Tuesday morning, we had some excitement on our one block street, and we were ringside for it all. We were first alerted by the sirens. An ambulance, followed by a fire engine and a couple of police cars soon parked us in—like we were going to go someplace else. Finally, a plainclothes officer arrived. Something was up.

The site for all of this action was a duplex, two buildings up from ours. Later, all of the flashing lights were turned off and the rescue vehicles departed, empty handed. A tow truck towed away a pickup that was parked in front of the duplex. Eventually, a minivan showed up and two men wheeled a gurney out its back. They went inside and returned with a wrapped body and then drove off without fanfare. The plainclothesman and a last uniformed cop left, and it was over. 

Roughly 1 in 100 Americans die every year. While Saint Louis is notorious for its murder rate, foul play seems unlikely in this case. The police had left the decease’s significant other at the duplex. The deceased was a much younger man than me. This and the presences of the plainclothesman could indicate other than natural causes. I am perplexed with the towing.