Shoofly Pie A Bug Man Novel

Cary, North Carolina, April 21, 1999 N ick Polchak rapped his knuckles on the frame ofthe open doorway. He glanced back at the Wake County Sheriff's Departmentpolice cruiser blocking the driveway, orange and blue lights silentlyrotating. "Yo!" Nick called into the house. "Coming in!" Afresh-faced sheriff's deputy in khaki short sleeves poked his headaround the corner and beckoned him in. Nick wondered where they got thesekids. He looked younger than some of his students. Nick stepped into the entryway. Dining room on the right, living roomon the left. It was a typical suburban Raleigh home, a colonial five-four-and-a-doorwith white siding and black shutters. A mahogany bureau stood just insidethe door. At its base lay three pair of shoes, one a pair of black patentleathers. Nick shook his head. He knew the layout by heart: stairway on the left, powder room on theright, down a short hallway was the kitchen, and the family room beyondthat. Nick paused in the second doorway and took a moment to study the youngofficer. He stood nervously, awkwardly, constantly checking his watch.His right hand held a handkerchief cupped over his nose and mouth, andhe winced as he sucked in each short gulp of air. Nick followed the officer'sfrozen gaze to the right; the decomposing body of a middle-aged womanlay sprawled across the white Formica island in the center of the kitchen. Nick knocked again. "Officer...Donnelly, is it? I'm Dr. Nick Polchak.Are you the first one here?" "I was just a few blocks away, so I took the call." He glancedagain at his watch. "Our homicide people ought to be along withinthe hour." Nick began to stretch on a pair of latex gloves and stepped around tothe victim's head. "The name on the mailbox said ‘Allen.'" "StephanieAllen. That's all I've been able to getso far." The deputy nodded silently toward the family room, wherea solitary figure sat slumped forward in a red leather chair with hisfaceburied in his hands. Nick raised his own left hand and wiggled his ringfinger. The deputy nodded. "I didn't get your name--did you say Kolchek?" "Polchak. Nick Polchak." "You don't sound like you're from around these parts." "I'm from Pittsburgh," Nick said. "And I'd sayyou're not." The deputy grinned. "How'd you know?" "You left your shoes at the door." "They don't do that in Pittsburgh? I guess they don't havethe red clay." "Thepolicedon't do that in Pittsburgh. They figureif you've got a dead body in the kitchen, you've got more toworry about than dirty carpets." The body lay faceup, stretched out diagonally across the island underthe bright kitchen fluorescents. "Very handy," Nick said. "Too bad I don't find themall like this." The head rested in one corner, with medium-length blond hair flowing outevenly on all sides. There were deep abrasions and contusions on the neckand lower jaw. The body was in putrefaction, the second major stage ofdecomposition. The skin was blistered and tight from expanding gases,and the stench was considerable. There were sizable maggot infestationsin botDowns, Timothy is the author of 'Shoofly Pie A Bug Man Novel' with ISBN 9781582293080 and ISBN 1582293082.