Temporary Sanity Read Online Free PDF

It’s Tommy Fitzpatrick, Chatham’s Chief of Police. The dead man was an insider; the Chief’s handling this one personally. Two uniformed Chatham detectives are with him, but only Tommy Fitzpatrick speaks. “Sonia Baker?” he repeats.
    “This is Sonia Baker,” I tell him. “She doesn’t want to answer any questions. She doesn’t want to talk to you.”
    The Chief gives me a friendly nod with his full head of strawberry blond hair. He’s more comfortable with my new job than I am. “Okay,” he says, “but she needs to listen.”
    I know what’s coming. I wish I’d warned her.
    “Sonia Baker,” the Chief recites, towering over her on the X-ray table, “you’re under arrest for the murder of one Howard Andrew Davis.”
    Sonia gasps and raises her upper body from the table. She looks at me, shaking her head back and forth, disbelief creeping into her eyes. I nod at her. She pulls herself to a seated position, holding the hem of her hospital johnny with her good hand.
    “You have the right to remain silent,” the Chief continues. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
    Maggie Baker leans through the doorway, dwarfed behind the uniforms, her eyes as big as their badges. She stares first at her mother, then at the Chief’s back.
    “You have the right to talk to a lawyer and have that lawyer present with you while you’re being questioned.”
    I drop my hand to my side and wave Maggie out of the room. She hesitates for just an instant and then disappears before the Chief wraps it up.
    “If you can’t afford to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed to represent you before you’re asked any questions.”
    Sonia shakes her head at the Chief, her mouth open.
    I hope no one noticed Maggie. We’ve had enough casualties for one day. No need to add her to the list.
    The X-ray room is full of hospital personnel; white coats are everywhere. And not just technicians. Nurses and doctors came to see the show too.
    “We’ll get out of your way,” the Chief tells them. He takes a closer look at Sonia. “We know you’ve got work to do.” He gestures toward the two uniformed detectives. “But when you’re finished, she’s to be released into police custody.”
    He turns his attention to me and points toward my camera. “You on this one?”
    “I guess I am.”
    “When she leaves here, she goes straight to lockup. Arraignment’s tomorrow morning. Judge Gould says eight o’clock sharp, before the regular docket.”
    “No waiver,” I tell him. “Don’t even ask her what time it is unless I’m with her.”
    “Don’t worry.” The hint of a smile flickers in his Irish eyes. “We know better.”
    Sonia leans forward and stares at me while I photograph her face, focusing first on her stitched lip, then on her swollen right eye. “Howie’s dead?” she whispers.
    “Be quiet,” I instruct her, refocusing on her contorted arm.
    Her eyes fill and I regret my tone at once. “I’m sorry, Sonia,” I tell her, lowering the camera. And I mean it. The anguish in her eyes now is far worse than anything I saw when her pain was just physical. During my years with the District Attorney’s office, I saw enough of these cases to know she probably loved him. No matter what he did to her-no matter what she did to him-she probably loved him.
    One of the uniformed detectives returns to the small room with a blue surgical scrub suit and hands it to me.
    “We’ll need to take her clothes,” he says.
    I take the scrub suit and hand him the plastic bag containing Sonia Baker’s clothes. The cops expect to find more than one person’s blood on her stained white blouse.
    “There’s a child,” the Chief says, sorting out his paperwork on the bedside tray. “A young girl. She’ll need to go to the Service for a while.”
    I scan the room, relieved to see no sign of Maggie Baker. No child should be entrusted to the Massachusetts Department of Social Services. A child from Chatham