Postmortem

Scarpetta has Vander check the evidence file for prints. The only ones on it are hers. However, they see smudges and something that resembles the glittery substance found on the bodies. They check the talc from Scarpetta’s gloves, but it is not the source of the substance.

Scarpetta wonders if it came from the powdered soap she used in the staff bathroom. They test the powdered soap, and it creates the same glittery effect found on the other evidence. They conduct tests and find that whoever left this glittery residue on the body had to use quite a lot of the soap. The soap is made of borax, which conducts electricity, causing it to react to the laser.

Scarpetta remembers that Boltz and Tanner both handled the case file with the extra labels in it. She wonders if Boltz planted the evidence in the lab to cast doubt on the investigation. She wonders if she did actually forget to turn over evidence.

That evening, Boltz comes over for dinner at Scarpetta’s house. Scarpetta finds herself scrutinizing him. She wonders if his wife really died by suicide. Scarpetta tries to ask him if he took the labels from the case file, but he reacts angrily.

That night, Scarpetta once again gets an anonymous phone call, but no one speaks when she answers the phone.

On Monday morning, Scarpetta tracks down the soap manufacturer, who gives her a list of the 73 clients who order that soap in Richmond, including the Health and Human Services Department and other municipal services. At 3:00 pm, Marino calls to tell her another body has been found.

Scarpetta arrives at the crime scene near the Virginia Commonwealth University campus. The decedent is Henna Yarborough, and the murder is similar to the others. Marino says the murderer climbed in through the fire escape. As Scarpetta surveys the crime scene, she hears Abby Turnbull yelling at Boltz downstairs. Soon after, Marino comes in with Abby. The victim is her sister.

Marino and Scarpetta question Abby. She says her sister lived with her and taught journalism at the nearby university. Abby had been away in New York for the weekend, and she found her sister’s body when she returned home. Abby says she had been followed the week before by a “redneck” in a car, but the police did not take her report seriously. Marino tells her that it was a police car, sent by him to keep tabs on her movements and find out about the leaks. Abby thinks the murderer was targeting her. Abby says she went to Scarpetta’s house to ask her questions about the case earlier in the week, but she left when she saw Boltz’s car in the driveway.

Abby says she has sources from inside the case that blame Scarpetta’s office for their failure to solve the crime, but she will not reveal those sources. Marino says he thinks the leaks are coming from Boltz, and the computer hacking was done to make it seem as if the leaks came from Scarpetta’s office. Abby says she was not involved in hacking the database.

Marino says he knows Abby spent the night with Boltz at least once. Abby says Boltz drugged her drink over dinner a month ago when she was profiling him, and he raped her. She did not report it because Boltz is a commonwealth’s attorney, and she did not think she would be believed. Scarpetta believes Abby. Abby insists Boltz is not her source inside the investigation.

That evening, Scarpetta conducts Henna’s autopsy with Marino observing. She confirms that the murder is similar to the others. When she has finished, she and Marino drive to Abby Turnbull’s house. He points out that there is a “Beware Dog” sign in the yard. He argues that whoever broke in had to know that the sign was merely a precaution and that there was actually no dog in the house.

Marino thinks that Abby was the target because of her reporting on the previous murders, but the murderer did not know her sister was living there. He suspects Boltz might be involved because he had previous run-ins with Abby. He points out that Boltz is a nonsecreter and states that he has suspicions about Boltz’s wife’s death by suicide. Marino says he confronted Boltz about Abby’s rape allegations, and Boltz “more or less” confirmed it (221). Scarpetta admits that she has been having a casual relationship with Boltz. Privately, she thinks that he can be sexually aggressive, especially when he has too much to drink. However, she angrily objects when Marino asks if Boltz ever raped her.

The next day, Scarpetta meets with Marino in her office. He apologizes for pressing her, and she accepts. Scarpetta gives Marino Hanna’s autopsy report. He tells her not to share any evidence with anyone else. After Marino leaves, Wingo comes into her office to ask if Amburgey is a smoker. Scarpetta says that he is anti-smoking, and he plans to have all smoking banned from the public buildings.

Scarpetta meets with forensic psychiatrist Dr. Spiro Fortosis at the University of Virginia. She opens up to him about the anxiety and paranoia she is feeling because of the leaks and the investigation. She thinks she is being set up to take the fall in case the investigation fails to identify the killer, as she is “an easy mark because [she’s] a woman” (237). Dr. Fortosis tells Scarpetta that she should try to find someone she trusts to help her investigate the database hacking.

Scarpetta admits that she wants the murderer to feel pain, in part because she closely relates to Lori, a young female doctor.

Dr. Fortosis thinks that the murderer has an “unusual […] reaction to publicity” in that he does not want to be caught, but he also “thrives on the attention” (237, 238). He thinks that the murderer will be feeling frustrated because his attempt on Abby’s life was his most daring murder yet, but he failed, and it might make him “more vicious.”

Scarpetta is jumpy as she leaves Dr. Fortosis’s office.