“Yes.”
“Well, Walt got desperate. I think he convinced himself that he was simply just getting paid for services rendered by the very people he was providing the service to.”
“That doesn’t make it legal, or right,” Jamison pointed out.
“Desperate people do desperate things,” retorted Southern.
“And you knew?” asked Decker.
“I suspected. Right before he killed himself we had a big argument. You see, I knew that one of our clients had been dressed in her diamond engagement ring. It was at least four carats. Exquisite. Walt closed up the casket after the service, right before the body was loaded into the hearse to be taken to the cemetery. Then I couldn’t find one of my tools that I used to touch up the body before the viewing. I remembered that I had used it to work on her. I opened the casket and found it. It had slid down to the side of the body. That’s when I noticed that the ring was gone. After the service was over, I confronted him about it. He was furious. He said I was nuts. I thought he might hit me.”
“So that explains his note,” said Jamison. “That he was sorry and hated himself.”
“I suppose it does, yes.”
“And someone else must’ve found out,” said Jamison. “And blackmailed him.”
“How did the blackmail start?” asked Decker.
“He received an anonymous message just about the time that Irene Cramer’s body was found.”
“He showed it to you?”
“Yes. He was both angry and scared.”
“What did it say?”
“Basically, it threatened exposure unless Walt did what they asked him to do.”
“Fudge the post results?” said Jamison.
“Yes. Particularly about the slicing of the stomach and intestines. To tell the truth, I was surprised that he had even mentioned it in his report. But he really did care about doing a good job, I’ll give him that.”
“How did you know they weren’t bluffing about knowing about his thefts?”
“Those ‘business’ trips he took? They had photos of him pawning the items he’d stolen. Business records, payment receipts.”
“Any idea who it was?”
Southern shook her head.
“Why did he tell you about the blackmail?”
“I guess he needed my support on this to make sure it all went okay. I mean, I was part of the business, too. Our whole life is tied up in this place. If it went under we’d have nothing. And Walt said if he was caught he’d say I knew all about it. That I would go to jail, too. I was so scared. So I just went along with everything.”
“Have the blackmailers been in touch with you since Walt killed himself?” asked Decker.
“No. Why would they contact me?”
“I don’t know, but they might. And let us know if they do.” He paused. “So what do you plan to do now?”
“I don’t know. My head is filled with so much stuff now it’s hard to think straight. I have to keep the business going, for one thing.”
“Can you manage that?”
“Walt was certified in doing postmortems, which I’m not. But I am a trained and certified mortician. I can do embalming, cosmetics, cremation, everything you need to take care of people properly at the end.”
“Will you eventually leave here?” asked Jamison. “I mean, you could build a business somewhere else.”