39: Clair’s cell phone rang from the corner of her desk in the war room. She snatched it up and pressed the Accept button. “Detective Norton.”
“Detective? This is Sergeant Dawn Spiegel. I run the 911 desk.”
“What can I do for you, Sergeant?”
“One of my operators took a very odd call a few minutes ago. I think it may be related to your case. Can I play it for you?”
Please don’t let this be another missing girl. “Yeah, go ahead.”
“Hold on for one second. I’ll have to put you on speaker,” the sergeant said.
Clair heard a slight rattle as the woman set down the phone on the other end. “Here it is.”
“Nine one one, what is the nature of your emergency?” she heard the operator ask.
A slight hesitation, then the voice of an older woman, slow, papery: “He died twice.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, I didn’t understand you.”
“He died twice,” the older voice said, louder this time, more urgent.
There was an audible sigh from the operator. “Who, ma’am, who died twice?”
“Floyd Reynolds.”
Clair stood and went to the evidence board.
floyd reynolds
Wife: Leeann Reynolds
Insurance sales—works for UniMed America Healthcare
No debt? Per wife. Hosman checking
Beneath the existing text, she wrote:
Strangled with thin wire (piano?) outside of own home (in car)
Body hidden in snowman
Father of Ella Reynolds
“Who, ma’am?” the operator asked.
This time it was the old woman who sighed. “Floyd Reynolds. He died last week, and he died again yesterday. He’s in today’s obituaries.”
“Ma’am, do you understand that making a false call to emergency services may result in charges of a class four felony?”
“Nobody dies twice.”
“A class four felony is punishable by one to three years in prison and a fine of up to twenty-five thousand dollars. Making false calls to 911 can put our law enforcement officers and emergency responders in serious jeopardy while also straining public resources,” the operator told her.
“If you are not the correct person to alert, perhaps you should transfer me to the proper department.”
There was an audible click, and at first Clair though the operator hung up on the woman, but she came back a few seconds later. She must have muted the call.
“Floyd Reynolds is a common name, ma’am. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. I don’t want to see you get into trouble, so I’m going to hang up now. I advise you not to call back with this. If you do, you will most likely be charged.”
“The name is the same. The birth date is the same. The address is the same. This is the same man. He died twice,” the woman insisted. “Take a look at today’s Chicago Examiner.”
At this point the call dropped.
Clair heard Sergeant Spiegel pick up the phone and take it off speaker. “After the operator disconnected the call, she alerted the other operators of what she believed to be a crank. Our normal procedure is to log the false call and initiate charges with Metro if they call back repeatedly. I recognized the name from the blotter, so I pulled up the newspaper online. Floyd Reynolds does, in fact, appear in the obituaries twice. There is an entry today and one last Wednesday. All the identifying information matches up. Same guy.”
Clair frowned. “How is that possible? He died yesterday.”
“What is your e-mail address? I’ll send you the links.”