The Ties That Bind Read Online Free PDF

observing her as if she were the victim.
She hated this reaction, shamed by her own vulnerability.
    Suddenly there was a ruckus in the corridor signaling the
arrival of Flannagan and his merry techs.
    "Son-of-a-bitch," Flannagan cried as he stood at
the foot of the bed observing the body. "Is there no end to man's
inhumanity to woman?" Flannagan said. He was an old hand at this and had
ghoulishly kept score of how many murdered corpses he had seen in his career.
    "Pushing five thousand, Fi. Another ten will do
it."
    "Spare me," Fiona managed.
    Flannagan eyeballed the corpse and shook his head.
    "Proves that no one can ever say they've seen
everything. Right, Fi?"
    He looked toward her, but she had turned away. The knot in
her stomach had risen to her throat, making it impossible for her to respond.
She thought she was about to throw up.
    A police photographer took pictures, bouncing around the
room, looking for every possible angle. A uniformed sergeant, who had taken
charge in the corridor, opened the door a crack and called for Sergeant
FitzGerald.
    "We got reporters crowding us," he said.
    She was out of it, lost somewhere, unable to respond, her
mind groping in some dark hell. For support, she leaned against the bathroom
doorjamb, feeling she was about to break apart. An old memory was crashing
through the rusty gate of denial. She tried, valiantly tried, to hold it back,
but it came rushing out at her like an overwhelming tide.
    "What should I tell them?"
    The uniformed sergeant's voice was urgent.
    "They're crawling all over us."
    The words came at her from a distance, but she could find
no response in her brain.
    "Nobody comes in here," Gail barked, the
authority in her voice absolute. Fiona felt the woman's hands on her arm,
leading her gently into the bathroom, where she closed the door quietly behind
her, pressing the button lock.
    There was a glass in a plastic wrapper. Gail tore it off
and filled it from the tap, handing it to Fiona to drink. Fiona, hating the
show of weakness, needed to cup it in both hands to keep it steady enough to
bring to her lips, which she did finally, taking a brief swallow.
    "It happens, Fiona," Gail said. "Happened to
me twice in LA. Comes like a shock wave, then it passes."
    Fiona nodded. Not once had it happened to her. Ever. Until
now. Nor could Gail possibly guess the source.
    "Take some deep breaths and try to get some more water
down."
    Fiona obeyed. All personal will had disappeared. The back
of her blouse under her suit jacket was soaked through. Letting the tap
continue to run, Gail put her long, tapered fingers into the stream, then
brought them to Fiona's temples. Fiona felt the healing powers of Gail's cool,
soothing touch. Despite her embarrassment, she was grateful.
    "Color's coming back, Fiona," Gail said.
    Her equilibrium was returning, although she could not clear
the knot in her throat. But the clouds were dissipating in her mind.
    "Would you like to rest here a moment?" Gail
asked, reaching for the lid of the toilet seat.
    "No, Gail," Fiona managed to say. "Leave
it."
    Her alertness seemed to be returning. Toilet seats were
often a good source of prints, especially males'. Fiona admitted a secret
thrill in finding a detail possibly overlooked by Gail.
    "Back in the saddle?" Gail said with a wink.
    Fiona smiled, breathed deeply, nodded, then turned the knob
of the bathroom door. Flannagan's team had bagged the body and were busy
combing the room for latents. The ropes that had held the women had been untied
and bagged in plastic, as well as the woman's clothes and other articles.
    After a last minute check of the scene, Gail and a somewhat
recovered Fiona came out into the noisy bustle of the corridor. The media
goons, hoping for a juicy scandal, rushed forward with their cameras,
microphones and recorders. This was their meat, a sex murder in a downtown
hotel frequented by the power brokers, lobbyists and politicos.
    "Understand it was a pretty messy sex