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call me if you think of anything that might be significant. And you can wait with some degree of patience until we learn how your wife died.’
    ‘Meanwhile, whoever killed her just sits out there and gloats.’
    ‘I have no leads to a possible suspect other than you, at this point, Mr Eagleton, and you have not been able to offer any possibilities except perhaps for your love interest . . .’
    ‘I do not love that girl.’
    ‘You said. We will see if her view of the relationship matches yours. I’ll be talking to her – so you see, at this point, you are not the only suspect. Hopefully, the forensic analysis will lead us to others if neither of you are guilty.’
    ‘How about if I take a lie detector test?’
    ‘That might be appropriate later on. But not now – not while we still don’t know if we have a homicide or not.’
    ‘Like I said: nothing I can do until you’re done screwing around.’
    ‘You can call it what you want, but what we are trying to do is to determine what happened to your wife, Mr Eagleton. I would think that’s what you would want.’
    Eagleton rose to his feet. ‘I suppose this means I am not under arrest?’
    ‘No, sir, you are not.’
    ‘Good. While you’re spinning your wheels, I’m going to get my own investigation going.’
    ‘I must warn you not to obstruct our investigation, Mr Eagleton. You’d be best served leaving those matters to us. And please do not inform Miss Flowers that I intend to visit.’
    Eagleton walked to the door and turned to face her. ‘You ever hear the expression “you get what you pay for?”’
    ‘Certainly,’ Lucinda said with a nod.
    ‘I look at you and what do I see – a one-eyed, scarred woman with a chip on her shoulder paid a government employee salary. No offense, but I am able to hire a private investigator with at least as much experience as you, who earns in a month what you make in a year – and he has both eyes. Who do you think I’ll trust?’
    ‘Whomever you’ve bought and paid for, Mr Eagleton.’
    He jerked open the door, spun around and said, ‘Damn you, Lieutenant,’ before he walked out of the room.
    Self-consciously, Lucinda brought one hand to her prosthetic eye and ran her fingers down the craters of scar tissue on that side of her face. ‘Damn me, indeed,’ she said to the empty room.

FIVE
     
    L ucinda’s cell vibrated in her pocket. She picked it up and said, ‘What’ve you got, Doc Sam?’
    ‘C’mon down here and I’ll show you,’ he said and disconnected the call.
    Lucinda walked down two flights of stairs and into the morgue.
    ‘She definitely died from hanging,’ he said as she entered the room.
    ‘Suicide?’
    ‘Nah, look at this . . .’ He pointed to Candace’s neck.
    ‘What am I seeing, Doc?’ Lucinda asked.
    ‘Abrasions on the skin caused by the rope. Instead of a simple line that pulls up behind the ears, there are multiple fainter lines around the deep indentation that is the apparent one caused by the drop of the body. Almost as if she made a few false attempts before she succeeded. And I don’t think that’s possible.’
    ‘I don’t understand,’ Lucinda said.
    ‘If I had to guess, I’d say that someone tortured her before they killed her.’
    ‘Torture?’
    ‘Think of it like you would manual strangulation. Remember that guy up in Arlington? He’d choke the women until they passed out. When they revived, he’d do it again. Over and over.’
    ‘Yes, I read about him.’
    ‘It looks like someone jerked her up by her neck several times before sending her over that railing to finish it. But then again, it could just be an odd suicide. Not really sure yet.’
    Lucinda sighed. ‘Do you think you’ll be able to make a determination?’
    ‘Don’t know. Maybe when Audrey the lab tyrant gets me an analysis of what was under her fingernails. Maybe when I get the toxicology report. Maybe never.’
    ‘What about the time of death?’
    ‘I can give you a range but it