“I was just telling James that the fact Monroe County hasn’t issued an indictment or an arrest warrant yet is great news for us. It means the State’s Attorney’s office there doesn’t think they have a strong enough case against James yet. And after the botched arrest here in Calusa County, they’re not going to proceed until they do. They don’t want any more bad press attached to this case.”

“So, what are you saying . . . this could all just go away?” I asked.

“Unless they get more evidence. And in a case like this”—Natalie began ticking off the points on her fingers—“the crime occurred so long ago, no new witnesses have come forward, and the Coroner can’t even pinpoint the cause of death. There’s just not enough to go forward on. Technically, they can’t even prove Hannah Nilsson was murdered.”

“Except for the fact that her body was buried,” I said.

“Even that isn’t enough. The State can’t prove how she died, no matter how obvious it looks. What if she fell and hit her head, and some crazy person came along, found her body, and decided to bury her, rather than calling the police? It may sound farfetched, but this is Florida, after all.” Natalie gave a small smile. “Strange things have been known to happen here.”

The idea that some stranger unconnected to Hannah’s death found her body and decided to give her an impromptu burial didn’t just sound farfetched . . . it sounded completely outrageous. But I understood what Natalie meant. We had to consider what the State could and could not prove. And if they couldn’t demonstrate that a murder had even taken place, they certainly couldn’t prosecute James for having committed it.

“Is there any point where the police, or the State’s Attorney, or whoever will issue a statement officially clearing me?” James asked.

Natalie smiled again, this time a little ruefully. “Unfortunately, no. The State’s Attorney never does that. The best we could hope for is that they arrest someone else for the crime. But, unless some new evidence is found, or a witness comes forward, that seems equally unlikely.”

“But if I’m never exonerated, that means I’ll always be a suspect, right? How is that fair?”

“It’s not. But it’s better than life in prison,” Natalie pointed out.

“I understand. But, in the meantime, while I sit around waiting to see if they’re going to arrest me or not, my entire surgery schedule has been postponed. Some of those surgeries have been scheduled for months.”

“Legally, nothing’s preventing you from going back to work,” Natalie said.

“Sure, but would you want someone suspected for murder to operate on you?”

I was surprised at how irritable he sounded. James rarely snapped at anyone. The stress must’ve been getting to him.