That triggered a hunch. ‘When did Bud Wiley die?’
‘You want a copy of his death certificate, too?’
‘No. I’d just like to see it.’
He expected her to trundle off to get another binder, but she merely flipped forward a few pages in the same book. Emerson. G. ‘Bud’ Wiley died on September 15, 1982 of acute alcohol poisoning. He drank himself to death that same summer.
Pauly Pribilski and Betty Jo Dean had been shot to death in late June. Laurel Jessup had been run off the road two days after Betty Jo Dean was discovered. Delbert Milner had died from a gunshot wound, self-inflicted or otherwise, the next morning. A cabin down by the river had burned in July. That same month Dougie Peterson had his head bashed in, drowning.
Clamp Reems’ wife took off sometime in August, a short while before Bud Wiley drank himself to death.
Calling it a bad summer all around didn’t begin to describe it.
SIXTY-SEVEN
April stood by the doors to the kitchen. She was not smiling. Thirty reporters and cameramen had crowded into the dining room of the Bird’s Nest, pushing the tables and chairs into a jumble along the side wall. They’d come from as far away as Chicago, Madison and Des Moines because they’d been promised new news about sensational old killings – not to eat or drink or buy any damned thing at all.
Maggie Day, black shawl draped loosely around her shoulders, cowboy hat low on her head, was at her usual perch at the hostess station by the front door. She smiled at the news people as they came in and handed each a thin packet of photocopies. Every few seconds she looked out the window. She was waiting for the man who was to join Mac at the table at the far end of the room, a man who might now be facing a murder charge, thanks to circumstantial evidence, proximity and Mac Bassett’s fevered brain. She was waiting for Reed Dean.
Mac looked out at the news faces. He remembered some of them from his mayoral campaign. He smiled at the television reporters for the Fox and NBC affiliates out of Rockford. TV would get the word out the fastest.
Maggie got up and stepped outside. She came back in a moment, caught Mac’s eye and shook her head. No Reed, not yet.
It was ten past two. Mac pulled the microphones a little closer and cleared his throat. Bright camera lights switched on him.
‘Everybody ready?’ he asked.
Some nodded, some did not.
‘I’d like to make a statement, and then I’ll answer questions. My name is Mac Bassett. I am the mayor of Grand Point, Illinois. In that capacity, I was asked to look into what progress, if any, had ever been made in investigating the 1982 murders of Paulus Pribilski of Rockford and his companion, Betty Jo Dean, of here in Grand Point.’
He paused to look again at the door. No Reed.
He went on: ‘The Peering County Sheriff’s Department made no progress whatsoever. I hope you will leave here today determined to learn why that is.
‘Today, I am saddened to report atrocious new developments in the case. At the request of the Dean family, Betty Jo’s body was exhumed and the detached skull, her cervical vertebrae, her femur and various samplings of fingernail and other tissues were examined by the forensics department of the Illinois State Police. It took them less than forty-eight hours to issue the sketchy report you’ve been handed here today. It states that all the skeletal remains belong to the same individual, and that Betty Jo Dean was shot through the nose.’
Mac paused for a moment to make brief eye contact with several of the television reporters. ‘The second and third documents in your packets are copies of the death certificates of the murdered couple. Pay particular attention to Betty Jo Dean’s. It states that she was shot from behind, as was reported extensively in the press back in 1982. Yet the Illinois State Police forensics examiner, based upon his examination of the skull that was exhumed, found that the skull exhumed, loose, with Betty Jo Dean was shot through the nose.
‘I agree with the state’s examiner,’ Mac said. ‘That skull was shot through the nose.’ He paused to let that sink in, then went on: ‘Once the state’s examination was completed, the exhumed skull and cervical vertebrae were submitted to two forensic anthropologists, Doctor Francine Wilhausen of the University of Illinois and Doctor Robert Hargrave of Parkland College. Their preliminary finding is detailed in the email copied in your packets. It states that the skull does not articulate with the cervical vertebrae. In other words, the loose skull exhumed with Betty Jo Dean was not hers.’
Several hands shot up, but in deference to the television cameras, no one called out.
Mac ignored them. ‘Now I will address what I think will be some of your questions. The first, of course, is whether I know who killed Paulus Pribilski and Betty Jo Dean. Answer: no, I do not, though I believe several individuals might know.
‘Question two must be why Betty Jo Dean’s head was removed prior to burial. One person who may have assisted in the decapitation says there was a mad panic to retrieve the bullet lodged inside Betty Jo Dean’s skull so that it could be compared with those recovered from Paulus Pribilski. Yet to go to such a barbaric extreme would have been unnecessary. The usual means of extracting a bullet involve a probe and, occasionally, the cutting away of a section of the skull. The whole head does not need to be removed. In this particular instance, the whole head removal theory is particularly laughable, since the exhumed skull has been cut all the way around, above the eye sockets, to make the top easily removable for study. This probably indicates that the skull exhumed was a teaching device, bought long ago from a medical supply house.
‘There is an obvious, partial answer why Betty Jo Dean’s head was switched: the killer was taking no chances. He wanted her head so others could not examine it. Why? Or, for what? I don’t know. Neither does the Peering County Sheriff’s Department, which has demonstrated little curiosity about any aspect of this case.
‘The third question is obvious: who had access to the skull before her burial? I won’t give you possible names, but you, as investigative reporters, can easily find out for yourselves who had such access.
‘Finally, some of you have heard that our local newspaper publisher, Horace Wiggins, died in a fire of suspicious origin early yesterday morning. Mr Wiggins was responsible for taking photographs of Betty Jo when she was discovered. Interestingly, only one such photograph has ever been shown to the public, though it’s suspected others were taken. In fact, it’s rumored Wiggins’ death was related to the rumored emergence of a second, more revealing photo. Perhaps he was killed because he possessed even more information about the murders of Pauly and Betty Jo Dean.
‘That’s it, ladies and gentlemen. Now I’ll take your questions.’
‘Why won’t you tell us who you think took her head?’
‘As I said, I can’t be sure because I don’t understand who would want to remove it in the first place. Most likely, the person who removed the head wanted the bullet, but what good would that do? Four or five were already extracted from Pauly Pribilski. You must start with the most basic question: who had access to Betty Jo Dean during the brief time between when she was discovered and when she was buried?’
‘Well, for starters-’ the NBC reporter yelled out.
‘No,’ Mac shouted back. ‘Don’t speculate. Investigate. Rip this case wide open. Find the truth. Begin by isolating who could have taken her head.’
‘And that will reveal the identity of the killer?’
‘It might reveal someone who conspired to conceal the murderer’s identity. In the eyes of the law, those who conspired and still conspire to cover up these murders are just as guilty as the person who pulled the trigger.’