“We don’t know what the mark is,” I explained.
“But it may tell us where the body lay. It may be some type of injury.” He picked up the photograph, squinting as he examined it more closely.
“Aren’t there studies of photographs you can do? Seems to me there’s all sorts of scientific things they do these days.”
“There are,” I answered.
“But the problem is, by the time we finish conducting any studies, the body will be in such poor condition that we’ll no longer be able to tell anything from it if we still need to exhume it. The longer the interval gets, the harder it is to distinguish between an injury or other significant mark on the body and artifacts due to decomposition.”
“There are a lot of details about this case that make it very odd. Your Honor,” Dr. Jenrette said.
“We just need all the help we can get.”
“I understand the SBI agent working the case was found hanged yesterday. I saw that in the morning paper.”
“Yes, sir,” Dr. Jenrette said.
“Are there odd details about his death, too?”
“There are,” I replied.
“I hope you’re not going to come back here a week from now and want to dig him up.”
“I can’t imagine that,” I said.
“This little girl has a mama. And just how do you think she’s going to feel about what you’ve got in mind?” Neither Dr. Jenrette nor I replied. Leather creaked as the judge shifted in his chair. He glanced past us at a clock on the wall.
“See, that’s my biggest problem with what you’re asking,” he went on.
“I’m thinking about this poor woman, about what all she’s been through. I have no interest whatsoever in putting her through anything else.”
“We wouldn’t ask if we didn’t think it was important to the investigation of her daughter’s death,” I said.
“And I know Mrs. Steiner must want justice. Your Honor. ”
“You go get her mama and bring her to me,” Judge Begley said as he got up from his chair.
“Excuse me?” Dr. Jenrette looked bewildered.
“I want her mama brought to me,” the judge repeated.
“I should be freed up by two-thirty. I’ll expect to see you back here.”
“What if she won’t come?” Dr. Jenrette asked, and both of us got up.
“Can’t say I’d blame her a bit.”
“You don’t need her permission,” I said with calm I did not feel.
“No, ma’am, I don’t,” said the judge as he opened the door.
7
Dr. Jenrette was kind enough to let me use his office while he disappeared into the hospital labs, and for the next several hours I was on the phone. The most important task, ironically, turned out to be the easiest. Marino had no trouble convincing Denesa Steiner to accompany him to the judge’s chambers that afternoon. More difficult was figuring out how to get them there, since Marino still did not have a car.
“What’s the holdup?” I asked.
“The friggin’ scanner they put in don’t work,” he said irritably.
“Can’t you do without that?”
“They don’t seem to think so.”
I glanced at my watch.
“Maybe I’d better come get you.”
“Yeah, well, I’d rather get there myself. She’s got a pretty decent ride. In fact, there are some who say an Infinin’s better than a Benz.”
“That’s moot, since I’m driving a Chevrolet at the moment.”
“She said her father-in-law used to have a Benz a lot like yours and you ought to think of switching to an Infiniti or Legend.”
I was silent.
“Just food for thought.”
“Just get here,” I said shortly.
“Yeah, I will.”
“Fine.” We hung up without good-byes, and as I sat at Dr. Jenrette’s cluttered desk I felt exhausted and betrayed. I had been through Marino’s bad times with Doris. I had supported him as he had begun venturing forth into the fast, frightening world of dating. In return, he had always telegraphed judgments about my personal life without benefit of having been asked. He had been negative about my ex-husband, and very critical of my former lover. Mark. He rarely had anything nice to say about Lucy or the way I dealt with her, and he did not like my friends. Most of all, I felt his cold stare on my relationship with Wesley. I felt Marino’s jealous rage. He was not at Begley’s office when Dr. Jenrette and I returned at half past two. As minutes crept by inside the judge’s chambers, my anger grew.