future, and PK and psychometric observa-”
“ Peee Kayyy,” he said, repeating the letters. “Don't tell me. Psychokinesis.”
“ That's right.”
“ What State's Attorney Weaver would call laying on of hands?”
She laughed now, and he enjoyed her smile, allowing his eyes to linger.
She felt a definite attraction for him, and what now seemed a permanent half-smile or cocky snicker on the parted hps seemed both natural and boyish. She sensed his interest in her was growing.
“ Tell me this,” he said. “How do you know when you're actually seeing some so-called truth come out of this fifth dimension you people speak of, and when you're just maybe reading the mind of the cop or the M.E. who's standing alongside you? You know that Wardlaw and Jessica Coran were already thinking the Lennox man was no victim of the Bleeding Heart killer, same as me, and it may well be that Frank or Dr. Coran knew of the disappearance of a man named Lennox long before you arrived here. Maybe, Doctor, you'd better leave for home while the gettin' is good. We po' boys in the NOPD may not be's dumb as them what's in Dade County, Miami.”
“ Either way, whether I read the M.E.'s thoughts or was truly clairvoyant in that room, Lieutenant, I got it right, and that's what's bothering you, isn't it?”
“ I know it's got to bother Frank, and for that I'd pay your fee out of pocket, but going for the real killer isn't going to be fun and parlor games, Doctor. I know New Orleans, and when the collective they find out what you really are, you'll be looking at an old-fashioned witch hunt. Superstitions die hard here.”
“ I know all about New Orleans, and as for going home, Lieutenant… well, I am home. I grew up not far from here.”
He was momentarily taken aback by this. “Really?”
“ That's right.”
Now he saw the Cajun blood clearly, and he wondered why he'd missed it before. She'd done a great deal to conceal it, he now realized. Maybe there was more to her than he'd previously thought.
“ Where'd you attend school?”
She recognized it as the prying cop question it was. “None of your damned business.”
“ Okay.” He guessed it to be St. Luke's or Mark's, where the parish was made up of the poor. She didn't want to be reminded of it, he mentally noted. That was her business, as she said, but if it had a bearing on her being here with her nose in his case, it was his business as well, and maybe he'd look into it on his own time.
She seemed to be reading his thoughts, so he superstitiously cut them off, asking if she'd like another glass of wine.
“ Oh, no, no, thank you. One's sufficient for this time of day, and having had no lunch, well…”
“ No lunch? We'll have to remedy that. Stubby!” he called. “A menu, please.”
“ No, please, it's a bit late to eat anyway, and I really have to be going.”
She got up, preparing to leave, and he politely stood across from her now. “I'm sorry if I come on strong. Dr. Desinor, but that's the only way I know how. Landry's going to regret ever calling your hotline. They're already calling him Captain of the Kook Squad, and you're already front-page news, and by tomorrow who knows what the press'll be saying about you, me, the Department. Either way, when the circus comes to town, the media is first at the center ring.”
“ I didn't expect to remain hidden here.”
“ Well, no, I should expect you'd want all the publicity you could get, right alongside Dr. Coran. I heard about her press conference through the grapevine. Another reason I was against you and her… your coming in on the case, rather. More publicity is one thing this case doesn't need, despite the arguments you no doubt have heard on the other side, that the public should be warned. Hell, the public has been warned!”
“ I think you should know we're conducting an exhumation of the Surette body at dawn.”
“ What? Whose idea was this?”
She bit her lip. “I'm not a hundred percent on who first suggested it, but I'd hazard a guess it was your Captain Landry. The P.C., Meade and Fouintenac were reluctant, but Jessica and Landry pushed hard for it and got their way.”
“ And what about Frank?”
“ Dr. Wardlaw left somewhat abruptly when the discussion turned to exhuming Surette. As I said, Chief Meade wasn't too keen on the idea either, but your Captain Landry fought for it. Said your investigation keeps leading back to Surette, that is. He gave you due credit.”
“ So what will Dr. Coran be looking for on exhumation?”
“ Not her… well, not her alone anyway…”
“ Wardlaw?”
“ No… me.”
“ You?” He stared so hard she felt it like a blow. “You're telling me you've talked those idiots into an exhumation for the purpose of a fuc-a blasted seance?''
“ Well, honestly… it really wasn't my idea, and neither is it technically a seance, but rather a psi reading. In a seance-”
“ Wasn't your idea? And I suppose it wasn't your idea to psycho-feel and psychobabble your way across Lennox's body either? That you were just an innocent bystander who happened to be drafted by Stephens, Lew Meade and the others to perform?”
“ Wait just a minute, Lieutenant! I'm doing my job. And the reason I came looking for you was so that-''
“ Yeah, I'm not so clear on that. Why did you come looking for me, and wait just a minute, lady! You're not doing your job. You're trying to do my job.”
“ That's nonsense. I wouldn't have your job for the world.”
“ Oh, really?”
“ Really! Now, if you've got a legitimate complaint or a problem with this exhumation tomorrow morning, take it up with your captain, Lieutenant!”
“ Damn straight I will.”
She gracefully turned on her heels and exited, momentarily bathing the place in light as she pushed angrily through the door, muttering a curse under her breath.
Alex started for the door, stopping halfway, and from the corner of his eye he saw Dr. Jessica Coran staring fixedly at him, something smoldering within her which he could not here and now fathom. He realized only now that he'd rushed toward the retreating Dr. Desinor like a schoolboy in pursuit and was left standing in the middle of the room and rooted there for the moment, with everyone's eyes on him, but none so piercing as Dr. Coran's.
“ Just who in hell does that woman think she is?” Alex asked Jessica Coran as he approached her darkened booth.
“ She's quite amazing, really,” replied Jessica in a calm born of a double whiskey sour. “If you'd stop fighting her long enough to look clearly through to what's right for your- this case, Lieutenant, you'd see that she's far more an asset than a liability. She was right on with the Lennox case, and I've seen amazing footage on her back at Quantico. You hear about the kidnapping and murder of that banker in Decatur, Georgia, name of Sendak?”
“ You telling me that Kim Desinor was instrumental in solving the case?”
“ And she did it long-distance. Never left her lab…” Jessica hesitated, realizing what she was saying. “In Florida… where she works out of an old, remolded lab…” God, that sounded lame, she thought.
He considered this in silence, sliding into the seat opposite Jessica. “You're a scientist, a reasonable person, Dr. Coran.”
“ I like to think so.”
“ God. I mean, an exhumation of the Surette corpse, followed by a seance. What the hell's next, Doctor?”
“ I don't see that it'd be much different than what went on today.”
“ But how can you, a person of science, possibly go for this kind of theatrical display?”
He'd noticed Jessica's ongoing interest in Dr. Desinor, and he wondered if they'd arrived at the bar together, and if so, why Coran hadn't joined them from the outset. Had she been watching their conversation from here, how much Kim Desinor and he had had to drink together, the length of the other woman's stay? Obviously, she'd witnessed the blowup.
