A Door in the River Read Online Free PDF

to relax,” James said.
    “There’s more than one way to die,” said Deacon.
    Hazel got to the point. “What d’you have for me, Doctor?”
    “Well, it turns out there are nocturnal wasps, Detective Inspector. But they don’t live in North America.”
    “I see.”
    “
However
, there’s no saying what might happen to someone who steps on a nest in the dark. Sundown’s almost at ten right now, and wasps do burrow. He could have disturbed something.”
    “And then been stung only twice? And on the face?”
    “Anything is possible. This is nature we’re talking about.”
    Hazel sighed. “All right. I was hoping for more, but never mind.” She stole a glance at Wingate, who was squinting with one eye. “We better get Harvey Tilberg.”
    “You want to redo the autopsy.”
    “Who the hell is Tilberg?” Wingate said.
    “Coroner.”
    Deacon spoke over them both. “He’s going to want a reason, Hazel.”
    “According to the reservation canvass, nobody saw Henry in the smoke shop. It wasn’t a service call, and he parked far away from the doors. He’s not even an occasionalsmoker; he’s got no business at all on the reserve. And he had a gambling problem once.”
    “What?” Wingate yelped.
    “A long time ago. But he stole money at that point. And, well, yesterday, Cathy showed me an envelope of cash. It wasn’t a
sickening
amount, but it was still fifty-five hundred.”
    Wingate closed his right eye. The force of her will and her peculiar way of building evidence for a case was something to see. He understood why she’d driven Ray Greene crazy. And in the end you had to agree with her! There was no way you were going to make your own logic as internally consistent as hers. Supposedly this was “instinct.” He’d never really seen it. Too bad she wielded it like a mallet.
    “So you think this is foul play?” came Jack’s voice, finally.
    “Committed by whom?” said Wingate.
    “A jealous husband. An angry creditor. Someone who felt they were getting the short end of a stick.”
    “Armed with what? An angry bee? What’s the weapon?”
    “That’s
our
job, Jack.”
    Wingate was facing partially away from her as she continued to negotiate the reinvestigation of Henry Wiest’s body. After a few more exchanges, Deacon acquiesced to whatever Tilberg deemed necessary. It was never good karma to have to redo another doctor’s postmortem, but he would serve as requested. She pressed the button on the star-shaped console, and the doctor was cut off. She felt Wingate’s eyes on her.
    “Something is wrong,” she said.
    “Are you sure you’re not looking for a last hurrah or something?”
    “I never had a first hurrah, James. Are
you
totally satisfied?”
    “Well, what we know is that the band police, a respected institution, with well-trained officers, wrote a thorough report that covered all the bases. We know a wasp sting is not only possible but likely; we know there are no witnesses, there were no signs of a struggle, no contraband in Wiest’s car, no drugs or alcohol in his system, forty-five dollars in his wallet …”
    She was smiling, listening to him. “I know.”
    “But? Would you be doing this if you hadn’t known him?”
    “I would have wondered about it, sure. But I might not have felt so strongly about ruling out foul play as I do in this case. I know there’s a chink in your armour, James. You can live with this.”
    “I’m going to be on vacation, so it won’t matter.”
    “That’s right. So go. Don’t let me make you any crazier.”
    “Unless you’re right.”
    “No, you go. I have all the resources I need. You need to recharge, James! Let yourself go for a week. You look a little drawn these days.”
    “I am going, don’t worry. Just don’t cut me out of the loop if one starts forming.”
    “You think this is the right thing to do, don’t you?”
    “I’m on vacation.”
    “You
are
the loop, James,” she called to him as he exited her office.

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