Henry acted squirrelly all day. He didn't said a word on the drive to 42nd and Lex. He was quiet and withdrawn at the scene, leading Hanson to ask where his insane theories were.
He flinched at the word "insane." "This one doesn't lend itself to strange theories, Detective," he replied, trying to sound like his normal self. "I think it's obvious what happened here. Our victim was asleep in the diner. Perhaps he was homeless. When the fire started in the kitchen, he didn't wake up in time, and the smoke inhalation killed him."
"So you're saying this Isn't a homicide," Hanson said in disbelief.
"I suppose that would be for the arson investigators to decide," Henry said. "But from a medical standpoint, it appears this man simply died from the smoke. There are no signs of other trauma."
With that, Henry walked away to find the gurney. Lucas had just arrived with the van. I stared after him, thinking about what he had told me earlier. Immortal? Really? That was the story he was going with?
I realized Hanson was talking to me. "Hmm?" I asked.
"Can you believe it? We find a guy whose face is nearly purple and spotted with burns, and he calls it accidental almost on sight."
"Yeah, weird," I murmured, still watching Henry. "Are the arson investigators done?"
"They said it'll be awhile."
"Let's head back to the precinct, then. We can wait for their report while we try to identify the victim."
We spent the rest of the day at the precinct. The victim's fingerprints weren't in the system, and his face and eyes were too discolored for facial recognition, so we spent several hours combing through the security camera footage from the bank across the street. Eventually we found someone who came in, but never came out. The facial recognition software gave us a normally colored face, and an old school ID, for a Jackson Kane. A call down to Autopsy brought Lucas up to confirm that the approximate height and weight matched.
"Have you spotted anything that would contradict the accidental smoke inhalation theory?" Hanson asked Lucas.
"Not yet, no."
"What about Henry, what does he think?"
Lucas looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. "Um, well, Henry is waiting for the body to cool down before he draws any conclusions."
Hanson looked confused. Before he could speak, I said, "Great. Thanks, Lucas. Tell Henry I'll be down there to pick him up in a few minutes."
Lucas nodded and made his escape. Hanson asked, "You and Henry going somewhere?"
"We're going to check in with the arson investigators before the end of the day," I told him, though Henry and I had made no such plans. Really, I just wanted to make sure he didn't leave without me. We were going to continue our conversation, whether he liked it or not.
Henry was sitting in his office, staring off into space, when I entered the morgue. He jumped a mile when I knocked on the door. I motioned to him, and he nearly leapt to his feet to follow me out. Lucas gave me a look as we walked by, but I ignored him.
"Where are we going?" Henry asked, catching up with me.
"My place," I said. "I'm cooking, you're talking."
He grabbed my arm, forcing me to turn towards him. I jerked out of his grasp. "Jo, please," he begged. "Just stop for a minute."
"What, Henry?" I snapped.
He spoke quickly. "Jo, my story isn't going to change. What I told you earlier – it's the truth. If you can't accept it, there's no point in us talking any further."
I looked at him, then sighed and shook my head. "Just come on," I told him. "I make a mean spaghetti and meatballs."
I'm better at writing emotion and dialogue than case details, so I'm making most of them up and trying to sound like they make sense. If you see a glaring mistake, let me know! Also, thank you to parkin24 for reviewing, and KenH for your reviews of all my stories!
