I raised my voice above all of them. ‘Please! Quiet!’
‘Dr Scarpetta . . .’
‘Quiet!’ I said more loudly, as I blindly stared out at aggressive people I could not make out. ‘Now, I am going to ask you politely to leave,’ I said.
‘Is it the Butcher again?’ a woman raised her voice above the rest.
‘Everything is pending further investigation,’ I said.
‘Dr Scarpetta.’
I could just barely make out the television reporter as Patty Denver, whose pretty face was on billboards all over the city.
‘Sources say you’re working this as another victim in these serial killings,’ she said. ‘Can you verify that?’
I did not respond.
‘Is it true the victim is Asian, probably prepubescent, and came off a truck that is local?’ she went on, to my dismay. ‘And are we to assume that the killer may now be in Virginia?’
‘Is the Butcher killing in Virginia now?’
‘Possible he deliberately wanted the other bodies dumped here?’
I held up a hand to quiet them. ‘This is not the time for assumptions,’ I said. ‘I can tell you only that we are treating this as a homicide. The victim is an unidentified white female. She is not prepubescent but an older adult, and we encourage people who might have information to call this office or the Sussex County Sheriff’s Department.’
‘What about the FBI?’
‘The FBI is involved,’ I said.
‘Then you are treating this as the Butcher . . .’
Turning around, I entered a code on a keypad and the ‘ lock clicked free. I ignored the demanding voices, shutting the door behind me, my nerves humming with tension as I walked quickly down the hall. When I entered my office, Wesley was gone, and I sat behind my desk. I dialed Marino’s pager number, and he called me right back.
‘For God’s sake, these leaks have got to stop!’ I exclaimed over the line.
‘We know damn well who it is,’ Marino irritably said.
‘Ring.’ I had no doubt, but could not prove it.
‘The drone was supposed to meet me at the landfill. That was almost an hour ago,’ Marino went on.
‘It doesn’t appear the press had any trouble finding him.’
I told him what sources allegedly had divulged to a television crew.
‘Goddamn idiot!’ he said.
‘Find him and tell him to keep his mouth shut,’ I said. ‘Reporters have practically put us out of business today, and now the city’s going to believe there’s a serial killer in their midst.’
‘Yeah, well, unfortunately, that part could be true,’ he said.
‘I can’t believe this.’ I was only getting angrier. ‘I have to release information to correct misinformation. I can’t be put in this position, Marino.’
‘Don’t worry, I’m going to take care of this and a whole lot more,’ he promised. ‘I don’t guess you know.’
‘Know what?’
‘Rumor has it that Ring’s been seeing Patty Denver.’
‘I thought she was married,’ I said as I envisioned her from a few moments earlier.
‘She is,’ he said.
I began dictating case 1930-97, trying to focus my attention on what I was saying and reading from my notes.
‘The body was received pouched and sealed,’ I said into the tape recorder, rearranging paperwork smeared with blood from Wingo’s gloves. ‘The skin is doughy. The breasts are small, atrophic and wrinkled. There are skin folds over the abdomen suggestive of prior weight loss . . .’
‘Dr Scarpetta?’ Wingo was poking his head in the doorway. ‘Oops. Sorry,’ he said when he realized what I was doing. ‘I guess now’s not a good time.’
‘Come in,’ I said with a weary smile. ‘Why don’t you shut the door.’
He did and closed the one between my office and Rose’s, too. Nervously, he pulled a chair close to my desk, and he was having a hard time meeting my eyes.
‘Before you start, let me.’ I was firm but kind. ‘I’ve known you for many years, and your life is no secret to me. I don’t make judgments. I don’t label. In my mind, there are only two categories of people in this world. Those who are good. And those who aren’t. But I worry about you because your orientation places you at risk.’