“I need to talk to you about him, too,” I said. “Maybe you can explain to me exactly what his problem is.”
“According to him, the problem’s you,” he said.
“That’s ridiculous,” I said, unable to restrain my anger.
“To cut to the chase, Chief Steels, your detective is inappropriate, unprofessional and an obstruction in this investigation. He is banned from my morgue.”
“You realize Internal Affairs is going to have to thoroughly investigate this,” he said,
“and I’m probably going to need you to come in at some point so we can talk to you., I
“Exactly what is the accusation?”
“Sexual harassment.”
“That’s certainly popular these days,” I ironically said.
“However, I wasn’t aware I had power over him, since he works for you, not me, and by definition, sexual harassment is about the abuse of power. But it’s all moot since the roles are reversed in this case. Your detective is the one who made sexual advances toward me, and when they were not reciprocated, he’s the one who became abusive.”
Steels said after a pause, “Then it sounds to me like it’s your word against his.”
“No, what it sounds like is a lot of bullshit. And if he touches me one more time, I will get a warrant and have him arrested.”
He was silent.
“Chief Steels,” I went on, “I think what should be of glaring importance right now is a very frightening situation that is going on in your jurisdiction. Might we talk about Ted Eddings for a moment?”
He cleared his throat. “Certainly.”
“You’re familiar with the case?”
“Absolutely. I’ve been thoroughly briefed and am very familiar with it.”
“Good. Then I’m sure you’ll agree that we should investigate it to our fullest capacity.”
“Well, I think we should look hard at everybody who dies, but in the Eddings case the answer’s pretty plain to me.”
I listened as I got only more furious.
“You may or may not know that he was into Civil War stuff-had a collection, and all.
Apparently, there were some battles not so far from where he went diving, and it may be he was looking for artifacts like cannonballs.”
I realized that Roche must have talked to Mrs. Eddings, or perhaps the chief had seen some of the newspaper articles Eddings supposedly had written about his underwater treasure hunts. I was no historian, but I knew enough to see the obvious problem with what was becoming a ridiculous theory.
I said to Steels, “The biggest battle on or near water in your area was between the Merrimac and the Monitor. And that was miles away in Hampton Roads. I have never heard of any battles in or near the part of the Elizabeth River where the shipyard is located.”
“But Dr. Scarpetta, we really just don’t know, do we?”
he thoughtfully said. “Could be anything that was fired, any garbage dumped and anybody killed at any place back then. It’s not like there were television cameras or millions of reporters all over. Just Mathew Brady, and by the way, I’m a big fan of history and have read a lot about the Civil War. I’m personally of the belief that this guy, Eddings.
went down in that shipyard so he could comb the river bottom for relics. He inhaled noxious gases from his machine and died, and whatever he had in his hands-like a metal detector-got lost in the silt.”
“I am working this case as a possible homicide,” I firmly said.
“And I don’t agree with you, based on what I’ve been told.
“I expect the prosecutor will agree with me when I speak to her.”
The chief said nothing to that.
“I should assume you don’t intend to invite the Bureau’s Criminal Investigative Analysis people into this,” I added.
“Since you have decided we’re dealing with an accident.”
“At this point, I see no reason in the world to bother the FBI. And I’ve told them that.”
“Well, I see every reason,” I answered, and it was all I could do not to hang up on him.
“Damn, damn, damn!” I muttered as I angrily grabbed my belongings and marched out the door.
Chapter Nine