Until Proven Guilty Read Online Free PDF Page B

over and picked up a manila folder. Inside was a folded clipping of the Angel Barstogi article. It had a series of red markings on it. He sighed. “Some of this is almost verbatim,” he said wearily.
     
    “Any ideas?” I asked.
     
    He shrugged. “Two people were on duty last night. Lillian Roberts and Dan Royden.”
     
    “So which one runs off at the mouth?” I asked.
     
    Baker looked at Peters, then nodded in my direction. “That’s one of the things I like about Detective Beaumont. He has such a way with words.” He paused briefly. “You ever hear of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission?” he asked.
     
    I nodded. Baker picked up a stray paper clip from his desk and lobbed it across the room, where it fell expertly into a chipped clear-glass vase that sat on a bookshelf near the window. From the number of paper clips in it and the few scattered in close proximity, I guessed catching paper clips was the vase’s sole reason for existence.
     
    The chief medical examiner is a florid Scandinavian with a shock of white hair. His face flushed a little more violently than usual. “You ever have an EEOC grievance filed against you?”
     
    I shook my head. He tossed another paper clip into the vase. “I have,” he said. “In this state that’s tantamount to political suicide. I don’t see this job as the end of the line, you know.”
     
    As a matter of fact, the thought had never occurred to me. I thought once a medical examiner, always a medical examiner, but that shows how much I know. On the other hand, I suppose it’s a short jump from performing autopsies to political office. At least you’d have some preparation for handling the stench of corruption.
     
    I said, “In other words, Lillian Roberts is Deep Throat.”
     
    “Maybe she talks in her sleep,” he replied. “I’m not making any official accusations, mind you.”
     
    Peters had been pretty much left out of the conversation, but now he put two and two together. “You mean Lillian Roberts and Maxwell Cole?”
     
    Another paper clip clinked into the vase. Baker said nothing.
     
    Peters was outraged. “I’d fire her ass.”
     
    Baker studied Peters for a moment the way a small child might examine an ant before deliberately crushing it into the sidewalk. “You probably would,” he said, “but then, you don’t want to be King County Executive, either. Of course,” he added, “I’ll deny everything if any of this hits the street.”
     
    There was no point in sticking around. I had to give Baker credit for letting us know the lay of the land. He could have left us fumbling around in the dark. Besides, I wanted to get Peters out of there before he said something we would both regret. I was afraid his combination of temper and mouth would end up getting us both in trouble. I helped myself to one of Baker’s paper clips and made a pretty respectable shot, considering I’d never tried it before. “See you at the polls,” I said over my shoulder.
     
    I hurried Peters out the door. He was still blustering in the outer office, but I shushed him until we were outside and climbing into the car.
     
    “Do we let him get away with that?” Peters exploded when I finally let him talk.
     
    “We don’t have a whole hell of a lot of choice.”
     
    “It’s…” Peters stopped, totally at a loss for words.
     
    “It’s the way it is,” I finished for him, “and nothing you or I do is going to change it. We just have to work around it, that’s all.”
     
    The drive from Capitol Hill to Magnolia was hair-raising. It’s common knowledge that police forces are stocked with frustrated juvenile delinquents who have grown up and gone straight, driving like hot rodders and justifying it in their minds because they are finally on the right side of the law. We didn’t talk as we drove. I was too busy considering whether or not my Last Will and Testament was up-to-date.
     
    We wheeled onto Gay Avenue. “Oh-oh,” I said when I