bodies the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had found amid the pines. I vividly remembered the day I’d identified her remains in a refrigerated semi trailer, one of five that served as makeshift morgues at the site of the gruesome discovery, and I also recalled the deep distress the discovery had caused DeVriess and his Uncle Edgar.
“There was a prior case against Ivy, in 1997,” he went on. “Fancy funeral, open casket, the family’s saying their final goodbyes, and the widow faints when she sees maggots in the mouth of her dearly departed husband.”
“Jeez. How long had the corpse been lying around at the funeral home? Was he embalmed? Didn’t they have him in a cooler?”
“He’d only been at the funeral home for about twenty-four hours. But he’d died three days before that, down in Mississippi, fishing. Somebody found him floating in his fishing boat around midafternoon, and he’d launched his boat early in the morning.”
“So the flies had plenty of time to lay eggs in his nose and mouth while he was drifting around outdoors. That doesn’t sound like the fault of the funeral home.”
“Ha,” he said. “That might be true, but try telling that to a jury that’s been reduced to tears by the traumatized widow. The funeral home—actually, their insurance company—settled for half a million, and they were lucky to get off that easy.”
“I could’ve gotten ’em a lot less,” I said, and he laughed at the topspin I’d put on his earlier comment.
“So are you planning to share this with Culpepper?”
“Already have.”
“My, my, aren’t you helpful, Counselor?”
He lifted his hands in a magnanimous gesture. “Ain’t it the truth,ain’t it the truth? Plus, I figure it’s probably wise not to blindside Culpepper with my next move.”
I should have known that Grease would be working some sort of angle. “And what’s your next move?”
“I want to exhume more of the people Ivy buried. Turn over a few more rocks, see what else crawls out.”
“You planning another class-action suit, Burt? The funeral home’s out of business, remember?”
“But their insurance company’s not.”
“And the insurance company’s still on the hook for claims, years after their client’s ceased to exist?”
“Arguable,” he conceded, “but there’s probably a case here. Statutes of repose cover how long the insurance company is on the hook. Of course, if it’s a clear case of fraud, rather than a mistake, the insurance company will argue that they’re not liable—fraud would be the action of an individual, not the mortuary. But I’ll argue that there’s a pattern of negligence, since there were multiple problems.”
“Sounds like a lot of arguing,” I said.
“It’s not a slam dunk, but it’s worth a try.”
“Is it, Burt? No offense, but you’re already rich. How much richer do you need to be?”
“This one wouldn’t really be about the money, Doc.”
I gave him a skeptical look.
“No, really,” he insisted. “It still makes me madder than hell to think how shamefully my Aunt Jean’s body was treated and how hurtful that was to my Uncle Edgar. I figure most funeral homes and crematories are honest and respectful. But I also figure it’s healthy for those to see why it pays to stay honest and respectful.”
“Like the instructive example of a public flogging, back in the good old days?”
“Something like that,” he said. “But instead of the lash, it’s the law, and instead of blood flowing, it’s money. And instead of the cobblestoned public square, it happens in the marbled and paneled courtroom.”
“Or the glass-walled office tower,” I said, “with the art deco lamps and the tennis-racket chairs.”
“There, too,” he said.
CHAPTER 15
I WAS JUST PULLING IN TO THE PARKING LOT FOR Anoon session with Dr. Hoover when my cell phone rang with a call from the bone lab. “Miranda, is that you?”
“It’s me.” Her voice sounded glum.
“What’s wrong?”
“Carmen Garcia just called. Eddie got some bad news this morning from the orthopedist.”
“What kind of bad news?”
“It’s about the i-Hand. He can’t get fitted with one next week after all.”
“Why not? When can he get it?”
“Maybe never. The i-Hand’s just been taken off the market.”
I was stunned by that news, but even more stunned by what she went on to tell me.