Golden in Death(10)

“There had to be a container. Even bold wouldn’t risk an uncontained toxic in a shipping box.”

She polished off her first slice. “It’s looking like two—a container in a container. A cheap fake wood box with interior padding was on the counter, so considering the rest of the house that was likely in the shipping box. And there were shards and pieces of some sort of small container. Looked like hard plastic—cheap, likely gold outside, white inside. Whatever killed him must have been in there. He opened that, whatever it was hit the air, or had something he ingested, something that went through his pores when he touched it. He had burns on his thumbs,” she remembered, then shrugged. “I don’t know yet.”

“You’ll see Morris, and your friends at the lab as well tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” Since it was right there, she decided on a second slice. “We called in the hazmat team—no trace in the air by that time. In or on me or the spouse—we both handled the body. It was enough to kill Abner within minutes, and dissipated before anyone else came into the house.”

“Addressed—the package—to the victim, I take it?”

“Yeah. From a bogus place, bogus return address. Dropped off at an after-hours kiosk. Jammed the camera while he did that, so he’s got a jammer or he’s got enough skill to make one.”

“At a kiosk?” He let out a quick laugh. “Darling, a ten-year-old could manage that. I’d be more interested in how it got through the scans.”

“Yeah, they’re looking at that. A container within a container within a container.” She shrugged again. “And likely a small amount of whatever it is. Just enough to kill one person.”

She glanced over as Summerset came to the doorway. She frowned over another bite of pizza. “We didn’t call the morgue, did we?”

“You’ll excuse me.” Summerset kept his dignified nose in the air. “Dr. Dimatto and Mr. Monroe are downstairs. They’d very much like to speak with the lieutenant.”

“Ask them to come up,” Roarke said before Eve could get to her feet. “The lieutenant’s just having dinner. I’ll get some more glasses,” he added as Summerset melted away.

Dr. Dimatto, Eve thought. Dr. Abner.

Did Louise know the victim? Long odds, of course, given there were countless doctors in the city. But then again, Charles and Louise lived only a few blocks from the crime scene.

“They’re going to know each other.”

“Hmm?”

Roarke brought over two more wineglasses.

“Louise, the victim. That’s why they’re here. And how the hell do I handle this?”

She figured she’d find out when Louise—delicate blonde—and Charles—tall, dark, and handsome—came in.

The fiercely dedicated doctor and former licensed companion made a striking couple, and another one that seemed to work really well.

“I’m so sorry.” Louise led with an apology. “For just coming over this way, interrupting your dinner. I—”

“It’s pizza, nothing interrupts pizza. How did you know Kent Abner?” Eve asked.

“How did you know…” Louise closed her eyes. “He walked into my clinic the week I opened it. He volunteered twenty hours a month. Just like that. That’s the sort of man, the sort of doctor he was.”

Tears trembled, spilled. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I’m having a hard time with this. I needed to come. I just needed to talk to you.”

“Sit down.” Roarke pulled out his chair for her. “You sit, have some wine. Could you eat?”

“He likes feeding people,” Eve said, hoping to stem the worst of the tears.

“No, thanks, no on the food. I’ll have the wine.”

Roarke gestured to Charles, and the two of them brought over more chairs. They sat; Roarke poured the wine.

“I won’t fall apart. Or not much,” Louise qualified.

“Good. Now tell me what you know about Kent Abner, personally, professionally, and anything else.”

Louise nodded, then, struggling a little, looked at Charles.

“I’ll start,” Charles said.





3


“We got to be friends,” Charles told them. “Good friends. I met them through Louise after Kent started volunteering at the clinic. They invited us over for drinks, and we all, well, hit it off.”

“I don’t remember seeing or meeting them at your wedding,” Eve pointed out.

“They were in Africa. Martin took a month’s sabbatical because Kent wanted to join a medical group there for a couple weeks. They had a working vacation, you could say, and it conflicted with the wedding. They actually had a little neighborhood party for us when we got back from our honeymoon.”

“They’re lovely people,” Louise added. “Lovely together. Both devoted to their work, but not to the exclusion of the rest. They liked to entertain, loved their family, liked the theater, the arts. Kent would nag Martin about exercise—saying it wasn’t just for the mind. And Martin would tease Kent because Kent knew nothing whatsoever—and didn’t care whatsoever—about any kind of sport. Those would be the level of disagreements I witnessed, ever, between them. They were sweet together, Dallas, the way you hope you’ll be sweet together after nearly four decades.”