“While you’re at it,” Calhoun said to the officer, “how about making two sets of copies.”
“No problem,” the officer said. He handled the originals with gloved hands.
Calhoun winked at Angela and whispered: “This way we’ll both have a set.”
Ten minutes later, Angela and Calhoun were back in the truck.
“That was a breeze,” Angela said with relief. She slid the copies out of the envelope the officer had placed them in and began looking through them.
“I never say ‘I told you so,’ ” Calhoun said with a smile. “I’d never say that. Nope. I’m not that kind of person.”
Angela laughed. She’d come to enjoy Calhoun’s humor.
“What are they?” Calhoun asked, looking over Angela’s shoulder.
“They’re copies of the admissions sheets on eight patients,” Angela said.
“Anything unique about them?” Calhoun asked.
“Not that I can tell,” Angela said with some disappointment. “There doesn’t seem to be any common element. Different ages, different sexes, and different diagnoses. There’s a fractured hip, pneumonia, sinusitis, chest pain, right lower quadrant abdominal pain, phlebitis, stroke, and kidney stone. I don’t know what I expected, but this looks pretty ordinary.”
Calhoun started the truck and pulled out into the traffic. “Don’t make any snap decisions,” he advised.
Angela slid the papers back into their envelope and gazed out at the surroundings. Almost immediately she recognized where they were.
“Wait a second,” she said. “Stop a moment.”
Calhoun pulled over to the side of the road.
“We’re very close to the office of the chief medical examiner,” Angela said. “What do you say we stop in? He did the autopsy on Hodges and a visit might generate a bit more interest on his part.”
“Fine with me,” Calhoun said. “I’d like to meet the man.”
They did a U-turn in the middle of a busy street. The maneuver scared Angela, and she closed her eyes to the oncoming traffic. Calhoun told her to relax. A few minutes later they were in the medical examiner’s building. They met Walter Dunsmore in a lunchroom. Angela introduced Calhoun.
“How about something to eat?” Walter suggested.
Both Angela and Calhoun got sandwiches out of a vending machine and joined Walt.
“Mr. Calhoun is helping investigate the Hodges murder,” Angela explained. “We came up to Burlington to get copies of some evidence. While we were here I thought I’d stop in to see if there have been any new developments.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Walt said as he tried to think. “Toxicology came back and was negative except for the alcohol level which I told you about. That’s about it. As I said, nobody’s making this case much of a priority.”
“I understand,” Angela said. “Anything more on that carbon under the skin?”
“Haven’t had a chance to even think about it again,” Walt admitted.
After they wolfed down their sandwiches Angela said she had to get back to Bartlet; she told Walt she was on her lunch hour. Walt encouraged her to come back any time.
The drive back to Bartlet seemed even faster than the drive to Burlington. Calhoun dropped Angela off behind the library so she could get her own car.
“I’ll be in touch,” Calhoun said. “And remember, stay out of it.”
“Don’t worry,” Angela said. She waved as she got in behind the wheel. It was almost one-thirty.
Back in her office, Angela put the copies of Hodges’ papers in the top drawer of her desk. She wanted to remember to take them home that evening. While she was donning her white lab coat Wadley opened the connecting door without bothering to knock.
“I’ve been looking for you for almost twenty minutes,” he said irritably.
“I was out of the hospital,” Angela said.
“That much was obvious,” Wadley said. “I had you paged several times.”
“I’m sorry,” Angela said. “I used my lunch hour to run an errand.”
“You’ve been gone longer than an hour,” Wadley said.
“That might be,” Angela said, “but I plan to stay later than scheduled, which I normally do anyway. Plus, I spoke to Dr. Darnell to cover in case there were any emergencies.”
“I don’t like my pathologists disappearing in the middle of the day,” Wadley said.