us in. But there's a whole window filled with candles and a bunch of other little knickknacks, and we could see inside perfectly well. Not a headless chicken in sight, Doc.
Not one.'
Eric sank back in his chair, desperately trying to sort out what he was hearing.
'This is insane,' he said.
'Now there we're in agreement.'
'What about the woman?'
'What about her?'
'Officer Medeiros, you've got to believe me. I met Anna Delacroix in the county Medical Library.
She's a grad student at B.U. She asked me to meet her on SProul Court, and we were abducted by two men at knife point and poisoned in a very frightening ritual.'
'You know what we think, Doc? % think you were Pledging some sort of fraternity or club and the whole thing got carried away.'
'That's ridiculous.'
'You take any drugs tonight?'
'Only the one that was put on my skin. There's a toxicologist in there right now. After you hear what he has to say, maybe you'll believe me.'
As if on cue, the door to the laboratory slammed open, and Ivor Blunt stalked into the room, his expression a strange mix of anger and bemusement.
'Talcum powder,' he said.
The two officers exchanged smiles. Eric could not even speak.
'Plus a little dirt, a little lint, and a smidgen of oil of some sort,'
Blunt went on. 'Maybe olive oil. Dr. Najarian, you are one crazy son of a bitch, and at this moment I wish you nothing but ill.'
'Don't you see,' Eric pleaded, looking from one of the men to the next,
'the whole thing was a setup to discredit me-to make you all think-exactly what YOu're thinking. I'm telling you, it all happened just like I said it did.'
'I'm going home,' Blunt said. 'If you get poisoned again, please don't call.'
He stormed back into his lab.
'I don't think he believes you,' Officer Medeiros said in pointed understatement. 'Dr. Najarian, you've caused a lot of people a lot of trouble tonight.'
Eric couldn't remember the last time he had broken down and cried, but he knew that if he tried to speak, that was precisely what would happen.
He had been had-maneuvered step by step by Anna Delacroix into an abyss of humiliation and discreditation from which he would never recover. He bit at his swollen lower lip and slowed his breathing until it seemed safe to stand and confront the policemen.
'Listen,' he said, 'my lip, these cuts on my wrist-I'm not making these up.'
'Hey, split lips and slashed wrists we see all the time. We don't doubt for a moment that you've gotten yourself messed up in something tonight.
But we're just as certain that something isn't what you've been telling us.'
'Then what?'
Medeiros shrugged. 'Drugs, women, some other kind of sex. Doc, look, we're really not bad guys, and we do have feelings. But we're also cops. We listened to you, we checked your story out, and we found nothing. Nothing. Believe me, you are far from the first M. D. we've dealt with who got himself into a jam.
Shit, just a few months ago there was that guy from your emergency room who got arrested for-'
'I know, I know. But this is not like that.
Believe me it isn't.'
'Doc, the people upstairs in the E.R. tell me you're a damn good doctor-one of the best, they say.
But they also tell me you've been pushing yourself real hard lately.
Now, I don't know you, but until something comes along to convince me otherwise, I have to think you got big problems, and that maybe you ought to get some help before you get hurt any worse than you already are.'
'I don't need any help except to find someone who can recognize the truth when he hears it.'
'Hey, suit yourself. You want a ride home?'
'No, thank you. I can manageh, shit.'
'What?'
'Whoever did t)us to me took my keys, my wallet, everything. I can't even get into my own place.'
'Anyone else got a set?'
'Yes, but I don't know where she is. In fact, if You want to know the truth, with everything that's happened to me, I'm getting damn concerned about her. I may need your help in finding her, but I can't do a thing until I get into my apartment.
' Medeiros looked at-his partner. 'Do you think we should help him out?'
The other man shrugged and then nodded.
'We don't like People to know this, but we got ways of getting into places,' eiros said. 'Come on.
And as for your girl,' he added,4 unless you have evidence of foul play, we'd suggest you wait forty-eight hours before filing a report. In your case, better make that seventy-two hours.'
He put his hand on Eric's shoulder and guided him through the door. In the hallway five reporters crowded up to them. One of them, begging Eric to wait until her camera crew arrived, shoved the microphone of a, portable recorder in his face. All of them were firing questions.
'Doc, tell us about the voodoo priest'
'Are you dying?'
'How does it feel?'
'Who is this mystery woman? Why isn't she registered as a student at B.U.?'
'What did the analysis of the poison show?'
'Are you going to be hospitalized?'
'Do You want to talk to them?' Medeiros whispered.
Eric shook his head.
'Out of the way,' the policeman ordered. 'Brian, run interference.'
'Hey, be fair,' someone yelled. 'Doc, tell us about the missing body-the one who got autopsied alive.'
'What is it with this hospital anyhow?' another reporter asked.
'First that weirdo doc dealing drugs for sex, now this.'
With Eric between them, the two officers pushed past the pack and hurried down the corridor. A minute later Eric was in the back seat of their cruiser.
'I can get into the building,' he said. 'My downstairs neighbor keeps a set of keys hidden in back for his various women to use.'
'We love hearing that sort of thing,' the officer named Brian said.
'Listen, thanks for doing this for me.'
'It seemed like you were having a bad night,' Medeiros responded.
Eric almost managed a smile. He knew that his career-at least at White Memorial-was, to all intents and purposes, over. And if, as he suspected, his neararrest was reported to the Board of Registration and Discipline in Medicine, his career as a physician might be in jeopardy as well. Anna Delacroix had certainly served her masters- whoever they were with distinction.
They entered Eric's building from the alley and went up the back stairs.
Officer Tony Medeiros knelt by the door, examining the lock.
'This should be nothing more than a credit card job,' he said.
He tested the knob, which turned easily.
'It appears you forgot to lock up, Doc,' he said, pushing the door open.
'McGruff the crime dog would be very upset With-'- Instantly, the three of them tensed. Through the doorway they could see that the apartment was in shambles. Medeiros and his partner loosened the holster guards of their
