CHAPTER SEVEN

The next morning Iris stopped in at Dr. Bern Elander's office for a quick check over. He took blood work and performed a quick physical. Yes, she was under stress but it was manageable given the circumstances. Had she been tiring easily prior to taking the case on? Iris answered truthfully she had been a bit fatigued in recent weeks but attributed it to nothing in particular. She left with Dr. Elander advising her to get as much rest as possible and take some vitamins.

Iris called Brass to tell him she had been by the doctor and she was headed to the lab.

Brass was underway with his own investigation of the school staff. He was currently interviewing Nathan Randall, Heidi's classroom teacher. The teacher was tall and dark-haired with blue eyes, in his thirties, and beside himself with what had happened to Heidi. Brass was informed that Heidi was among his favorite students and to know he was one of the last people to see her alive weighed heavily on him. A background check did not reveal anything of likely interest on him. His entire teaching career had been spent with developmentally challenged children kindergarten to second grade. Jim thanked the teacher for his cooperation and asked him to stay in contact.

Currently Brass was running into every single person either having an airtight alibi and/or negative background checks. The school principal confirmed that there was no security camera system anywhere in the school. It was a small private school on a budget. He slammed the table in frustration after Mr. Randall left. Jim desperately wanted to have news for Iris as to a suspect.

Within the next seventy-two hours more evidence was coming through in Heidi's case for Iris and Sara as the investigation continued. The seminal stain proved to be too degraded by air and the bleaching agent for any recoverable DNA. No hair or fibers had been found and it was apparent the killer had taken special pains to remove any potential damaging evidence from the child's clothing. However, toxicology results of the stomach contents and blood showed high amounts of Rohypnol and lorazepam, telling them the killer wanted to have more activity with Heidi but in such a way that the little girl would have no recollection. The killer apparently misjudged in the dose to use for a child and one with her physical frailty, causing her to overdose and eventually aspirate vomit into her lungs. Dr. Robbins swore softly at the length the killer went to but apparently the overdose precluded his attempt to do anything further to the child that in a way was a mixed blessing. She had fallen asleep and vomited only to suffocate but was in a comatose state and didn't suffer. He could now release Heidi to the funeral home for her parents. Iris thanked him and asked to be notified when Mark and Janice came to sign the paperwork to release the body. They had not spoken to Iris since that night in the park, but Brass had kept them updated.

Iris was lost in thought in the break room when her phone rang. "King," she answered. Jim had insisted she use her maiden name professionally so as not to cause confusion at work but elsewhere she proudly went by Mrs. Brass. She just received a prior call from Dr. Elander's office telling her that the lab they sent her blood work to had lost her tubes of blood and requested her to come back for repeat blood work. She had replied she would be back when she could and didn't want to trouble Jim with that news.

"Hey, hon, how we doin'?" Jim said amiably from his office.

"Not batting five hundred today, m'dear," Iris replied. She went on to tell him of the toxicology results and that Heidi's parents would be there soon to sign off on releasing her body to the funeral home. "I asked Doc Robbins to call me so we could meet them if you're free."

"Wish I had good news on a bad guy but not yet. Do you think it a good idea to meet them?" Brass asked, rubbing at the back of his head, a sign of when something bothered him.

"Perhaps not but I haven't seen or talked to them since that night," Iris said softly. "I really want to see them, Jim."

"Alright, babe, but I have misgivings here," Brass said honestly.