Steve sighed for a moment. "Like you said, I know this is a small town. The best thing about it is that you know everyone. The worst thing about it is that everyone knows you and your business. So, are people aware that Mr. Goldman was missing?"
Pete tried hard to hide a rueful smirk. "If you attended school here, you may remember a Florence Proxelheder…."
"Oh no, is she still around?" Steve asked, piquing Mike's interest as he caught a quick glance of his partner's annoyance. Steve noticed and quickly as an aside said, "The town busybody."
"And she is still around," Pete announced. "She is now the assistant secretary at the high school. Don't get me started on her. She started there as a so-called concerned parent turned volunteer about ten years ago when she felt like the boys were wearing their hair a little too long and the girls were wearing their skirts a little too short. She started issuing citations to students when she felt rules and even worse, her standards, were being broken."
"Glad we moved by then," Steve said quietly.
"But back to the question of who knows. Everybody knows. Between the school office, the church and the synagogue and the grocery stores and laundromats, word spread like wildfire. The old bat, pardon me, took particular interest in the situation and vowed to help 'solve the missing persons case'. She practically threw herself on Julie Goldman when she and the deputy arrived at the school last Friday," Pete recalled.
"Good grief. That woman still has no tact. Who knows about the confirmation of his death? Mrs. Goldman was informed of the dental confirmation this morning, right?"
"Yes, she was. We should be able to go see her," Pete wondered aloud. "I understand that your coroner is wrapping up his report. At some point, we'll get the coroner's office connected with the funeral home. In the meantime, we should be able to find Julie at the house. She's got a couple of friends over trying to give comfort and protection."
"With the likes of Mrs. Proxelheder, she'll need an army," Steve replied sarcastically.
"Rumors have flown over the last few days and with myself and the deputies checking in on her, I'm sure that has kept the talk continuing. On top of that, the situation should be hitting our weekly paper, The Tyler Times. It's coming out tomorrow."
"All right," Mike added. "That gives us a sense of what we're walking into here. Now we need to know just why Mr. Goldman was found in San Francisco. Do you have any idea of that, Pete?"
"I actually do. Mr. Goldman had two younger brothers. The youngest works with his father. The middle brother left a few years ago and moved to San Francisco. There was a bit of a riff within the family when he left and I don't recall hearing that he's come back for visits. He'd be someone I'd like to talk to."
"Okay, that's a start. Let's go see Mrs. Goldman and see if she knows anything more about the brother or anything else that may have been troubling for her husband," Mike directed.
