Judging Time

cholesterol Jason wasn't supposed to eat, all the stuff she loved and sneaked whenever he wasn't around. The sandwich she made consisted of salami, brie, pate, roasted peppers, arugula, and tomato. In earlier days, he would have complained of her insensitivity, taken it apart, and removed the bits dangerous to his heart and arteries. Now, he accepted her offering with pleasure and gobbled it hungrily, savoring every poisonous bite.

'Emma,' he said cautiously. 'April doesn't want me. She's going to want to talk to you. You knew them both better than I did. You were with them last night.'

Emma's mood worsened. 'I didn't see Rick last night,' she said.

'Rick? No, but you were with the victims last night. Merrill and-'

'Tor.' Emma wrinkled her nose.

'What about that? Did they have a relationship?'

The wrinkle turned into a frown. 'I don't think so, but I don't know.'

'Were they involved?'

'I said I don't know.' Angrily, Emma removed a plate from the table, then banged it on the edge of the sink, chipping it. 'Shit.'

Jason watched her, chewing thoughtfully. He swallowed. 'I'd guess you're worried about it.'

'No.'

'Turn around and look at me, baby. I know you're worried. I can feel it.'

She turned on the water. 'You'd worry, too,' she said with her back to him.

He sighed. 'They're going to ask you to tell them everything you know about Merrill, and Rick, and this other person, Tor—'

'Petersen, just about the richest and craziest man in America. I can't believe they're dead. I can't believe it. They were so alive last night. They loved my play.'

Jason finished the sandwich.

'And I don't know what to tell them.'

'You'll have to tell them the truth.'

'The truth' She spat out the word. 'The whole idea makes me sick. What if the truth doesn't have anything to do with who killed them?' Finally she turned around and stared at him. 'Jason, do you know what I mean about this?'

'You mean you don't want to share the secrets of your closest friend. You don't want her life exposed. You don't want yourself exposed. You don't want Rick exposed.' He sighed again. 'What's your part in it?'

'They picked me up at the theater. We had dinner together. I left before dessert. I came home to you, Jason. I didn't want to keep you waiting.' Her eyes teared. 'We made love, remember?'

She'd been in high spirits, as she usually was after a performance. Jason had been exhausted, had fallen asleep. She'd woken him up to be with her, but it had been worth it. 'I remember,' he murmured, then, 'Emma, Merrill's dead. The only thing that matters now is to find out who killed her.'

'Jason, you do it.'

'Do what?'

'You work with the police,' Emma entreated him. 'You find out who killed her.'

Jason checked his watch. Ten past four. He'd eaten a huge sandwich, full of cholesterol, in four minutes flat and would suffer for it later. He groaned. 'I'm a psychiatrist, not a detective.'

'It's the same thing. Come on, do this for Rick, no—do it for me. Find out who did this.'

'Then you'll have to tell me what you know. Try it out on me.'

'It's probably nothing useful,' she muttered.

'But still, you're afraid. Look, I have to go.' He got up from the table to embrace her one last time before getting back to work.

She put her arms around him. 'I'm afraid,' she admitted.

'Well, you're safe,' he told her. 'I won't let anyone hurt you.'

'It's not myself I'm worried about,' she said softly as he left.

When Jason got back to his office, his patient—a young psychiatric resident who didn't know Jason lived next door—was sitting in the waiting room, tapping his foot impatiently. The man stared at the wet spots on Jason's shirt, and then his face, clearly trying to figure out where Jason had been in the dead of winter, and what he'd been doing, without his jacket or coat. Jason excused himself for a moment to go into his office and try April again. She still wasn't in.

9

Rosa Washington heard the phone ring in the suit e where her office was located. She ran down the hall to get it before the secretary picked up and whined to whoever was on the line that no one was there. No one at all. Everyone was sick or dead, and the place was falling apart. The woman was a bit of a loon even for the morgue. Rosa thought they must have gotten her from Bellevue's psych bin down the street.

'I'm here,' Rosa called as she jogged into the suite, her white coat flapping around a fresh scrub suit. 'Is it him?'

'He.' Elinor Dunn corrected her boss's grammar with a shake of her graying head.

Rosa scowled at the thin, wispy woman, nearly twice her age, whose disapproving face always gave Rosa the feeling that she herself was a fake, always on the brink of making some ghastly social or grammatical faux pas.

The nasty woman punched a button and held the receiver away from her ear as if it had lice. 'It's a Mrs. Petersen. She sounds English,' she hissed. 'And you have company.' She jerked her head at two detectives standing inside the door of Rosa's office.

Rosa gave them a small smile and removed her cap.

'Himself did call twice, since you asked.' Elinor made a point of checking her notes as to what Himself had said. 'He said to hold off on Petersen and the Liberty woman. He's coming in tomorrow for sure.'

Rosa didn't let her face show her disappointment as she turned away. Her two prizes had been on ice since four this morning. Already it had been a twelve-hour wait to open them up. There was no excuse for this. None at all. They didn't have a full house at the moment, and there was certainly nobody who couldn't wait. These two babies were hers. By anybody's rights they were hers. She'd been arguing this to herself all day. Hadn't she been there and seen them in situ? Hadn't she, in fact, been practically the first one on the scene? You couldn't get more conscicntious than that. In her mink coat, no less. She was proud of thc mink coat. It could take anything.

'Hi, guys, what's up?' She smiled at the two cops, covcring every negative feeling she had. She tossed thc cap on the desk and pointed at April. '''You're April Woo, right?'

As far as Rosa knew, there wasn't another female Chink detective. She turned to the Hispanic. 'Who's this? Oh, yeah.' She smacked her forehead. 'I couldn't mistake that bit of facial foliage, now could I? You're Sanchez, Two-O, right?'

'Wow, I'm impressed at the good memory, Doc. But I'm in Homicide now.'

'Well, good for you, we'll be meeting more often, then. What brings you two over here?'

'What's the schedule on Petersen and Liberty?' April said. 'We're under some pressure here.'

'Well, have a seat and relax.' Rose threw herself in her chair and swiveled back and forth. 'You know I can't believe this. I've got those two babies down there waiting for me. And I ean't open them up.'

'What's the problem?' Mike asked.

'You haven't heard? Dr. Abraham is home sick.'

'Oh, yeah?' Mike said. 'And?'

'And, he doesn't want the cameras on anybody else.'

'Too bad,' Mike sympathized.

'Was I not there first?' Rosa demanded of April. 'Not that I'm complaining, of course.'

'Yeah, you were there first. In your mink coat. Nice coat.'

'You like it?' Rosa beamed.

'Who wouldn't? How did you get the call? Someone beep you?'

'No, I was off last night.' She laughed. 'But who of us is ever really off? No, I like to know what's coming down. I have a beef about these non-MD inspectors going to the scene. You know how much training they have?