She said, 'Oh, yes, isn't it terrible? What's this place coming to?' in a smoker's voice, and consulted a folder the size of a smalltown phone book. 'Here you go, Doctor-North Whittier Drive, over in Beverly Hills.' She recited a street address in the 900's.
North Beverly Hills-prime real estate. The 900 block placed it just above Sunset. Prime of the prime; Ashmore had lived on more than research grants.
The clerk sighed. 'Poor man. Just goes to show you, you can't buy your safety.'
I said, 'Isn't that the truth?'
'Would they be obvious, given all the other sticks she's had?Isn't it, though?'
'Not obvious, but I'm careful when I do my exams, Alex. The kids' bods get gone over pretty thoroughly.'
'Could the insulin have been administered other than by injection?'
She shook her head as we continued to descend. 'There are oral hypoglycemics, but their metabolites would show up on the tox panel.'
Thinking of Cindy's health discharge from the army, I said, Any diabetes in the family?'
'Someone sharing their insulin with Cassie?' She shook her head.
'Back at the beginning, when we were looking at Cassie's metabolics, we had both Chip and Cindy tested. Normal.'
'Okay,' I said. 'Good luck pinning it down.'
She stopped and gave me a light kiss on the cheek. 'I appreciate your comments, Alex. I'm so thrilled to be dealing with biochemistry, I run the risk of narrowing my perspective.'
We traded wise smiles.
'Nice dog,' I said, indicating the badge.
She beamed. 'That's my honey-my champ. I breed true Old English, for temperament and working ability.'
'Sounds like fun.'
'It's more than that. Animals give without expecting anything in return. We could learn a few things from them.
I nodded. 'One more thing. Dr. Ashmore had someone working with him-D. Kent Herbert? The medical staff would like him to be informed of the charity fund the hospital's establishing in Dr. Ashmore's honor but no one's been able to locate him. I was appointed to get hold of him but I'm not even sure he's still working here, so if you have some sort of an address, I'd be much obliged.'
'Herbert,' she said. 'Hmm. So you think he terminated?'
'I don't know. I think he was still on the payroll in January or February, if that helps.'
'It might. Herbert... let's see.'
Walking to her desk, she pulled another thick folder from a wall shelf.
'Herbert, Herbert, Herbert... Well, I've got two here, but neither of them sound like yours. Herbert, Ronald, in Food Services, and Herbert, Dawn, in Toxicology.'
'Maybe it's Dawn. Toxicology was Dr. Ashmore's specialty.'
She screwed up her face. 'Dawn's a girl's name. Thought you were trying to find a man.'
I gave a helpless shrug. 'Probably a mixup-the doctor who gave me the name didn't actually know this person, so both of us assumed it was a man. Sorry for the sexism.'
'Oh, don't worry about that,' she said. 'I don't mess with all that stuff.'
