aVery good. Donat wait to be asked. Just put them on the table as youare talking. And the status of your wife is the same, since we spoke?"

aYes, sir. As I told you, sheas had the in vitro ferrtilizaliion. So far, so good."

"Remember to get that in if you can,a Grueman said.

Several minutes later, I was summoned to the jury room.

aOf course. He wants you first."

Grueman got up with me. aThen heall call in your detractors so he can leave a bad taste in the jurorsa mouths."

He went as far as the door. aI will be right here when you need me."

Nodding, I went inside and took the empty chair at the head of the table. Patterson was out of the room, and I knew this was one of his gambits. He wanted me to endure the silent scrutiny of these ten strangers who held my welfare in their hands. I met the gazes of all and even exchanged smiles with a few. A serious young woman wearing bright red lipstick decided not to wait for the Commonwealthas Attorney.

aWhat made you decide to deal with dead people instead of the living?" she asked. aIt seems a strange thing for a doctor to choose."

aIt is my intense concern for the living that makes me study the dead,a I said. aWhat we learn from the dead is for the benefit of the living, and justice is for those left behind."

aDonat it get to you?" inquired an old man with big, rough hands. The expression on his fare was so sincere that he seemed in pain.

aOf course it does."

aHow many years did you have to go to school after you graduated from high school?" asked a heavyset black woman.

aSeventeen years, if you include residencies and the year I was a fellow."

"Lord have mercy."

aWhere all did you go?"

aTo school, you mean?" I said to the thin young man wearing gla.s.ses. .

aYes, maaam."

aSaint Michaelas, Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown."

aWas your daddy a doctor?"

aMy father owned a small grocery store in Miami."

aWell, Iad hate to be the one paying for all that school." Several of the jurors laughed softly.

aI was fortunate enough to receive scholarships,a I said. aBeginning with high school."

aI have an uncle who works at the Twilight Funeral one in Norfolk,a said someone else.

aOh, come on, Barry. There really isnat a funeral home called that."

aI kid you not.a'

"Thata's nothing. We got one in Fayetteville owned by the Stiff family. Guess what its called."

aNo way."

aYouare not from around here."

"Iam a native of Miami,a I replied.

aThen the name Scarpettaas Spanish?"

"Itas Italian."

aThatas interesting. I thought all Italians was dark."

aMy ancestors are from Verona in northern Italy, where a sizable segment of the population shares blood with the Savoyards, Austrians, and Swiss,a I patiently explained. aMany of us are blue-eyed and blond."

aBoy, I bet you can cook."

aItas one of my favorite pastimes."

aDr. Scarpetta, Iam not real clear on your position,a said a well-dressed man who looked about my age. aAre you the chief medical examiner for Richmond?"

aFor the Commonwealth. We have four district offices. Central Office here in Richmond, Tidewater in Norfolk, Western in Roanoke, and the Northern Office in Alexandria."

aSo the chief just happens to be located here in Richmond?"

aYes. That seems to make the most sense, since the medical examiner system is part of state government and Richmond is where the legislature meets,a I replied as the door opened and Roy Patterson walked in. He was a broad shouldered, good-looking black man with close-shorn hair that was going gray. His dark blue suit was double-breasted, and his initials were embroidered on the cuffs of his pale yellow shirt. He was known for his ties, and this one looked hand painted, He greeted the jurors and was tepid toward me.

I discovered that the woman wearing the bright red lipstick was the foreman. She cleared her throat and informed me that I did not have to testify, and that anything I said could be used against me.

aI understand,a I said, and I was sworn in.

Patterson hovered about my chair and offered the minimum of information about who I was, and elaborated on the power of my position and the ease with which this power could be abused.

aAnd who would there be to witness it?" he asked. aOn many occasions there was no one to observe Dr. Scarpetta at work except for the person who was by her side virtually every day. Susan Story. You canat hear testimony from her because she and her unborn child are dead, ladies and gentlemen. But there are others you will hear from today. And they will paint for you a chilling portrait of a cold, ambitious woman, an empire builder who was making grievous mistakes on the job. First, she paid for Susan Storyas silence. Then she killed for it."

aAnd when you hear tales of the perfect crime, who better able to carry it off than someone who is an expert in solving crimes? An expert would know that if you plan to shoot someone inside a vehicle, it would behoove you to choose a low-caliber weapon so you donat run the risk of bullets ricocheting. An expert would leave no telling evidence at the scene, not even spent sh.e.l.ls. An expert would not use her own revolver - the gun or guns that friends and colleagues know she possesses. She would use something that could not be traced back to aWhy, she might even borrow a revolver from the lab, because, ladies and gentlemen, every year the courts routinely confiscate hundreds of firearms used in the commission of crimes, and some of these weapons are donated to the state firearms lab. For all we know, the twenty-two revolver that was put against the back of Susan Storyas skull is, as we speak, hanging on a pegboard in the firearms lab or downstairs in the range the examiners use for test fires and where Dr. Scarpetta routinely practices shooting. And by the way, she is good enough to qualify for any police department in America. And she has killed before, though to give her credit, in the instance Iam referring to her actions were ruled to be self-defense."

I stared down at my hands folded on top of the table as the court reporter played her silent keys and Patterson went on. His rhetoric was always eloquent, though he usually did not know when to quit. When he asked me to explain the. fingerprints recovered from the envelope found in Susanas dresser, he made such a big production of pointing out how unbelievable my explanation was that I suspected the reaction of some was to wonder why what Iad said couldnat be true, Then he got to the money.

aIs it not true, Dr. Scarpetta, that on November twelfth you appeared at the downtown branch of Signet Bank and made out a check for cash for the sum of ten thousand dollars?"

aThat is true."

Patterson hesitated for an instant, his surprise visible. He had counted on my taking the Fifth.

aAnd is it true that on this occasion you did not deposit the money in any of your various accounts?"

aThat is also true,a I said.

aSo several weeks before your morgue supervisor inexplicably deposited thirty-five hundred dollars into her checking account, you walked out of Signet Bank with ten thousand dollars cash on your person?"

"No, sir, I did not. In my financial records you should have found a copy of a cashieras check made out to the sum of seven thousand, three hundred and eighteen pounds sterling. I have my copy here."

I got it out of my briefcase.

Patterson barely glanced at it as he asked the court reporter to tag it as evidence. aNow, this is very interesting,a he said. aYou purchased a cashiers check made out to someone named Charles Hale. Was this some creative scheme of yours to disguise payoffs you were making to your morgue visor and perhaps to others? Did this individual termed Charles Hale turn around and convert pounds flack into dollars and route the cash elsewhere - perhaps to Susan Story?"

"No,a I said. aAnd I never delivered the check to Charles Hale."

"You didnat?"

He looked confused "What did you do with it?"

aI gave it to Benton Wesley, and he saw to it that the a was delivered to Charles Hale. Benton Wesley -a He cut me off. "The story just gets more preposterous who is Charles Hale?"

aI would like to finish my previous statement,a I said.

aWho is Charles Hale?"

aIad like to hear what she was trying to say,a said a man in a plaid blazer.

aPlease,a Patterson said with a cold smile.

aI gave the cashieras check to Benton Wesley. He is a special agent for the FBI, a suspect profiler at the Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico.a A woman timidly raised her hand. aIs he the one Iave read about in the papers? The one they call in when there are these awful murders like, the ones in Gainesville?"

aHe is the one,a I said. aHe is a colleague of mine. He was also the best friend of a friend of mine, Mark James, who also was a special agent for the FBI."

aDr. Scarpetta, letas get the record straight here,a Patterson said impatiently. aMark James was more than a quote, friend of yours."

aAre you asking me a question Mr. Patterson?"

aAside from the obvious conflict of interest involved in the chief medical examineras sleeping with an FBI agent, the subject is non-germane. So I wonat ask-."

I interrupted him. aMy relationship with Mark James began in law school. There was no conflict of interest, and for the record, I object to the Commonwealthas Attorneyas reference to whom I allegedly was sleeping with."

The court reporter typed on.

My hands were clasped so tightly my knuckles were white.

Patterson asked again, aWho is Charles Hale and why would you give him the equivalent of ten thousand dollars?"

Pink scars flashed in my mind, and I envisioned two tigers attached to a stump shiny with scar tissue.

aHe was a ticket agent at Victoria Station in London,a I said.

aWas?"

aHe was on Monday, February eighteenth, when the bomb went off."

No one told me. I heard reporters on the news all day and had no idea until my phone rang on February 19 at two-fourty-one A.M. It was six-forty-one in the morning in London, and Mark had been dead for almost a day. I was so stunned as Benton Wesley tried to explain, that none of it made any sense.

"That was yesterday, I read about that yesterday. You mean it happened again?"

aThe bombing happened yesterday morning during rush hour. But I just found out about Mark. Our legal in London just notified me."

aYouare sure? Youare absolutely sure?"

"Jesus, Iam sorry, Kay."

"Theyave identified him with certainty?"

"With certainty.a'

aYouare sure. I mean . . "

aKay. Iam at home. I can be there in an hour."

aNo, no."

"I was shivering all over but could not cry. I wandered through my house, moaning quietly and wringing my hands.

aBut you did not know this Charles Hale prior to his being injured in the bombing, Dr. Scarpetta. Why would you give him ten thousand dollars?"

Patterson dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief.

aHe and his wife have wanted children and could not have them."

aAnd how would you know such an intimate detail about strangers?"

"Benton Wesley told me, and I responded by suggesting Bourne Hall, the leading research facility for in vitro fertilization. IVF is not covered by national health insurance."

aBur you said the bombing was way back in February. You just wrote the check in November."

aI did not know about the Halesa problem until this past fall, when the FBI had a photo spread for Mr. Hale to look at and somehow learned of his difficulties. Iad told Benton long ago to let me know if there was ever anything I could do for Mr. Hale.a'

aThen you took it upon yourself to finance in vitro fertilization for strangers?" Patter asked as if Iad just told him that I believed in leprechauns.

aYes."

aAre you a saint, Dr. Scarpetta?"

aaNo."

aThen. please explain Your motivation."

aCharles Hale tried to help Mark."