Blow Fly

85

DR. LANIER SOUNDS AS IF he is on the mend, but he is as taut as a cocked catapult.

"You got a safe place for me to stay down there?" Scarpetta asks him over the phone inside her single room at the Melrose Hotel at 63rd and Lexington.

She opted not to spend the night with Lucy, resisting her niece's persistent urging. Staying with her would make it impossible for Scarpetta to leave for the airport in the morning without Lucy's knowing.

"The safest place in Louisiana. My guest house. It's small. Why? Now you know I can't afford consultants…"

"Listen," she cuts him off. "I've got to go to Houston first." She avoids being specific. "I can't get down your way for at least another day."

"I'll pick you up. Just tell me when."

"If you could arrange a rental car for me, that's what would work best. I have no idea about anything right now. I'm too tired. But I'd rather take care of myself and not inconvenience you. I just need directions to your house."

She writes them down. They seem simple enough. "Any particular kind of car?" "A safe one."

"I know all about that," the coroner replies. "I've peeled enough people out of unsafe cars. I'll get my secretary on it first thing."