as Darius' logical successor. And I don't understand why you and the others choose to look the other way.”
She hurled away, and he threw money on the table and rushed after her. Neither of them had noticed the darkly clad, heavily made-up man at the booth beside them who now stood and quietly left in their wake.?
Twenty-Five
I want Emmons' body shipped to Quantico.” Jessica stood over Simon Archer's desk, her tone lean and spiced with a tinge of officiousness. “I'd like your cooperation.”
“ What can you possibly expect will come of carting the poor woman's body to and from Virginia, Dr. Coran?”
“ Well, I won't know that until-”
“ Then you can speak with the family members. I'll not be a party to unnecessary pain and injury to the bereaved.”
“ I'll deal with her family.”
She started away from his office when he got to his feet and said, “Do you really think Quantico can do any better than we've managed here?”
“ We have the most sophisticated equipment on earth, Doctor, some of which you've only read about, the experimental laser photography, for instance, and our electron microscopy is of the most recent vintage. If any minute differences… ahh… Doctor, at this point, I'm asking your cooperation, but if you try to stand in my way, I'll steamroll this right over your head.”
“ You have no jurisdiction here. It ended with that retch's arrest.”
“ Oh, but I do. So long as the FBI holds open the case, and since the NYPD asked us in… Well, just check with the commissioner and the mayor, if you like.”
Archer stared a hole in her but said nothing. She smiled, saying, “Being at the top's a bitch, Simon, especially when the top isn't the top.”
“ Just what is it you think you will find?” he persisted.
“ Look, Dr. Archer, we're not in this to prove your team in error, or-”
“ What, then?”
Others about the lab heard the raised voices and began to stare.
“ We're interested in looking more deeply into the physical evidence, and the best way to do that is to transport, whole, one of the victims, perhaps two.”
“ Two? But the others are all in the ground.”
“ That didn't stop us during the Chicago Vampire manhunt.” They had unearthed two bodies for exhumation then, and she knew that Archer was aware of the case history.
“ Look,” she said solicitously, “I've got a military plane on standby and we'll take the body to Quantico with or without your consent.”
He put up a palm to her. “No, no, you know you have my full support, Dr. Coran. It's just… well, I'd hoped we had put this horror behind us.”
“ I can certainly understand that.”
“ With Helfer in custody-”
“ That's not enough. We have to be absolutely certain, and I'm afraid the forensics evidence provided to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt-”
Archer's shoulders hunched with his raised arms as he protested, “I oversaw that evidence myself, and it is enough to bury Helfer several times over. What can you possibly mean, reasonable doubt?”
“ Reasonable doubt that he acted alone.”
“ But all the evidence points to that single fact.”
“ I know… I know, and it's all so pat.”
He was again staring at her before he caught himself. He cast his dark gaze elsewhere, but not before she registered the pent-up rage seething below, held in check. The unflappable Dr. Archer had been flapped.
“ Well,” he muttered, “it sounds as if you need nothing from me.”
“ No, I don't. I'll take the heat from the family and any other interested parties.”
“ I guess you've been made aware that they've ordered some sort of internal investigation of the department.”
“ No, really? I had no idea,” she lied. “Routine, they say.”
“ Oh, yes, I suppose so when such a position is held for so many years by someone such as Dr. Darius.”
“ Yes, well, they do seem to be concentrating on efficiency levels, that sort of thing. Who knows, perhaps we'll get some additional influx of funds. God knows we need it.”
“ I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.”
She turned on her heels and disappeared down the hall, tapping out a light Morse code with her heels and cane as she did so. Dr. Archer flicked a switch on his intercom and spoke to Laurie Marks, telling her to prepare the Emmons body for transportation.
He clicked off the intercom and said to the empty room, “Fine, Dr. Coran, you will have your cadaver, but you will never get the eyes back.”
Later that day, Jessica stopped by Rychman's incident room, where everything had been dismantled. Desks and secretaries were being rerouted, but Alan was still working out of the central office here, and he was concentrating deeply on what Dr. Simon Archer was telling him.
Jessica could only guess at what Archer was saying. Both men stood up when she entered.
“ Well, I'm on my way, gentlemen, and not likely to return soon.”
“ You'll be missed,” Rychman said, their eyes meeting.
Archer, who had seen them make up in the parking lot outside the restaurant and who had followed them to where she was staying, knew that Rychman had spent the night with her.
“ Got to catch up with Emmons' body,” she told them.
“ Can't give up on that two-man theory, can you?” asked Rychman. “Suit yourself, but I think you're wasting your time, Jess… ahh. Dr. Coran.”
“ If we could just find some corroborating evidence like a second set of hairs-other than yours, Dr. Archer!” she said. “Of course, everyone expects to find some of the coroner's hair on the body.” She watched him for a reaction but there was none.
“ Par for the course,” said Archer. “Well, look, I've got to get down to interrogation. Seems Leon's wanting to talk some more,” said Rychman.
“ Is he still claiming his innocence?” asked Archer.
“ He never claimed to be innocent,” countered Rychman. “But he does claim that he was used by the Claw.”
“ But Ames says-”
“ I know what Ames says, and I agree. It's Dr. Coran here who disputes Ames' findings, not me. But I listen to Leon because the more he talks, well, the more we get on him. He's described most of the murder scenes down to the dots on the i's.”
“ Lot of pent-up rage, anger toward his mother, I've heard,” said Archer.
“ You've heard right, and it got directed at women in general.”
“ I'll offer you a final word of advice, Captain,” Archer said.
“ Yes?”
“ With Helfer's type you want to threaten and intimidate every chance you get. Wear the bastard down; don't let up; intimate that you have his DNA, his hair, his fingerprints, his teeth marks on the body. In time, he'll crack like a dried eggshell.”
Rychman's smile was wide. “Say, Dr. Archer, you sure you won't come along, take a shot at Leon? Sounds like you'd make a great interrogator.”
“ I'll leave it to the professionals. Besides, I have to get back to my lab. A lot of people want a lot of information from me right now, so as much as I'd like to…”
