February 28, 2018 Cause of death

Judith and Saul Leibowitz of Greensboro, North Carolina were found dead in their bed by their adult son late that afternoon. The coroner found the cause of death to be carbon monoxide poisoning. This was attributed to some otherwise unnoticed flaw in their furnace, the common cause in such cases. If some savant of detection such as Sherlock Holmes were involved in the case, he might have noticed the damp spot in the attic near the vent into their room, might have had some of the liquid analyzed, might have asked a few questions and found out about the repairman who had visited the house just a couple of days before (although, as the only witness in the house and the only person she talked to about it were both dead, he would have learned little more that way).

But despite dozens of formulaic police procedural shows, police departments are generally neither staffed nor assisted by analytical geniuses, and, barring some cause otherwise, the easy explanation generally wins the day. And since the Leibowitzes did not have security cameras installed, there was no such cause. An unfortunate furnace malfunction produced deadly levels of carbon monoxide which killed the judge and her husband.

* * *

Elsewhere, earlier that day, Edmund arrived at the Missoula Montana Airport and, once again, sighed in relief to be home and able to relax. By the time he’d collected his luggage and gotten to his pickup, it was just after 12:30. He really wanted something substantial, and thought briefly about stopping by Ruby’s, but some feeling he couldn’t put a finger on told him no. Instead, he got some bread and lunchmeat and snacks from Albertson’s, made himself a sandwich, and hit the road for home.

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