(A continuation from the last Blog.)

In the morning, Ron caught the tour headed off to Saint-Tropez and Sally slept in till 9 a.m. After she got up and had her coffee and baguette for breakfast, she took out a pencil and paper, and just stared at it for minute, then shook her head and started writing.

When Ron returned, he was tired and hungry. He took Sally by the hand and said, “Come on sweetheart, let’s go to the place we went to, the day we got here. It is good and close.”

They sat down and Ron asked, “What did you do today? Did you have a good day?” Sally just looked at him and tears came to her eyes. “My God! What happened?”

“Well, you picked up on the fact I was bothered about something a couple of days ago. I made a list of some things that were bothering me, and tried to see if they could be related. I spent my day checking it all out, and wish I hadn’t, but you know me, an unsolved puzzle drives me crazy.”

“What on earth could you have gotten involved with that would make you cry? You never cry. You always said, coroners can’t get involved with their clients, and we don’t even have a case.”

“This is different. It’s not part of one of our cases, and in the past, most of my clients were dead, and I didn’t know them. I have discovered information that could destroy the life of someone that I really care for, and I’m torn on what I should do about it. You know the talks we’ve had with each other, when we left the police department and became private investigators, about legal justice and poetic justice.”

“I sure do. There are many times a big gap between the two exists, but what does that have to do with your puzzle?”

“Everything! The case Paul was working on about the man who was murdered in the ally.”

“That’s old news, they’ve it figured out. The cartel took him out because of his debt. They probably will never find out who did it ,even if they are good detectives. It was more than likely some out-of-town professional.”

“No, it wasn’t Ron.”

“What do you know that they don’t, Sal?”

“I know who killed him, and it wasn’t Big Louie from Detroit. I know why they killed him, and it had nothing to do with money. And I know what the weapon was. Is that enough?”

“Sal, I know you well enough to know you’re not kidding, but I don’t understand what you’re saying. It doesn’t make any sense. You weren’t even that interested when I was telling you about it. How could you possibly have all that information?”

“Do you doubt me?” She asked with tears in her eyes.

“I know better than to do that. We’ve worked together too long. When you put a case together you’re almost never wrong, but this one you’ve got to really educate me on before we go to Paul.”

“Ron, that’s my dilemma. I don’t want to tell Paul, and I know I should.”

“Why, if you’ve solved his case, wouldn’t you want to tell him?”

“Not this time. Because I don’t want the person caught that did it.”

“Now you’re not making any sense at all, Sally.”

“Yes, I am. You’ll understand, when I tell you, but I don’t know what you’ll think we should do, and that scares me. I don’t even want to tell you, but we’re not just partners, we’re married, and in this, I feel I need your counsel. It’s a decision I don’t want to make on my own.”

“Well tell me. I’m totally confused right now.  I have no idea what to think.”

“Sit back, I’ll tell you as we eat.” Their food came and Ron settled in to hear her story.

“When we first arrived here Paul said they were working on a serial rapist that killed his victims. That caught my attention, like it would any woman in a strange environment. Then you came back from your day with Paul and told me about the man that had his neck torn open. That caught my attention because they didn’t have a weapon. Just two unrelated facts.

When I joined the yoga group, the first day, I didn’t workout because I was just new and signing up, but I talked to some of the ladies that spoke English and asked a lot of questions as they were getting dressed after their workout session. There was one that stood out from the others because she was just perfect. I especially was entranced by her shoes. They were fantastic,  and you know, I have a shoe fetish; I had never seen shoes quite like hers before.

She told me where she bought them, and that they were her favorite shoes. She said she wore them every Thursday to work because they made her feel good. I know you don’t understand that but it’s a girl thing. We love our shoes. One more unrelated fact.

Then Paul told us that this Smout victim was the serial rapist. So what! Paul even said he would send a letter of thanks to whoever killed Smout, but I couldn’t forget the unknown weapon. It would have driven me crazy when I was an active coroner.”