Morning, Noon & Night

"I … I don’t like it.’ Woody closed in. ‘ nott ‘ don’t know.’ She shuddered. ‘ idea of digging up my father’s body to … to …" prove who you are.’ She looked into each of their faces. ‘ wish all of you would – ‘?"’s no way I can convince you, is theret ‘," Tyler said. ‘ to take this test.’ There was a long silence. ‘ right. I’ll do it.’ t The exhumation order had been more difficult to obtain than anyone had anticipated. Simon Fitzgerald had spoken to the coroner personally. 161 ‘! For God’s sake, Simon! I can’t do that! Do you know what a stink that would cause? I mean, we aren’t dealing with John Doe here; we’re dealing with Harry Stanford. If this ever leaked out, the media would have a field day!", this is important.

Billions of dollars are at stake here. So you make sure it doesn’t leak out."’t there some other way you can … T ”m afraid not. The woman is very convincing.’ .’But the family is not convinced."." you think she’s a fraud, Simont ‘, I don’t know. But my opinion doesn’t matter. In fact, none of our opinions matters. A court will demand proof, and the DNA test will provide that.’ The coroner shook his head. ‘ knew old Harry Stanford. He would have hated this. I really shouldn’t let …’ – ‘ you will.’ The coroner sighed. ‘ suppose so.

Would you do me a favort ‘ course." this quiet. Let’s not have a media circus." have my word. Top secret. I’ll have just the family there." do you want to do thist ‘ would like to do it on Monday.’ 162 The coroner sighed again. ‘ right. I’ll call the neral home. You owe me one, Simon." won’t forget this.’ At nine o’clock Monday morning, the entrance to the section of Mount Auburn Cemetery where Harry Stanford’s body was buried was temporarily closed off ‘ maintenance repairs’. No strangers were allowed into the grounds. Woody, Peggy, Tylei’, Kendall, Marc, Julia, Simon Fitzgerald, Steve Sloane, and Dr. Collins, a representative from the coroner’s office, stood at the site of Harry Stanford’s grave, watching four employees of the cemetery raise , his coffin. Perry Winger waited off to the side. When the coffin reached ground level, the foreman turned to the group. ‘ do you want us to do nowt ‘ it, please,’ Fitzgerald said. He turned to Perry Winger. ‘ long will this taket ‘ more than a minute. I’ll just get a quick skin sample.’ I ‘ right,’ Fitzgerald said.

He nodded to the foreman. ‘ ahead.’ The foreman and his assistants began to unseal the coffin. I ‘ don’t want to see this,’ Kendall said.

"Do we have tot ‘!’ Woody told her. ‘ really do.’ They all watched, fascinated, as the lid of the coffin 163 was slowly removed and pushed to one side. They stood there, staring down. ‘, my God!’ Kendall exclaimed. The coffin was empty.

Chapter Fourteen

Back at Rose Hill, Tyler had just gottei off the phone. ‘ says there won’t be any media leaks. The cemetery certainly doesn’t want that kind of bad pubficity. The coroner has ordered Dr. Collins to keep his mouth shut, and Perry Winger can be trusted not to talk.’ @ Woody wasn’t paying any attention. ‘ don’t know how the bitch did it!’ he said. ‘ she isn’t going to get away with it!’ He glared at the others. ‘ suppose you don’t think she arranged itt Tyler said slowly, ”m afraid I have to agree with you, Woody. No one else, possibly could have had a reason for doing this. The woman is clever and resourceful, and she’s obviously pot working alone. I’m not sure exactly what we’re up against." are we going to do now?’ Kendall asked. Tyler shrugged.

"Frankly, I don’t know. I wish I did* I’m sure she plans to go to court to contest the wilu ‘ she have a chance of winning?’ Peggy asked timidly. 165 ”m afraid she does. She’s very persuasive. She had -some of us convinced." must be something we can do,’ Marc exclaimed.

"What about bringing the police in on this?, ‘ says they’re already looking into the disappearance of the body, and they’ve come to a dead end. No pun intended,’ Tyler said. ”s more, the police want this kept quiet, or they’ll have every weirdo in town turning up a body." can ask them to investigate this phony!’ Tyler shook his head. ‘ is not a police matter. It’s a private -‘ He stopped for a moment, then said thoughtfully, ‘ know …"?" could hire a private investigator to try to expose her."’s not a bad idea. Do you know onet ‘, not locally. But we could ask Fitzgerald to find someone. Or …’ He hesitated. ”ve never met him, but I’ve heard about a private detective the district attorney in Chicago uses a great deal.

He has an excellent reputation.’ Marc spoke up. ‘ don’t we find out if we can hire him?’ Tyler looked around. ”s up to the rest of you." can we loset Kendall asked. ‘ could be expensive,’ Tyler warned. Woody snorted. ‘? We’re talking about billions of dollars.’ 166 Tyler nodded. ‘ course. You’re right."’s his namet Tyler frowned. ‘ can’t remember. Simpson. Simmons … No, that’s not it. It sounds something like that. I can call the district attorney’s office in Chicago.’ The group watched as Tyler picked up the telephone @on the console and dialed a number. Two minutes later, he was speaking to an assistant district attorney. ‘ is Judge Tyler Stanford. I xifiderstand that your office retains a private detectivelrom, time to time who does excellent work for you. His name is something like Simmons or =’ The voice on the other end said, ‘, you must mean Frank Timmons."! Yes, that’s it.’ Tyler looked at the others and smiled. ‘ wonder if you could give me his telephone number so I can contact him directly?’ After he wrote down the telephone number, Tyler replaced the receiver. He turned to the group, and said, "Well., then, if we all agree, I’ll try to reach him.’ Everyone nodded.

The following afternoon, Clark came into the drawing room, where the group was waiting. ‘. Timmons is here.’ He was a man in his forties, with a pale complexion and the solid build of a boxer. He had a broken nose and bright, inquisitive eyes. He looked from Tyler to 167 Marc and Woody, questioningly. ‘ Stanford?’ Tyler nodded. ”m Judge Stanford." Timmons,’ he said. ‘ have a seat, Mr. Timmons."