Amanda - thanks for the reviews and I hope you enjoy the story. Yes, I feel a road trip coming on, but my one clue is that it's a relatively short one. There's a little bit of a twist disclosed below.
"Well, I wasn't expecting that one, Buddy Boy," Mike responded as Steve acknowledged the victim was a former elementary school teacher of his.
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting this either. I mean when you look at his photo from Bernie, there was just no way. And now seeing this with his wife and kids. I mean it's been a long time since I saw him everyday. People change. I'm just sorry that this happened to him. He was a good guy," Steve responded.
"All the more reason that we need to find out what happened, wouldn't you say? But I have to ask, will this interfere with your ability to investigate? If this was a more recent acquaintance, I would immediately assign this to someone else, but after all this time…what do you think?"
Steve responded, "No, I'll be all right. It may sharpen my resolve, but I promise I will stick to the book, if that's what you are getting at."
Mike nodded. "That's exactly what I'm getting at."
Mike returned his attention to the report. "This says that Mr. Goldman was a longtime resident of Amador County, specifically this town call Tyler. It also shows that he was a schoolteacher. I wonder when he moved from Modesto," Mike pondered.
Steve looked puzzled for a moment. "Oh, no. Mr Goldman never lived in Modesto, at least as far as I know. You see, we lived in Tyler when I was young and moved to Modesto later."
Mike was a little surprised by this nugget of information. Of course, Steve had never been particularly forthcoming about his past. "Well, the first thing we need to find out is why your teacher was found in India Basin. Why was he so far from home?"
"That's the big question," Steve agreed. "Have we confirmed that we recovered his body to the Amador County Police?"
"Not yet," Mike replied. "I wanted to wait until you came in so that we could agree on the confirmation. Why don't we compare the photo one more time and then we'll call the police rep on the Missing Person's report."
Steve left the office to grab the photo from the coroner's report from his desk and slid it next to the Missing Person's photo on Mike's desk.
"Well, without a doubt that's him. I see the mole on his cheek in the family photo and here it is on the coroner's report," Mike stated as he compared the two documents.
"Yeah," Steve agreed quietly. "I'm just looking at the photo of his wife. I don't remember her name, but she was a teaching assistant at the time. I guess they married after we moved. Poor lady and her kids too."
After a pause, Steve felt it time to go back into professional mode. "I'll call the number on the Missing Person's report and see how they want to handle."
"You do that. And let's coordinate with Bernie on how we handle the body and the autopsy findings. Mr. Goldman may have been a Tyler resident, but his murder is still our jurisdiction."
