guy’s place had been robbed the day before. The only thing missing was
the rifle.’
‘So what’s next?’ Laurie asked.
‘We’re still following up leads,’ Lou said. ‘Plus there are more
informers that we’ve not been able to contact. But mostly we’re just
keeping our fingers crossed for some sort of break. What about you guys?
Any idea how the body walked out of here?’
‘Not yet, but I’m looking into it personally,’ Laurie said.
‘Hey, don’t encourage her,’ Jack said. ‘That’s for Bingham and
Washington to do.’
‘He’s got a point, Laurie,’ Lou said.
‘Damn straight I got a point,’ Jack said. ‘Last time Laurie got involved
with the mob she got carried out of here nailed in a coffin. At least
that’s what you told me.’
‘That was then and this is now,’ Laurie said. ‘I’m not involved in this
case the way I was in that one. I think it is important to find out how
the body disappeared for the sake of this office, and frankly I’m not
convinced either Bingham or Washington will make the effort. From their
point of view, it is better to let the episode just fade.’
‘I can understand that,’ Lou said. ‘In fact, if the goddamned media
would only let up, the commissioner might even want us to ease up. Who
knows?’
‘I’m going to find out how it happened,’ Laurie repeated with
conviction.
‘Well, knowing the who and the how could help my investigation,’ Lou
said. ‘It was most likely the same people from the Vaccarro
organization. It just stands to reason.’
Jack threw up his hands. ‘I’m getting out of here,’ he said. ‘I can tell
neither of you will listen to reason.’ He again tugged on Vinnie’s shirt
on the way out the door.
Jack poked his head into Janice’s office. ‘Anything I should know about
this floater that’s not in the folder?’ he asked the investigator.
‘The little there is, is all there,’ Janice said. ‘Except for the
coordinates where the Coast Guard picked up the body. They told me that
someone would have to call today to make sure it wasn’t classified or
something. But I can’t imagine that information will matter. It’s not
like anyone could go out there and find the head and the hands.’
‘I agree,’ Jack said. ‘But have someone call anyway. Just for the
record.’
‘I’ll leave a note for Bart,’ Janice said. Bart Arnold was the chief
forensic investigator.
‘Thanks, Janice,’ Jack said. ‘Now get out of here and get some sleep.’
Janice was so committed to her job that she always worked overtime.
‘Wait a second,’ Janice called out. ‘There was one other thing that I
forgot to note in my report. When the body was picked up, it was naked.
Not a stitch of clothing.’
Jack nodded. That was a curious piece of information. Undressing a
corpse was added effort on the part of the murderer. Jack pondered for a
moment, and when he did, he decided it was consistent with the
murderer’s wish to hide the victim’s identity, a fact made obvious by
the missing head and hands. Jack waved goodbye to Janice.
‘Don’t tell me we’re doing a floater,’ Vinnie whined as he and Jack
headed for the elevator.
‘You sure do tune out when you read the sports page,’ Jack said. ‘Laurie
and I discussed it for ten minutes.’
They boarded the elevator and started down to the autopsy room floor.
Vinnie refused to make eye contact with Jack.
‘You are in a weird mood,’ Jack said. ‘Don’t tell me you’re taking this
Franconi disappearance personally.’
‘Lay off,’ Vinnie said.
While Vinnie went off to don his moon suit, lay out all the
paraphernalia necessary to do the autopsy, and then get the body into
the morgue and onto the table, Jack went through the rest of the folder
to make absolutely certain he’d not missed anything. Then he went and
found the X rays that had been taken when the body had arrived.
Jack put on his own moon suit, unplugged the power source that had been
charging over night, and hooked himself up. He hated the suit in
general, but to work on a decomposing floater he hated it less. As he’d