Gerald Hogan entered his office. He would have the entire night to work out his plan to bring about closure to the Richard Pringle disappearance. Logging into the intranet that was shared between local police and the missing persons department, Gerald searched around the interface until he found the set of documents that he was looking for. Using the information David had provided about Richard, Gerald began to fill out the form. David had been incredibly descriptive, so filling in the details was easy. Gerald began to sweat as he completed his work. The form he was filling out was Richard’s autopsy. Was it ethical? Of course not. However, under the circumstances, knowing that Richard’s body had not been recovered for many days. Gerald wanted to give Geoff, Loretta, and David the closure they longed for. His one issue, Gerald had to come up with a cause of death that was believable. He thought for a short period of time before coming up with the perfect excuse. It was a wooded area, sometimes sink holes could form at a moment’s notice.
Under cause of death, Gerald wrote, asphyxiation. Richard could have simply fallen into a sinkhole and been covered with dirt, so much so that he would be unable to breathe.
Knowing that he could not approach the family of the soon to be late Richard Pringle with a mere autopsy report, Gerald deftly created a detailed full body cast image of Richard, down to the exact specifications as mentioned by David in their earlier interview. They would ask for evidence and Gerald would give it to them.
Working as quietly as he could, Gerald maneuvered the cast down the hall toward the morgue. Finding an empty drawer, he inserted the lifeless cast, filled out the identification card, and quietly closed the drawer.
The next thing to do would be to notify the family. The sun was beginning to rise, Gerald would accomplish this in a few short hours. stuffing the autopsy report into his brief case, Gerald found his car and seized the opportunity to afford himself a nap. He wanted to be somewhat rested when he approached the family to deliver the news.
A few short hours later, Gerald was back at Geoff and Loretta’s Condo.
He knocked on the door trying to sound confident.
Footsteps approached.