Cause Of Death

Chapter 5

AT DAWN, I LAY IN BED AND LOOKED OUT AT MANT'S,backyard. The snow was very deep and piled high on the wall, and beyond the dune the sun was polishing the sea. For a while I shut my eyes and thought of Benton Wesley. I wondered what he would say about where I was living now, and what we would say to each other when we met later this day. We had not spoken since the second week of December, when we had agreed that our relationship must end.

I turned to one side and pulled the covers up to my ears as I heard quiet footsteps. Next I felt Lucy perch on the edge of my bed.

"Good morning, favorite niece in the world," I mumbled.

"I'm your only niece in the world." She said what she always did. "And how did you know it was me?"

"It had better be you. Someone else might get hurt."

"I brought you coffee," she said.

"You're an angel."

"Yo, to quote Marino. That's what everybody says about me."

"I was just trying to be nice." I yawned.

She bent over to hug me, and I smelled the English soap I had placed in her bathroom. I felt her strength and firmness, and I felt old.

"You make me feel like hell." I rolled on my back, placing my hands behind my head.

"Why do you say that?" She wore a pair of my loose cotton flannel pajamas and looked puzzled.

"Because I don't think I could even do the Yellow Brick Road anymore," I said, referring to the Academy's obstacle course.

"I've never heard anyone call it easy."

"It is for you."

She hesitated. "Well, it is now. But it's not like you have to hang out with HRT."

"For that I am thankful. She paused, then added with a sigh, "You know, at first I was pissed when the Academy decided to send me back to UVA for a month. But it may end up being a relief. I can work in the lab, ride my bike and jog around the campus like a normal person."

Lucy was not a normal person, nor would she ever be. I had decided that in many sad ways, individuals with IQs as high as hers are as different from others as are the mentally impaired. She was gazing out the window and the snow was becoming bright. Her hair was rosegold in shy morning light, and I was amazed I could be related to anyone so beautiful.

"it may be a relief not being around Quantico right now, too." She paused, her face very serious when she turned back to me. "Aunt Kay, there's something I need to tell you. I'm not sure you're really going to want to hear this.

Or maybe it would be easier if you didn't hear it. I would have told you yesterday if Marino hadn't been here."

"I'm listening." I was immediately tense.

She paused again. "Especially since you may be seeing Wesley today, I think you ought to know. There's a rumor in the Bureau that he and Connie have split."

I did not know what to say.

"Obviously, I can't verify that this is true," she went on. "But I've heard some of what's being said. And some of it concerns you."

"Why would any of it concern me?" I said too quickly.

"Come on." She met my eyes. "There have been suspicions ever since you started working so many cases with him. Some of the agents think that's the only reason you agreed to be a consultant. So you could be with him, travel with him, you know."

"That's patently untrue," I angrily said as I sat up. "I agreed to be the consulting forensic pathologist because the director asked Benton, who asked me, not the other way around. I assist in cases as a service to the FBI and…"

"Aunt Kay," she interrupted me. "You don't have to defend yourself."

But I would not be soothed. "That is an absolutely outrageous thing for anyone to say. I have never allowed a friendship with anyone to interfere with my professional integrity."

Lucy got quiet, then spoke again. "We're not talking about a mere friendship."

"Benton and I are very good friends."

"You are more than friends."

"At this moment, no, we are not. And it is none of your business."

She impatiently got up from my bed. "It's not right for you to get mad at me."

She stared at me but I could not speak, for I was very close to tears.

"All I'm doing is reporting to you what I've heard so you don't end up hearing it from someone else," she said.

till, I said nothing, and she started to leave.

I reached for her hand. "I'm not angry with you. Please try to understand. It's inevitable I'm going to react when I hear something like this. I feel certain you would, too."

She pulled away from me. "What makes you think I didn't react when I heard it?"

I watched in frustration as she stalked out of my room, and I thought she was the most difficult person I knew. All our lives together we had fought. She never relented until I had suffered as long as she thought I should, when she knew how much I cared. It was so unfair, I told myself as I planted my feet on the floor.

I ran my fingers through my hair as I contemplated getting up and coping with the day. My spirit felt heavy, shadowed by dreams that were now unclear but I sensed had been strange. It seemed there had been water and people who were cruel, and I had been ineffective and afraid. In the bathroom I showered, then got a robe off a hook on the back of the door and found my slippers. Marino and my niece were dressed and in the kitchen when I finally appeared.

"Good morning," I announced as if Lucy and I had not seen each other this day.

"Yo. It's good all right." Marino looked as if he had been awake all night and was feeling hateful.

I pulled out a chair and joined them at the small breakfast table. By now the sun was up, the snow on fire.

"What's wrong?" I asked as my nerves tightened more.

"You remember those footprints out by the wall last night?" His face was boiled red.

"Of course."

"Well, now we've got more of them." He set down his coffee mug. "Only this time they're out by our cars and were left by regular boots with a Vibram tread. And guess what, Doc?" he asked as I already feared what he was about to say. "The three of us ain't going anywhere today until a tow truck gets here first."

I remained silent.

"Someone punctured our tires." Lucy's face was stone.

"Every goddamn one of them. With some kind of wide blade, it looks to me. Maybe a big knife or machete."

"The moral of the story is that it sure as hell wasn't some misguided neighbor or night diver on your property," he went on. "I think we're talking about someone who had a mission. And when he got scared off, he came back or somebody else did."

I got up for coffee. "How long will it take to get our cars fixed?"

"Today?" he said. "I don't think it's possible for you or Lucy to get your rides fixed today."

"It's got to be possible," I matter-of-factly stated. "We have to get out of here, Marino. We need to see Eddings' house. And right now it doesn't seem all too safe in this one."

"I'd say that's a fair assessment," Lucy said.

I moved close to the window over the sink and could plainly see our vehicles with tires that looked like black rubber puddles in the snow.

"They're punctured on the sides versus the tread, and can't be plugged," Marino said.

"Then what are we going to do?" I asked.

"Richmond's got reciprocal agreements with other police departments, and I've already talked to Virginia Beach.

They're on their way."

His car needed police tires and rims, while Lucy's and mine needed Goodyears and Michelins because, unlike Marino, we were here in our personal vehicles. I pointed all this out to him.

"We got a flatbed truck on the way for you," he said as I sat back down. "Sometime during the next few hours they'll load up your Benz and Lucy's piece of shit and haul them into Bell Tire Service on Virginia Beach Boulevard."

"It's not a piece of shit," Lucy said.

"Why the hell did you buy anything the color of parrot shit? That your Miami roots coming out, or what?"

"No, it's my budget coming out. I got it for nine hundred dollars."

"What about in the meantime?" I asked. "You know they won't take care of this speedily. It's New Year's Day."

"You got that right," he said. "And it's pretty simple, Doc. If you're going to Richmond, you're riding with me."

"Fine." I wasn't going to argue. "Then let's get as much done now as we can so we can leave."

"Starting with your getting packed," he said to me. "in my opinion, you should boogie right on out of here for good."

"I have no choice but to stay here until Dr. Mant returns from London."

Yet I packed as if I might not be coming back to his cottage during this life. Then we conducted the best forensic investigation we could on our own, for slashing tires was a misdemeanor, and we knew the local police would not be especially enthused about our case. III-equipped to make tread-pattern casts, we simply took photographs to scale of the footprints around our cars, although I suspected the most we would ever be able to tell from them was that the suspect was large and wore a generic-type boot or shoe with a Vibram seal on the arch of the rugged tread.

When a youthful policeman named Sanders and a red tow truck arrived late morning, I took two ruined radials and locked them inside the trunk of Marino's car. For a while I watched men in jumpsuits and insulated jackets twirl handjacks with amazing speed as a winch held the Ford's front end rampant in the air, as if Marino's car were about to fly. Virginia Beach officer Sanders asked if my being the chief medical examiner might possibly be related to what had been done to our vehicles. I told him I did not think so.

"It's my deputy chief who lives at this address," I went on to explain. "Dr. Philip Mant. He's in London for a month or so. I'm simply covering for him."

"And no one knows you're staying here?" asked Sanders, who was no fool.

"Certainly, some people know. I've been taking his calls."

"So you don't see that this might be related to who you are and what you do, ma'am." He was taking notes.

"At this time I have no evidence that there is a relationship," I replied. "in fact, we really can't say that the culprit wasn't some kid blowing off steam on New Year's Eve."

Sanders kept looking at Lucy, who was talking to Marino by our cars. "Who is that?" he asked.

"My niece. She's with the FBI,- I answered, and I spelled her name.

While he went to speak to her, I made one last trip inside the cottage, entering through the plain front door. The air was warmed by sunlight that blazed through glass, bleaching furniture of color, and I could still smell garlic from last night's meal. In my bedroom I looked around once more, opening drawers and riffling through clothes hanging in the closet while I was saddened by my disenchantment.

In the beginning, I had thought I would like it here.

Down the hall I checked where Lucy had slept, then moved into the living room where we had sat until early morning reading the Book of Hand. The memory of that unsettled me like my dream, and my arms turned to gooseflesh. My blood was thrilled by fear, and suddenly I could not stay inside my colleague's simple home a moment longer. I dashed to the screened-in porch, and out the door into the backyard. In sunlight I felt reassured, and as I gazed out at the ocean, I got interested in the wall again.

Snow was to the top of my boots as I drew close to it, footprints from the night before gone. The intruder, whose flashlight Lucy had seen, had climbed over the wall and then quickly left. But he must have showed up later, or someone else must have, because the footprints around our cars clearly had been made after snow had quit falling, and they hadn't been made by dive boots or surf shoes. I looked over the wall and beyond the dune to the wide beach below.

Snow was spun-sugar heaped in drifts with sea oats protruding like ragged feathers. The water was a ruffled dark blue and I saw no sign of anyone as my eyes followed the shore as far as they could.

I looked out for a long time, completely absorbed in speculations and worries. When I turned around to walk back, I was shocked to find Detective Roche standing so close he could have grabbed me.

"My God," I gasped. "Don't ever sneak up on me like that."

"I walked in your tracks. That's why you didn't hear

" He was chewing gum and had his hands in the pock meets of a leather coat. "Being quiet's one thing I'm good at when I want to be."

I stared at him, my dislike of him finding new depths.

He wore dark trousers and boots, and I could not see his eyes behind the aviator's glasses. But it did not matter. I knew what Detective Roche was about. I knew his type well.

"I heard about your vandalism and came to see if I could be of assistance," he said.

"I wasn't aware we called the Chesapeake police," I replied.

"Virginia Beach and Chesapeake have a mutual aid channel, so I heard about your problem on that," he said.

"I have to confess that the first thing to go through my mind was there might be a connection."

"A connection to what?"

"To our case." He stepped closer. "Looks like someone really did a number on your cars. Sounds like a warning.

You know, like just maybe you're poking your nose where someone doesn't think it belongs."

My eyes wandered to his feet, to his lace-up Gore-Tex boots made of leather the color of liver, and I saw the tread pattern they had left in the snow. Roche had big feet and hands, and was wearing Vibram soles. I looked back at a face that would have been handsome were the spirit behind it not so petty and mean. I did not say a word for a while, but when I did I was very direct.

"You sound a lot like Captain Green. So tell me. Are you threatening me, too?"

"I'm just passing along an observation."

He stepped even closer, and now I was backed against the wall. Melting snow heaped on top of it dripped down the collar of my coat while my blood ran hotter.

"By the way," he went on, edging ever nearer, "what's new with this case of ours?"

"Please step back," I said to him.

"I'm just not sure at all that you're telling me everything. I think you have a real good idea about what happened to Ted Eddings, and you're withholding information."

"We're not going to discuss that case or any other right now," I said.

"See? That puts me in a bad spot because I have people I answer to." I couldn't believe it when he placed his hand on my shoulder as he added, "I know you wouldn't want to cause me trouble."

"Don't touch me," I warned. "Don't push this any further.

"I think you and me need to get together so we can overcome our communication problem." He left his hand where it was. "Maybe we can catch dinner in some quiet little laid-back place. You like seafood? I know a real private place on the Sound."

I was silent as I wondered whether to jam my finger in his windpipe.

"Don't be shy. Trust me. It's all right. This isn't the Capital of the Confederacy with all these snobby old hasbeens you got in Richmond. We believe in live and let live around here. You know what I mean?"

I tried to move past him and he grabbed my arm. - I'm talking to you." He was beginning to sound angry.

You don't go walking off when I'm talking to you."

"Let go of me," I demanded.

I tried to wrench my arm away. But he was surprisingly strong.

"No matter how many fancy degrees you got, you're no match for me," he said under breath that smelled like spearmint.

I stared straight into his Ray-Bans.

"Get your hands off me now," I said in a loud, hard voice. "Now!" I exclaimed as if I would kill him instantly.

Roche suddenly let go, and I trudged with purpose through the snow as my heart flew off on its own. When I reached the front of the house, I stopped, out of breath and dazed.

"There are footprints in the backyard that should be photographed," I addressed everyone. "Detective Roche's footprints. He was just back there. And I want all of my belongings out of the house."

"What the hell do you mean he was just back there?"

Marino said.

"We had a conversation."

"How the hell did he get back there without us seeing him?"

I scanned the street and did not see a car that might have been Roche's. "I don't know how he got back there," I said. "I guess he cut through someone else's backyard. Or maybe he came up from the beach."

Lucy did not know what to think as she looked at me.

"You won't be coming back here?" she asked me. "Not at all?"

"No," I said. "I will not be coming back here ever again, if I have my way about it."

She helped me pack the remainder of my belongings, and I did not relay what had happened in the backyard until we were in Marino's car driving fast on 64 West toward Richmond.

"Shit", he exclaimed. "The friggin' bastard hit on you.

Goddamn it. Why didn't you yell?"

"I think his mission was to harass me on behalf of someone else," I said.

"I don't care what his mission was. He still hit on you.

YOU got to take out a warrant."

" Hitting on someone is not against the law," I said.

"He grabbed you."

"So I'm going to have him arrested for grabbing my arm?"

"He shouldn't have grabbed nothing." He was furious as he drove. "You told him to let go and he didn't. That's abduction. At the very least, it's simple assault. Damn, this thing's out of alignment."

"You've got to report him to Internal Affairs," Lucy said from the front seat, where she was fooling with the scanner because it was hard for her hands to be still. "Hey, Pete, the squelch isn't right," she added to him. "And you can't hear a thing on channel three. That's Third Precinct, right?"

"What do you expect when I'm way the hell near Williamsburg? You think I'm a state trooper?"

"No, but if you want to talk to one, I can probably figure that out."

" I'm sure you could tune in to the damn space shuttle," he irritably remarked.

"If you can," I said to her, "how about getting me on it."