The truth is, we have no evidence. Even what’s been
collected before now doesn’t prove Jim Randall was
the killer.”
“What was collected?” Renie asked.
“The containers,” Woody said. “Sister Jacqueline
saved all the containers, including the whiskey bottle.
The fingerprints were smudged, but Sister had the
dregs analyzed. You’re right, the drugs were in the
juice and the soda and the liquor. But what did that
prove? It was impossible to pin down who had delivered them to the hospital, and in the first two instances,
Margie Randall had brought the items to Joaquin Somosa and Joan Fremont. No one paid any special attention to the homeless men being at Good Cheer
because the nuns offer them free medical care.”
“But,” Renie argued, “now you can have the technicians who gave those medical tests testify that they
didn’t give them to Jim Randall.”
“That’s possible,” Woody allowed.
“You can do better than that,” Judith declared.
Woody seemed skeptical. “How?”
Judith turned to Joe. “Could you ID the suspiciouslooking man you saw in the park?”
318
Mary Daheim
Joe grimaced. “Maybe. It was pretty dark.”
Judith nodded. “I’ll bet you can when you see Jim
Randall. But there’s another way.” She looked at
Woody. “If you check Jim’s clothes, I’ll bet you’ll find a
surgical instrument or two among his belongings. He
hasn’t been able to go home because of the snow, and he
wouldn’t risk throwing them away. He couldn’t be sure
that there might not be some residual evidence implicating him. Nor would he have had time to get rid of them
before he went into surgery. I’m told that with transplants, everything happens very fast. Anyway, the medical examiner should be able to match the wounds to the
kind of weapon that killed those poor men.”
Woody winced. “He already has. At least he indicated that surgical instruments might have caused the
deaths. And of course he examined Joe.”
Judith swung around to stare at her husband. “He did?”
Joe shrugged.
“That’s why,” Woody explained, “there was such secrecy surrounding Joe’s hospitalization. In fact,
Blanche hired Joe in the first place because she had an
inkling that there might be some oddball connection
between the hospital slayings and the homeless murders. It didn’t seem like a coincidence that in each instance, the first two pairs of Good Cheer homicides,
and the first two killings in the homeless camp, had occurred within twenty-four hours of each other. Say
what you will about Blanche Van Boeck, she is one
very sharp woman.”
Judith looked at Joe. “Did you know Blanche
thought there was a connection?”
Joe shook his head. “She never mentioned it. All she
told me was that FOPP was concerned about the homeless homicides.”
SUTURE SELF
319
