dose, by injection. But what you've said about her liver, I don't think it's very likely. The barbs would had to have been in her body for a while in order for them to be absorbed by her liver. But a shot, in the sort of quantities you've described, would have caused her to die too quickly for that to happen.' He put down the glass and shook his head. Besides, there's absolutely no sign of a hypodermic needle that I can find. And as you see for yourself, I've looked everywhere.' He sighed, pulled down his mask and proceeded to light two cigarettes, Now Voyager-style, one for himself and one for Nimmo. Nice-looking chick, though. Got some slope and nigger in her by the look of her. But really very striking, wouldn't you say?'
Nimmo took the cigarette and puffed it into life, grateful for the sanctuary from the smell of formaldehyde. She and I,' he said, we're gonna give the marriage another try. For the sake of the dog.'
Go ahead and fuck her if you want, Pop. Some guys consider it a perk of the job.'
No thanks. I like a little more life in my women, even at my age.'
Hill sniggered smoke. What are you, a flit or something? Just look at that body of hers, man. She's a babe. Even in death. I'll leave the room if you're the shy type.'
You're a real pain in the ass, you know that Dan?'
That reminds me. There is one other way in which a fatal dose could have been administered. It could have been inserted colonically.'
You mean up her ass? Like a suppository?'
Of course. That particular egress does not preclude entry, my friend. What does Sherlock Holmes say in The Sign of Four? When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, man, must be the truth. That's axiomatic for all pathologists. They virtually tattoo it on your dick when you go forensic.' Hill took a last drag on his cigarette and tossed it into the sink. Here,' he said, taking hold of her pelvis. Help me to turn her over.'
Nimmo put his hands under the body's shoulder, and together the two men pushed it on to its stomach. Then Hill searched for something in his Bonanza bag, saying, The medication would be quickly absorbed through the anal membrane directly into the bloodstream. That would explain why her stomach was empty.' He came out of the bag holding a small set of forceps. Okay, Pop, you're gonna have to hold her butt cheeks open while I get the Emmetts up her ass, and have a look-see inside her anus. Think you can handle that?'
Sure,' said Nimmo, throwing his own cigarette into the sink after Hill's. I hold women down for other guys all the time.' But he looked away as Hill began to inspect Mary Jefferson's anus, and then her colon.
We'll take a smear before we do anything,' said Hill. In case we compromise the area. If a suppository was used, there might still be a trace of it.'
With his eyes now very firmly over his shoulder, Nimmo grunted back.
As far as the colon itself is concerned, it does look rather discoloured,' Hill reported thoughtfully. The damage is quite close to the actual rectum. Looks kind of bruised and purplish. Which would be consistent with something having been shoved up her ass. And it's quite congested in there, too.'
With shit?'
No, with traffic.'
Underneath his own mask, Nimmo was grimacing. Things were beginning to smell bad again. Very bad.
I'll see if I can get a sample with a Lockhart. Of course, I won't know for sure until I can run some tests in the lab, but I'd say we've hit pay dirt, so to speak. The Enema Within.' Hill coughed a little, and then laughed at his own joke. Did you read that book?'
What book?' gagged Nimmo.
The Enemy Within, by Robert Kennedy. All about Hoffa and the teamsters and shit like that. Pretty good book.' He paused as he grappled with the Emmetts. Got it. Okay, you can let go of her ass now cowboy.' Hill placed his sample carefully inside a specimen bottle, and then looked at his watch. We oughta tear.' Seeing Nimmo's baffled look, he added, We should leave. Before any of the three bears turn up looking for their porridge. We can go back to the lab, run a few tests on this little turd of hers, and the smear I took.'
How long will that take?'
Not long.' Hill pulled down his mask and grinned. You may even still make it to morning service.'
They drove back to Jackson Memorial and a laboratory in the Department of Pathology, where Dan Hill went immediately to work on the smear and the sample, while Nimmo sat and read the paper. Jack Kennedy was on the front page of the Times again, just like the day before. This time the President-elect was pictured at the Kennedy home in Palm Beach with Senators Stuart Symington of Missouri and George Smathers of Florida. Nimmo wondered if either Kennedy or Smathers knew Mary Jefferson was dead. Surely someone would have told Smathers. She had worked for him. Surely someone would have told Kennedy. He had fucked her. Nimmo wondered if Kennedy would have looked quite so sanguine if he had known about the tape, and if he had known what was now in Nimmo's ruminative mind.
Your lady friend was murdered all right,' declared Hill, coming out of the empty laboratory. I found abnormally high levels of pure Nembutal and Chloral Hydrate in the smear and in the sample. In those amounts ab anam, death was quite certain, and probably reasonably quick. Couple of hours, I shouldn't wonder.'
Nimmo nodded. Good, he thought, that left plenty of time for Tom Jefferson to drive up from Key West, use the suppository on his wife, and then drive back. He tried to picture the scene when Jefferson had arrived in the dead of night. Possibly she had been asleep. Before she knew what was happening he might have bound and gagged her, forced the suppository up her ass, waited for the drugs to kick in, untied her, and then hit the road again. It was brilliantly simple. Just the way a cold-blooded killer would have handled it.
Nimmo took out his wallet and handed over some more cash.
What's that for?'
Your silence.'
Man, you had that when I took the job,' said Hill, pocketing the money. Performing an unauthorised autopsy isn't exactly the sort of thing you talk about. But thanks anyway, man. I appreciate it.'
There is just one more thing,' grinned Hill.
What's that, Pop?'
Nimmo punched Hill hard in the stomach, the way only a man for whom violence is a full-time job can land a blow. The punch emptied Hill of air, and dumped him flat on his behind, gasping like he had been shot in the gut.
I don't like you calling me a flit,' said Nimmo. I don't like it any more than I care for the implication that I might be a fucking necrophiliac. I don't like you mentioning my ex-wife. I don't like you calling me Pop. I don't like the way you talk. And I don't like the length of your hair. However, I would like to give you some medical advice. Correction, some pathological advice.' Nimmo pulled Hill's cheek playfully. You got a big mouth, son. Keep it shut or you could end up catching your death. Understand?'
And that is how Mary Jefferson was murdered.'
Nimmo and Rosselli were in Gallaghers, a restaurant run by an affable ex-Philadelphian named Joe Lipsky. Located a few blocks north of Nimmo's house in Keystone Islands, on 127th Street, the policeman regarded it as his local, eating there as many as four or five times a week. The Danish lobster tails were the best in town, but Nimmo's taste was usually more quotidian. He particularly liked the do-it-yourself kit' where they served a baked potato with a tray containing sour cream, chives, chopped onions, and bacon, so you could fix your Idaho just the way you wanted it.
A fascinating story,' commented Rosselli when he had heard Nimmo out. And ingenious, too.'
Yeah, you'll have to remember it for when you want to knock off some other broad. A murder weapon that dissolves itself. I checked all the medicine bottles I brought away from the house. They all had drugstore labels except one.'
Very thorough. I'm impressed. Meyer was certainly right about you.'
His mouth full of potato and his eyes drifting on and off the football game on TV, between the Houston Oilers and the Denver Broncos, Nimmo shrugged modestly, and then swallowed. So, where's that friend of Rough House Morgan's?'
Frank? He's back in Key West. There are some problems in Havana.'
Aren't there always? It said in the paper someone put a bomb in a department store. Los Precios Fijos. I've shopped there myself in the past. Things like this go on there won't be anything left for you guys to get back.'
Rosselli nodded. I tend to agree with you. If it was up to me we would restrict all our activities to the
