Inquests into the deaths of Ross, and Michael and into the disappearance of Colleen were to take place, although in a slightly different format from the usual because the official medical examiner for the district was in hospital due to a life-threatening disease in a city over eight hundred miles from the location in which the inquest had to legally be held. In the meantime it was decided by the authorities that the only doctor for the Mayer town area, Dr. Wilbur, serve as judge/coroner in conjunction with the only town lawyer, Ross's lawyer, Mr. Comble. Five adults were chosen to serve as jurors, all from the district, all of whom worked for one or another of the Mayer businesses as did all other working people who lived there. The witnesses to be called were Phillip, Amy, Kayliff, Ray and the two caregivers. Mary was not deemed mentally competent to testify. Lisa was also a witness but she had not returned to the town and no one knew where she was. The official police of the city where Phillip believed Lisa had gone were enlisted in discovering her whereabouts but no clue surfaced and when the matter reached a complete standstill, a private detective was hired secretly by Phillip to find her but he came up with nothing either. Thus the inquest would be conducted in her absence and if she did make herself known, whatever evidence she could give would factor in at such time. Each witness was questioned in a thorough manner and separate inquests were held for each of Ross, Michael and Colleen.
The deliberations of the jury were short and the verdicts were that Ross had died as a result of an accidental fire and Michael died as a result of a vicious bear attack. Colleen was determined to be missing and until further information surfaced, it could not be concluded definitely whether she was alive or dead, but it was more likely that she was dead.
"Do you think the jury was impartial?," the doctor asked the lawyer after the proceedings were completed and they were alone in the lawyer's office.
The lawyer replied, "They were selected on the belief that they would be and more likely to be than with any other adult in this town."
"I just have a negative feeling about that," the doctor said, "Phillip's power is as near total as can be around here and there are many ways he could have let the individual jurors understand what the verdict needed to be."
"That is quite possible," the lawyer said, "and very likely, given that his reputation is that of absolute monarch. I doubt we will ever know for certain. Though now Michael's remains can be buried with respect and admiration for the man he was."
"None of the evidence or testimony was one hundred percent conclusive and therefore proof," the doctor said, "One of many things that bothered me was that the gash in the back of Michael's skull and the rock with blood and hair on it were not proof of anything, especially given that we have no forensic services to call on or any way to determine DNA evidence."
"Yes," the lawyer said, "Michael's blood, if that was his blood, could have landed on the stone when he was being dragged by the bear. The bear could have caused the wound to the back of his head and that seems on the face of it more likely. Possibly true as well that the bear dragged Michael's body over that rock and as a result some of his head ended up in that blood, again if that was Michael's hair. If it was in fact, the colour of the hair seemed to have changed."
"The hair colour he had while alive," the doctor said, "and the colour it could have been after it's off his head and undergone the moisture conditions afterwards, possibly picked at by birds or other scavengers, would not necessarily correlate at all. Without forensics, understand that we have no scientific proof that what we consider Michael's remains are entirely his."
"Yes," the lawyer said, "It's all conjecture based on presumption and suspicion. In the case of Ross too. We can't state with any complete certainty that the propane cylinder found on its side that could have dramatically precipitated the sudden growth in the size and ferocity of the fire was the cause or the result of the fire. The testimony of the only witnesses besides Mary, who couldn't be counted on as a witness, was that of her two caregivers who said that the increase in the scale of the fire was like that of an explosion, but Mary was requiring such an amount of care at that time to ensure she didn't fall out of the rowboat in her extreme agitation, that cast an element of doubt onto the veracity of what they recounted."
