After an hour of being banged inside the futuristic coffin of the MRI-thank God, he wasn’t claustrophobic-he was again loaded on the gurney and wheeled to the elevator. This time they took a long, circuitous route, through bleak corridors that looked as if they hadn’t been used in years. Will was growing sleepy until the gurney jerked to a halt and he looked ahead to see a hallway blocked with yellow tape. It was crime-scene tape.
“Can’t go this way.”
“What? I can’t use the A-Main corridor. The cops blocked that, too. I got a man who needs to get back to his room.”
It was the first time the orderly had shown any more concern for Will than for a cart of someone else’s groceries.
“Wait.”
Will strained to see in front of him. He could make out two uniformed police officers standing outside an open doorway, their regulation white shirts and badges glowing in the reflected light. Will was too exhausted to be curious. The thrill of being on the other side of police tape had passed years before.
“Let him through…stay over this way.”
The gurney moved again and Will opened his eyes, just in time to look through the door. It was an office and blood was on the walls and floor. A technician stepped carefully to take photos of the scene. The body was still there, a woman, nude, and badly slashed. Will studied the view with a trained eye, suddenly engaged. His stomach was turning to ice. His throat threatened to close.
“Stop!” Will tried to pull himself upright, got his trunk a quarter of the way up, and fell back. “Stop!” he said again.
“Are you nuts, man? You move around too much and you could reopen your sutures.” The orderly looked alarmed.
“That woman in there,” Will said. “Look at her left hand.”
“Yeah, she’s stone cold…”
“No, look at her left hand. What do you see?”
The orderly’s voice rose an octave. “Shit, man, somebody cut off her finger!”
“Come on, move along.”
Will knew the voice instantly and a tired, sour feeling enveloped him.
“What, you don’t see enough blood in your job…what’s this?” A broad ebony face bent down and surveyed Will. “Well, well, Internal Investigations will do anything to sneak up on real working police.”
Homicide Detective J. J. Dodds assumed his usual lordly stance. He was not merely big but downright fat. He grew fatter every year, regularly outgrowing his suits. Will didn’t know how he passed his annual physical. He did know how to dress, though. Tonight Dodds wore a blue pinstriped suit, starched dress shirt, and a burgundy tie.
