“Come on down to the unit,” he said, “and let’s see what this is about.”
3
Lieutenant Hershel Mote could not keep the note of near hysteria out of his voice when Wesley returned his telephone call at twenty-nine minutes past six p. m.
“You’re where?” Wesley asked him again on the speaker phone.
“In the kitchen.”
“Lieutenant Mote, take it easy. Tell me exactly where you are.”
“I’m in SBI Agent Max Ferguson’s kitchen. I can’t believe this. I’ve never seen nothing like this.”
“Is there anybody else there?”
“It’s just me here alone. Except for what’s upstairs, like I told you.
I’ve called the coroner and the dispatcher seeing who he can raise. ”
“Take it easy. Lieutenant,” Wesley said again with his usual unflappability.
I could hear Mote’s heavy breathing.
I said to him, “Lieutenant Mote? This is Dr. Scarpetta.
I want you to leave everything exactly the way you found it. ”
“Oh, Lordy,” he blurted.
“I done cut him down…”
“It’s okay…”
“When I walked in I… Lord have mercy, I couldn’t just leave him like that.”
“It’s all right,” I reassured him.
“But it’s very important that nobody touches him now.”
“What about the coroner?”
“Not even him.” Wesley’s eyes were on me.
“We’re heading out. You’ll see us no later than twenty-two hundred hours. In the meantime, you sit tight.”
“Yes, sir. I’m just going to sit right in this chair till my chest stops hurting.”
“When did this start?” I wanted to know.
“When I got here and found him. I started having these pains in my chest.”
“Have you ever had them before?”
“Not that I recollect. Not like this.”
“Describe where they are,” I said with growing alarm.
“Right in the middle.”
“Has the pain gone to your arms or neck?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Any dizziness or sweating?”
“I’m sweating a bit.”
“Does it hurt when you cough?”
“I’ve not been coughing. So I don’t reckon I can say.”
“Have you ever had any heart disease or high blood pressure?”
“Not that I know of.”
“And you smoke?”
“I’m doing it now.”
“Lieutenant Mote, I want you to listen to me carefully. I want you to put out your cigarette and try to calm down. I’m very concerned because you’ve had a terrible shock, you’re a smoker, and that’s a setup for a coronary. You’re down there and I’m up here. I want you to call an ambulance right now.”
“The pain’s settling down a little. And the coroner should be here any minute. He’s a doctor.”
“That would be Dr. Jenrette?” Wesley inquired.
“He’s all we got’round here.”
“I don’t want you fooling around with chest pains, Lieutenant Mote,” I said firmly.
“No, ma’am, I won’t.” Wesley wrote down addresses and phone numbers. He hung up and made another call.
“Is Pete Marino still running around out there?” he asked whoever had answered the phone.
“Tell him we’ve got an urgent situation. He’s to grab an overnight bag and meet us over at HRT as fast as he can get there. I’ll explain when I see him.”
“Look, I’d like Katz in on this one,” I said as Wesley got up from his desk.
“We’re going to want to fume everything we can for prints, in the event things aren’t the way they appear.”
“Good idea.”
“I doubt he’d be at The Body Farm this late. You might want to try his pager.”
“Fine. I’ll see if I can track him down,” he said of my forensic scientist colleague from Knoxville. When I got to the lobby fifteen minutes later, Wesley was already there, a tote bag slung over his shoulder. I had had just enough time in my room to exchange pumps for more sensible shoes, and to grab other necessities, including my medical bag.
“Dr. Katz is leaving Knoxville now,” Wesley told me.
“He’ll meet us at the scene.” Night was settling beneath a distant slivered moon, and trees stirring in the wind sounded like rain. Wesley and I followed the drive in front of Jefferson and crossed a road dividing the Academy complex from acres of field offices and firing ranges. Closest to us, in the demilitarized zone of barbecues and picnic tables shaded by trees, I spotted a familiar figure so out of context that for an instant I thought I was mistaken. Then I recalled Lucy once mentioning to me that she sometimes wandered out here alone after dinner to think, and my heart lifted at the chance of making amends with her.