The doctor was cooperative, but had no memory of theevent at all. I was doing a surgical residency and working part-time as an emergency room doc, he said. I worked emergency rooms for seven years and mustve signed five hundred of those things. Maybe a thousand. Im sorry, but I just dont remember.
The funeral home was confused, but a woman with a quavery, elderly voice finally found the record: Amelia Lamb had been cremated.
Shit, Lucas said aloud.
I beg your pardon?
THE PRUDENTIAL GUY CALLED BACK A HALF HOUR later, as Lucas was pulling together records on the murders proposed by Helen Bell, as well as the two proposed by Annette Ingall.
We paid sixty-four hundred dollars on George Lamb, which was not an inconsiderable sum at the time; and then four and a half years later, we paid fifteen thousand on Amelia Lamb. That insurance policy had been in effect only three years, which was probably why we called the hospital on it, the Prudential man said.
Who was beneficiary on the Amelia Lamb policy?
Uh, lets see… this is an older form… Um, an Audrey Lamb. Apparently her daughter.
Not Audrey and Helen?
No, just an Audrey.
How about on George Lamb?
That was… Amelia.
Huh. Did Amelia Lamb have to take a physical?
Um… yup. Passed okay.
Anything about high blood pressure?
Nope. But this form isnt specificyoud have to see the original doctors report, and that was so long ago…
Do you have the docs name?
Yup.
But the doctor was dead. His son, a dentist, said his fathers records had been transferred to other doctors whenhe gave up his practice, and records not transferred had been stored for ten years, then destroyed.
Shit.
I beg your pardon?
LUCAS WENT BACK TO THE RECORDS FOR AN HOUR, and finally came to a push-comes-to-shove point. If Audrey was guilty of all of this, then she must have killed ODell. But according to the investigative records, signed off by Franklin and Sloan, she left the building before ODell was killed. That was confirmed: she logged out of the building at 10:53. Two people visiting their son in the building, who had logged out after her, confirmed that they had left just as aRoseannererun was ending. Nightlineended a couple of minutes before eleven, and they were shown as logging out at eleven, while ODell was confirmed killed at 11:02.
It was possible, of course, that Audrey was a master burglar and that she had some way of getting into a building with a security desk in the lobby. Or that she had somehow obtained a key card for the elevator. But the first of those possibilities seemed laughable, while the second was only barely reasonableshe wouldnt have had much time to plan the killing of ODell, unless the killing was part of a long-range plan.
He thought about that for a moment. Maybe she did have a long-range plan. Maybe she had access to everybody she might ever need to kill. Then he shook his head. Couldnt think that way. If she was working off a long-range plan, which had somehow involved getting home keys for all her possible victims, then she was a perfect killer and they were out of luck.
He glanced at his watch, punched up his computer, and wrote a memo, with copies to Frank Lester, head of the investigative division, and Rose Marie Roux.
Halfway through, a sheriffs deputy called from Itasca County. You called yesterday about the Baird case?
Yeah, thanks for calling back, Lucas said. How well do you know the case?
I was lead investigator, the deputy said. I pretty much know it all.
I understand it was a firebombing, Lucas said. A Molotov cocktail.
Yeah, thats right. A mix of gas and oil in a gallon jug, the deputy said.
Was there anything weird about the bottle? Lucas asked.
After a moment of pregnant silence, the deputy said, Like what?
Like scoring? Like with a glass cutter?
Another beat. Then, Hown the hell did you know about that? We never put it in the report…
WHEN HE WAS DONE WITH THE MEMOS, LUCAS printed them and walked them down to Rouxs office and left them with the secretary. Homicide was just down the hall, so he stopped by.
Sherrill was at her desk: Lunch?
She was sitting next to Sloan, who was eating a corned beef sandwich. If you dont think peoplell think youre fucking me, she said, just loud enough for Sloan to hear.
Sloan never flinched. Lets go, Lucas said. And to Sloan: Have you got an hour, in an hour or so? To go over to ODells place, and look around?
Sure.
LUCAS AND SHERRILL WALKED DOWN THE STREET TO a cop hangout, got sandwiches, and Sherrill said, I hope I can get past this wise-mouth stuff with you. Ive been a wise-ass ever since we got together, and Im having a hard time getting off that wavelength.
Ill recite you a poem sometime, Lucas said. It makes women feel all gushy and tender; they roll right over on their backs.
You just did it to me.
What?
Wise-assed me. I heard you read poetry. I alwaysthought it was neat. Now you wise-assed it.
Yeah. He looked up at her, serious now. Im sorry I wise-assed it. I do like poetry, and I do like reading some of it to women.
Say a poem to me.
He thought, and then said, slowly, It was Din, Din, Din you limpin lump of
Get the fuck out of here, she said. You did it again.
We gotta do something about this, he said, grinning at her. I really am serious. Weve got to have at least one honest talk. Penalties for any wise-ass remarks.
Tomorrow night. For dinner.
Tomorrow, he agreed.
Sherrills phone rang, and she took it out of her purse, listened, and handed it to him: Rose Marie. Christ, she knew right where to call.
Lucas put the phone to his ear. Yeah?
I didnt interrupt a tender moment, did I?
Yeah. I was about to bite into a cheeseburger.
I called Towson about your memo. He wants to meet.
Its too soon.
No its not. Im sending a copy over for him to read. You should get over there at two oclock. Frank is gonna go along. From the memo, I dont think were likely to get her unless she kills somebody else. So you guys are gonna have to figure something out.
LUCAS DROPPED SHERRILL BACK AT THE OFFICE, picked up Sloan, and they walked together over to ODells apartment building. The security guard recognized Sloan and sent them up.
The basic problem is, if you go down in the elevator, you cant get back up without a key card, Sloan said. Even if you have a key card, theres a monitor camera in the elevator, so a guard might recognize you… not that they spend a lot of time looking at the monitor, Sloan said, as they got in the elevator.
So she gets off at another floor…
Nope. Cant get off at another floor. If you get in at the lobby, you can go to any one floor. If you get in at any other floor, you can only go down to the lobby. Unless you have a key card.
How about the fire stairs?
The doors are locked in the lobby and the skyway. From those floors, you cant get in without a key, you can only get out. And you cant get out on any floor except the lobby or the skyway, even if you have a key.
A key, not a key card, Lucas said.
Thats rightlike a Schlage.
How close do they track the cards?
They know how many each person is signed out for. ODell had three, two for herself, and one for her father, who lives way the hell out in South Dakota. We found her two cards, and her father still had his when he was here to pick up the body. So that was all of hers. But somebody else in the building? Who knows? There are almost three hundred cards out. I suppose we could try to find all of them… Id guess a few are missing. The problem is figuring out how the McDonalds might have gotten one.
Huh. If it was all arranged ahead of time, were fucked anyway. What if she had to do it off the top of her head? Maybe a days thought?