When Helen Grimes opened her door, I could tell by her blank expression that I was about as foreign to her as my German car. Dressed in jeans and an untucked denim shirt, she planted her hands on her substantial hips and did not budge from the doorway. She seemed unbothered by the cold or who I said I was, and it wasnat until I reminded her of my visit to the penitentiary that recognition flickered in her small, probing eyes.

"Who told you where I live?"

Her cheeks were flushed, and I wondered if she might hit me.

"Your address is in the court records for Goochland County."

"You shouldnat have looked for it. How would you like it if I dug up your home address?"

"If you needed my help as much as I need yours, I wouldnat mind, Helen," I said.

She just looked at me. I noticed that her hair was damp, an earlobe smudged with black dye.

"The man you worked for was murdered," I said. "Someone who worked for me was murdered. And there are others. Iam sure youave been keeping up with some of what is going on. There is reason to suspect that the person who is doing this was an inmate at Spring Street - someone who was released, perhaps around the time that Ronnie Joe Waddell was executed."

"I donat know anything about anybody being released."

Her eyes drifted to the empty street behind me.

"Would you know anything about an inmate who disappeared? Someone, perhaps, who wasnat legitimately released? It seems that with the job you had you would have known who entered the penitentiary and who left."

"n.o.body disappeared that I heard of."

"Why donat you work there anymore?"

I asked.

"Health reasons."

I heard what sounded like a cupboard door shut from somewhere inside the s.p.a.ce she guarded.

I kept trying. "Do you remember when Ronnie Waddellas mother came to the penitentiary to visit him on the afternoon of his execution?"

"I was there when she came in."

"You would have searched her and anything she had with her. Am I correct?"

"Yes."

"What Iam trying to determine is if Mrs. Waddell might have brought anything to give her son. I realize that visiting rules prohibit people from bringing in items for the inmates "

aYou can get permission. She got it."

aMrs. Waddell got permission to give something to her son?"

aHelen, youare letting all the heat out,a a voice sounded sweetly from behind her.

Intense blue eyes suddenly fixed on me like gun sights in the s.p.a.ce between Helen Grimesas meaty left shoulder and the door frame. I caught a flash of a pale cheek and aquiline nose before the s.p.a.ce was empty again. The lock rattled and the door was quietly shut behind the erstwhile prison guard. She leaned up against it, staring at me. I repeated my question.

aShe did bring something for-Ronnie, and it wasnat much. I called the warden for permission."

aYou called Frank Donahue?"

She nodded.

aAnd he granted permission?"

aLike I said; it wasnat much, what she brought for him.

aHelen, what was it?"

aA picture of Jesus about the size of a postcard, and something was wrote on the back. I donat remember exactly. Something like aI will be with you in paradise; only the spelling was wrong. Paradise was spelled like apair of dice; all run together,a Helen Grimes said without a trace of a smile.

aAnd that was it?"

I asked. aThis was what she wanted to give her son before he died?"

aI told you that was it. Now, I need to go in, arid I donat want you coming here again."

She put her hand on the doork.n.o.b as the first few drops of rain slowly slipped from the sky and left wet spots the size of nickels on the cement, stoop.

When Wesley arrived at my house later in the day, he wore a black leather pilotas jacket, a dark blue cap, and a trace of a smile.

aWhatas happening?" I asked as we retreated to the kitchen, which by now had become such a common meeting place for us that he always took the same chair.

aWe didnat break Stevens, but I think we put a pretty big crack in him. Your having the lab request left where be would find it did the trick. Heas got good reason to fear the results of DNA testing done on fetal tissue from Susan Storyas case."

aHe and Susan were having an affair,a I said, and it was odd that I did not object to Susanas morals. I was disappointed in her taste.

aStevens admitted to the affair and denied everything else."

aSuch as having any idea where Susan got thirty-five hundred dollars?" I said.

aHe denies knowing anything about that but weare not finished with him. A snitch of Marinoas says he saw a black Jeep with a vanity plate in the area where Susan was shot and about the time we think it happened. Ben Stephens drives a black Jeep with the vanity plate"

aStevens didnat kill her, Benton,a I said.

aNo, he didnat. I think what happened is Stevens got spooked when whoever he was dealing with wanted information about Jennifer Deightonas case."

aThe implication would have been pretty clear,a. I agreed. aStevens knew that Jennifer Deighton was murdered."

aAnd coward that he is, he decides that when it is time for the next payoff, heall let Susan handle it. Then heall meet her directly afterward to get his share."

aBy which time sheas already been killed."

Wesley nodded. aI think whoever was sent to meet her shot her and kept the money: Later - maybe mere minutes later - Stevens appears in the designated spot, the alleyway off Strawberry Street."

aWhat youare describing is consistent with her position in the car,a I said. aOriginally, she had to have been slumped forward in order for the a.s.sailant to have shot her in the nape of the neck. But when she was found, she was leaning back in the seat."

aStevens moved her."

aWhen he first approached the car, he wouldnat have immediately known what was wrong with her. Ht couldnat see her face if she were slumped forward against the steering wheel. He leaned her back in the seat."

aAnd then ran like h.e.l.l."

aAnd if head just splashed on some of his cologne before heading out to meet her, then he would have cologne on his hands. When he leaned her back in the seat; his hands would have been in contact with her coat probably in the area of her shoulders. Thatas what I smelled at the scene."

aWeall break him eventually."

aThere are more important things to do, Benton,a I said, and I told him about my visit with Helen Grimes and what she had said about Mrs. Waddellas last visit with her son.

aMy theory,a I went on, ais that Ronnie Waddell wanted the picture of Jesus buried with him, and that this may have been his last request. He puts it in an envelope and writes on it aUrgent, extremely confidential,a and so on."

aHe couldnat have done this without Donahueas permission,a Wesley said. aAccording to protocol, the inmateas last request must be communicated to the warden."

"Right, and no matter what Donahueas been told, heas going to be too paranoid to let Waddellas body be carried off with a sealed envelope in a pocket. So he grants Waddellas request, then devises away to see whatas inside the envelope without a ha.s.sle or a stink. He decides to switch envelopes after Wadded is dead, and instructs one of his thugs to take care of it. And this is where the receipts come in."

aI was hoping youad get around to that,a Wesley said.

aI think the person made a little mistake Letas say heas got a white envelope on his desk, and inside it are receipts from a recent trip to Petersburg. Letas say he gets a similar white envelope, tucks something innocuous inside it, and then writes the same thing on the front that Waddell had written on the envelope he wanted buried with him."

"Only the guard writes this on the wrong envelope."

aYes. He writes it on the one containing the receipts."

aAnd heas going to discover this later when he looks for his receipts and finds the innocuous something inside the envelope instead.

aPrecisely,a I said. aAnd thatas where Susan fits in. If I were the guard who made this mistake, Iad be very worried. The burning question for me would be whether one of the medical examiners opened that envelope in the morgue, or if the envelope was left sealed. If I, this guard, also happened to be the contact for Ben Stevens, the person forking over cash in exchange for making sure Waddellas body wasnat printed at the morgue, for example, then Iad know exactly where to turn."

aYouad contact Stevens and tell him to find out if the envelope was opened. And if so, whether its contents made anybody suspicious or inclined to go around asking questions: Itas called tripping over your paranoia and ending up with many more problems than you would have had if youad just been cool. But it would seem Stevens could have answered that question easily."

aNot so,a I said. aHe could ask Susan, but she didnat witness the opening of the envelope. Fielding opened it upstairs, photocopied the contents, and sent the original out with Waddella's other personal effects."

aStevens couldnat have just pulled the case and looked at the photocopy?"

aNot unless he broke the lock on my credenza,a I said.

aThen, in his mind, the only other alternative was the computer."

aUnless he asked Fielding or me. He would know better than that. Neither of us would have divulged a confidential detail like that to him or Susan or anyone else."

aDoes he know enough about computers to break into your directory?"

aNot to my knowledge, but Susan had taken several courses and had UNIX books in her office."

The telephone rang and I let Lucy answer it. When she came into the kitchen, her eyes were uneasy.

aItas your lawyer, Aunt Kay."

She moved the kitchen phone within reach, and aI picked it up without moving from my chair. Nicholas Grueman wasted no words on a greeting but went straight to his point.

aDr. Scarpetta, on November twelfth you wrote a money market account check to the tune of ten thousand dollars cash. And I find no records in any of your bank statements that might indicate this money was deposited in any of your various accounts."

aI didnat deposit the money."

aYou walked out of the bank with ten thousand dollars."

aNo, I did not. I wrote the check at Signet Bank, downtown, and with it purchased a cashieras check in British sterling."

aTo whom was the cashieras check made out?" My former professor asked as Benton Wesley stared tensely at me.

aMr. Grueman, the transaction was of a private nature and in no way has any bearing on my profession."

aCome now, Dr. Scarpetta. You know thatas not good enough."

I took a deep breath.

aCertainly, you know weare going to be asked about this. Certainly, you must realize it doesnat look good that awithin weeks of your morgue a.s.sistantas depositing an unexplained amount of cash, you wrote a check for a large amount of cash."

I shut my eyes and ran my fingers through my hair as Wesley got up from the table and came around behind me.

aKaya - I felt Wesleyas hands on my shoulders - afor G.o.das sake, youave got to tell him."

13.

Had Grueman never been a pract.i.tioner of the law, I would not have entrusted my welfare to him. But before teaching he had been a litigator of renown, and he had done civil rights work and prosecuted mobsters for the Justice Department during the Robert Kennedy era. Now he represented clients who had no money and were condemned to die. I appreciated Gruemanas seriousness and needed his cynicism.

He was not interested in trying to negotiate or protest my innocence. He refused to present the slightest shred of evidence to Marino or anyone. He told no one of the ten-thousand-dollar check, which was, he said, the worst piece of evidence against me. I was reminded of what he had taught his students on the first day of criminal law. Just say no. Just say no. Just say no. My former professor, abided by these rules to the letter, and frustrated Roy Pattersonas every effort.

Then on Thursday, January 6, Patterson called me at home and requested that I come downtown to his office to talk.

aIam sure we can dear all this up,a he said amicably. aI just need to ask you a few questions."

The implication was that if I cooperated, then something worse might be derailed, and I marveled that Patterson would consider, for even a moment, that such a shopworn maneuver would work with me. When the Commonwealthas Attorney wants to chat, heas on a fishing expedition that does not involve letting anything go. The same is true of the police. In good Gruemanian fashion, I told Patterson no, and the next morning was subpoenaed to appear before the special grand jury on January 20. This was followed by a subpoena duces tec.u.m for my financial records. First Grueman claimed the Fifth, then filed a motion to quash the subpoena. A week later, we had no choice but to comply unless I wished to be held in contempt of court. About this same time, Governor Norring appointed Fielding acting chief medical examiner of Virginia.

aThereas another TV van I just saw it go by,a Lucy said from the dining room, where she stood staring out the window.

aCome on in and eat lunch,a I called out to her from the kitchen. aYour soup is getting cold."

Silence.

aAunt Kay?"