy Kline died about an hour ago.”

Surprise takes a swipe at me. “What was the cause of death?”

“That’s the thing, Chief. I don’t know. He went into respiratory failure, so we put him on a ventilator. He suffered with uncontrolled gastric bleeding. We couldn’t get him stabilized. Heart began to fail. He coded twice this morning. This afternoon, he coded again and we couldn’t get him back.”

“You ran a tox screen?”

“It came back negative. No drugs. No alcohol.”

“Healthy middle-aged men don’t fall ill and die without cause,” I tell him.

“Rarely.”

“Doc Coblentz is going to want an autopsy to determine cause and manner of death,” I tell him. “So do I.”

“I figured that would be the case, so I went ahead and notified him.” He pauses. “Kate, we may run into some resistance from the family. When I notified the deceased’s next of kin, his wife, Abigail, wanted to take him home immediately.”

In the state of Ohio, the coroner doesn’t need permission from the deceased’s next of kin before performing an autopsy in order to determine cause of death. “I’ll talk to her,” I say.

“As you can imagine, she’s pretty broken up.”

“Is there someone there with her?”

“Nice Amish family arrived just a few minutes ago to take her home.”

“Good.” But my mind is already plowing through all the murky possibilities of what might have led to the untimely demise of Jeramy Kline. “Doctor Megason, if you had to take a guess on what killed him, what would you say?”

“I hate to speculate on something like that. But if I had to, I’d venture to say he came into contact with some kind of toxin. Something he ingested, more than likely. A pesticide perhaps. Whatever the case, it was very lethal. Jeramy Kline didn’t stand a chance.”