for whatever strange reason, the program wasn't being used.”
“ Perhaps Archer was incapable of using it.” Eldritch's hands went skyward. “I, personally, have a phobia when it comes to computers.”
“ Archer and every medical examiner in the country wants this program. It's being tested now in a number of cities. One of them, from the beginning, had to be New York.”
“ So the question arises, why wasn't it being used?”
The mayor's question resounded about the room.
“ Are you certain of your suspicions of Archer?” Alan pointedly asked.
“ I'd stake my reputation on it.”
“ And are you equally sure that Dr. Archer dragged his feet on providing this information?”
“ I don't know that with hundred percent certainty. As I said, my… my instincts are based on circumstantial findings. But I do know that he knew something had been found in the Phillips cadaver. Dr. Darius confided in him.”
“ I see.”
“ That still doesn't prove he told the press about it,” said Eldritch.
“ No, no, it doesn't, but he's the only one you haven't talked to.”
“ But we did talk to him,” said the mayor.
“ About this very subject?”
“ He denied having known anything about it. Said he had been left out of the loop since your arrival, Doctor.”
“ Then I suggest you speak with him again.” She popped the tape into a player beside her. She had earlier cued it to the spot she wished Rychman to hear. Darius' distinctive voice was followed by Archer's, a clear exchange of the information Archer claimed now to have no knowledge of. It wasn't the worst of his lies, she guessed.
She hazarded a tentative word. “If he'll lie about this… what else is he capable of lying about?”
“ What do you mean. Doctor?” asked Halle, dumbfounded.
“ I fear that he only forwarded selective information out to Quantico, that which would back up his theory of the crime, that the Claw is a single individual.”
“ My God,” said the mayor. “If this is true… think of it… It could ruin us all if a bastard like that Drake fellow got hold of it.”
“ Drake doesn't have to get hold of it,” said Rychman, “all he has to do is imagine it. Half what he writes is pure conjecture.”
“ And the other half?” said Eldritch. “Half-truths have been destroying us in the press-you included, Dr. Coran.”
“ I've learned it's best to ignore my critics,” she countered. She knew that Rychman was taking most of the heat that had been flamed by Drake's biting, irresponsible series. “Lathrope's secretary has ties with Drake,” Alan said. “She's just as likely a candidate as Archer, more so even.”
“ But you saw the woman, you heard her,” countered Eldritch.
The mayor added, “I believe she was telling the truth, else she would not have told of her former involvement with the man and his phone call pleading for the very information we were grilling her about.”
Rychman conceded that he felt Marilyn Khoen was being honest with them, and he was trained to know a liar when he spoke to one. He considered his senses more reliable than a polygraph, which Marilyn had agreed to take.
“ When I think of how I charged into Ames' place,” said Rychman, falling into a chair, “accusing everybody in sight… damn… damn…”
“ So what're we going to do?” asked Eldritch. “About Archer? How're we going to trip him up, if he is indeed behind all this?”
“ The man appears unflappable,” said the mayor.
“ I'll be working a great deal closer now,” Jessica said, “and I'll keep my eyes wide open, you can be assured of that. But we need something to shake him up. I suggest a wholesale investigation of Dr. Darius' department, from mislaid toe tags to broken beakers. I suggest a call for an exhumation of the first victim or victims. I suggest a second autopsy of some of the victims, perhaps Dr. Darius' autopsy as well. Chalk it up to a departmental investigation of what appears shoddy practices since Dr. Darius first fell ill. Give it to the papers, if you like.”
“ Not at all bad,” said Eldritch, thinking like the politician he was. “Hey, Rychman? It'd certainly take some of the heat off of our asses, move it downstage, so to speak.”
“ No, we give the papers nothing,” countered Rychman. “We investigate our own in-house, and the M.E.'s office is part of the network of government offices serving the people. We leak this to the papers and we're no better than Archer, if he's guilty. Who knows, he may have just been following orders.” This made Eldritch blanch and fidget.
Jessica thought of her initial suspicions focusing on Darius instead of Archer, and she felt ashamed of herself but proud of Alan for standing so firm on his friend's memory.
“ Don't be a damned fool, Rychman,” said Eldritch, standing in Alan's face now. “You can't possibly think I had anything to do with some alleged wrongdoing in the M.E.'s office.”
“ Screw it, Eldritch. I'm not handling any allegation aimed at the coroner's office in the damned press. I'll do it, but I'll do it by the book, using IAD.”
“ Internal Affairs is fine,” said Mayor Halle, “and should Dr. Coran's fears be borne out, then we go to the press.” The mayor didn't appear anxious to deal with differences between Rychman and Eldritch here and now.
Eldritch backed off and Alan struggled to hide his pleasure.
“ You will keep us posted every step of the way,” Eldritch told Rychman before barging out.
The mayor stopped at the door, turned and looked back at Coran and Rychman. “Keep up the good work, people. Little wonder we've had difficulty catching the Claw if what you say about Archer is true. Imagine it… If he's guilty of subverting information vital to the case, he's… well, he may be an accessory to murder.”
Twenty-One
Sgt. Louise Emmons and her partner, Dave Turner, had continued all day long in Leon's neighborhood, asking questions. More and more their questions led them back to the strange character named Helfer at the center of the block down from Mrs. Phillips. It seemed everyone thought Leon Helfer a little queer in the head, especially since his mother had died and he was on his own. They heard how he had gotten rid of all of the former tenants in the building when their leases were up, isolating himself inside. They heard about his late night drives and how he talked to himself all the time. But they heard nothing that could be in any way construed as evidence.
Emmons, tiring of the door-to-door, went back to her idea regarding the man's boss at the pipe factory. After arranging to see him late that afternoon, she and Turner went to the factory, where Leon's immediate supervisor promptly said, “He don't work here no more.”
“ Whoa, Mr. Malthuesen. He told us he was in your employ.”
“ Was, yes, but not no more.”
“ When was he fired?”
“ We like to say let go.”
“ All right, then. When was he-”
“ Yesterday, just yesterday. Why? Is the little weasel in some kind of trouble?”
“ We're only interested in what you know about him, sir.”
Malthuesen revealed things they had already heard about Helfer that he had changed dramatically after his mother's death, that it seemed to have had a profound effect on him. Malthuesen also explained why he had let Leon go.
Emmons sensed intuitively that there was something the man was either lying about or omitting. She dug at him, with Turner's help, but he wouldn't come out with it all. They threatened with legal jargon, and still the man
