Bodies in Winter by Robert Knightly

along his arm to the sleeve of his white T-shirt. It’s what I didn’t see that finally grabbed my attention.
    When a bullet is fired into human flesh, small drops of blood and minute bits of tissue are propelled backward, in the direction from which the bullet came. If the Broom had been holding the gun to his head, there should have been blowback on his hand, his wrist, the T-shirt. But there wasn’t, at least none I could see.
    â€˜Anybody test for blood?’ I finally asked Adele. ‘On Szarek’s right hand and wrist?’
    â€˜The assistant medical examiner who performed the autopsy. It was negative.’
    â€˜What about gunpowder residue and nitrates?’
    â€˜Those tests were also negative.’
    The information was designed to set off alarm bells. No blowback? OK, I could live with that. No residue? I could live with that as well, though my suspicions would be aroused. But the absence of any physical evidence demonstrating that Szarek held the gun to his own head was a red flag that could not be dismissed.
    I gathered the photos and passed them to Adele. ‘Two questions. First, how’d you get the photos? Second, did Lieutenant Bill Sarney authorize us to investigate Szarek’s death?’
    â€˜I got the photos and the reports from a friend of a friend at the 94 th Precinct. The lead detective on the case, by the way, was a lazy asshole named Mark Winnman. Mark was happy to go along when the medical examiner reported manner of death as probable suicide.’
    â€˜Did you bring up the lab findings with Detective Winnman?’
    â€˜I did, and guess what? By the time the reports came in two weeks later, the case was closed. Winnman, he didn’t even read them.’
    â€˜Just stuck ’em in the file and forgot about ’em? That how it went?’ When Adele responded with an amused smile, I continued. ‘But you didn’t answer the other question, partner. Did you tell Sarney you were gonna check out Szarek’s death before you did it?’
    She shook her head.
    â€˜How about afterwards?’
    â€˜Afterwards, yes. I brought the photos and the lab reports to his attention.’
    â€˜And how did he react?’
    â€˜Badly.’
    I took a moment to get my temper under control, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that partnering was a one-way street for Adele. ‘So what’s it gonna be?’ I finally asked. ‘Games all the way down the line? Because you’re acting here as if I don’t exist.’ I silenced her reply with a wave of my hand. ‘What you do reflects on me. I can’t say it any plainer than that. Your consequences are my consequences.’
    Adele looked at me for a moment, her eyes progressively hardening, and I realized that her thirst for justice would always come before her loyalty to Harry Corbin. An instant later her words confirmed that insight.
    â€˜Feel free to disown me,’ she declared, ‘whenever you find it convenient. In the meantime, are you ready for dinner? Because I’ve been waiting for you since five o’clock.’
    But I wasn’t ready, not quite. I took three DD5s from my desk drawer, one each for Beauchamp, Jarazelsky and Dr Nagy, then wrote up meticulous summaries of each of their interviews. When I was finished, I carried them directly to Bill Sarney’s office. Sarney and I had reached a point in our relationship where, at least in private, I called him by his first name.
    I took a chair without asking permission, careful to keep my tone casual as I summarized the fives I tossed on his desk. If Sarney wanted to raise the issue of Szarek’s case file, he’d have to do it himself.
    He didn’t wait long, only until I shut up a few minutes later. ‘What’s going on with you, Harry?’ he asked. ‘Why would you expand your investigation to include an ex-cop who committed suicide without telling me in advance? You couldn’t