Kristeva showed up at work groggy on Monday morning (Sunday had been mostly a blur, during which he could only assume he'd been doing housework), but Devetko was already there and looked far more awake than he was. He even looked Kristeva up and down somewhat disapprovingly as he slumped in his seat and booted up the computer, still trying to rub his eyes into focus.
"Any news?" Devetko asked.
Kristeva looked at him, eyes dull and uncomprehending. "Huh?"
Devetko's expression soured a little. "I called Dr. Steiner's office before you came in. Asked about July Lockett's autopsy results. He said they're not digitized and it might take him a bit to dig them up, but he should have them for us by the afternoon." He glanced around the room. "I guess their computer system is as antiquated as this one is." Looking back at Kristeva. "You said you were waiting to hear back from Trooper Lopata. Well...?"
"Oh." Kristeva fished out his cell phone and checked it. "No missed calls. Guess we'll have to go see him in person."
"I went to the trouble of looking him up before you got here."
"Well, of course you did."
"Since he's not high up in the force there isn't much info about him, and most of what I found was in news articles about the unidentified skeleton. But there's a little information in the police database. A few awards, no complaints about his service. Similar with Condry. I called the state post and asked around about them a little. Condry has--had--a bit of a reputation as a practical joker, didn't always take things seriously, a little lax or negligent now and then, but nothing too bad. Lopata is squeaky clean. Their sergeant said he wishes he had more like him and wishes he hadn't had to cut back his hours somewhat."
"Cut back his hours?"
"At Lopata's request, not as some sort of punishment. To keep an eye on Condry. I couldn't locate any relatives for Condry, so I take it Lopata's the only one visiting him."
Kristeva was vaguely reminded of when he'd looked up photos of Sgt. Kincaid's funeral, how the only attendees had been other police. Something else niggled at him, but he couldn't quite recall what it was, so said nothing.
"Agreed to a pay cut and everything just so he could spend time in the hospital. I managed to get his schedule and he's working a late shift, so he should be in there earlier today."
"Guess that means he wasn't too busy to call back," Kristeva said, looking at his phone with a frown. He flipped it shut and put it away.
"Maybe he has other things on his mind. His sergeant said he plans on assigning him a new partner soon."
Kristeva made a face. "Ouch."
Devetko peered across at him for a second, then back at his notes. "Well...the doctors have said it doesn't look promising. They can't know the extent of it until and unless Condry regains consciousness, but it's looking like brain damage is involved. Even if he returns to the force, it's likely not to be for quite a while." He flipped a page. "This is where it gets a little weird."
"I figured this was all pretty weird to start with."
"Weirder, then. Remember Dr. Steiner doubted Lopata's story about an attack? When I called about the autopsy results, I asked him why this was. He said that Lopata had told some sort of story that when he reached Condry, he was still conscious, or else woke up just long enough to say that somebody had attacked him. But according to Dr. Steiner and Condry's attending physicians, this shouldn't have been possible. The severity of the head injury and oxygen deprivation is such that they believe Condry was already comatose when Lopata found him, and it's extremely unlikely he regained consciousness at any point, at least, not enough to be able to speak coherently."
"Any chance they could be wrong? Doctors aren't always right, you know."
Devetko frowned a little but shut the notebook. "Of course there's always a chance. But in this case, it's almost infinitesimal."
"You think Lopata's making stuff up?"
"Of course not. But I think he's grasping at what tiny shreds of hope he can. The more likely story is Condry was conscious enough to say some gibberish before he passed out, and maybe Lopata just heard what he wanted to hear. It happens."
"Well..." Kristeva reached for the sleep button on his computer. "Looks like we'll be finding that out, then. If we can pull him away from Condry long enough to talk to us."
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