The Ties That Bind by Warren Adler

glance at the Eggplant. "I won't sit still for that,
Captain."
    "I understand, Mr. Herbert. But you've got to
realize..."
    "That these things take time, right? Well, here are
the questions I'm asking and you know I've got the right and the clout to do
so..."
    The Eggplant nodded. He was showing amazing patience.
    "The first question is"—he glanced toward
Fiona—"are we giving this a full-court press?"
    "Of course," the Eggplant replied with exactly
the right amount of muted indignation. "These detectives are part of a
special team assigned to investigate crimes against women. Our belief
is..."
    "I'm sorry, Captain. I don't buy it. Murder has little
to do with gender. I want the best and most experienced. Excellence is the only
criteria that works for me. I don't care about race or gender or religion. Are
they the best?"
    The Eggplant turned toward Fiona and Gail.
    "For this case, yes. They are the best."
    Fiona felt a shiver of emotion. She was proud of him.
    "I don't agree. I would like you to reassess their
assignment."
    Fighting words, Fiona thought. It was time to throw a
handful of salt on the man's open wound. In her judgment, he had gone too far.
    "The chief medical examiner, Dr. Benson," Fiona
began, turning toward Herbert. "His forensic reports shows that the
immediate cause of death was an asthma attack."
    Herbert flushed.
    "An asthma attack!" he shouted.
    Gail looked startled. The Eggplant stiffened in his chair.
Herbert seemed to fulminate with rage.
    "You must need a new medical examiner," Herbert
muttered with anger. "I've just seen those pictures. Multiple stab wounds.
Do you people think you can get away with that?"
    "According to Dr. Benson, the wounds were administered
after her death, Mr. Herbert," Fiona said calmly.
    "I smell either incompetence or cover-up here,"
Herbert sneered, raising his voice. "I can assure you, I won't take this.
I demand another autopsy. Whoever did this one is obviously incompetent,
inexperienced or deliberately malicious. In fact, I will get my own
pathologist. You people are amateur night. This is an investigation of my
daughter's murder. What is going on here? I demand a reevaluation of
this."
    He was unhinged and raving and there was no way to calm
him. Nevertheless his accusations demanded a response.
    "The medical examiner," Fiona began—she was angry
now and showed it—"a man of irrefutable competence and experience, did the
autopsy himself. He has rarely, if ever, been wrong. If he says that the cause
of death was an asthma attack, you can bank on it."
    Her firm defense, while not mollifying the man, made him
hesitate.
    "The stab wounds are obviously the perpetrator's
reaction to her sudden death," the Eggplant said, quickly offering his own
interpretation. He, too, must have been shocked by the revelation. "His
action was, it seems to me, an attempt at cover-up ... a deliberate action to
make the crime look like the work of a ... an unbalanced pervert."
    "A very convenient explanation, Captain," Herbert
sneered. He seemed to be winding up for another diatribe against the homicide
division. Again Fiona was moved to action.
    "Did she suffer from asthma, Mr. Herbert?" Fiona
snapped.
    Herbert glared at her.
    "I don't agree with this conclusion," he said.
    "Did she have a history of asthma?" Fiona
persisted.
    "Why don't you ask your wonderful pathologist?"
Herbert sneered. "Besides, if you know the answer, why ask me?"
    He was growing exceedingly uncomfortable, fidgeting in his
chair, his hands clasping and unclasping.
    "I'm going to have my own pathologist examine her.
Somebody in Chicago that I can trust..." His voice trailed off as if he
needed time to compose himself. "Yes. She was an asthmatic. But she had
just about outgrown it. She had only one attack in the last three years."
    "Two attacks, Mr. Herbert," Fiona reminded him.
    "Probably brought on by what she was going
through," Gail interjected, breaking her silence, her pity for the man
obviously