Body of Lies by Iris Johansen Page B

glance shifted to Eve. “I’ll be here to pick you up tomorrow morning.”
    “I’ve already claimed that pleasure.” Galen made a shooing motion. “Bye.”
    Melton gave him a cold glance and left the room.
    “And what if I hadn’t wanted him to go?” Eve asked.
    “You were bristling. When a person is as sick as you are, it takes a major annoyance to make her bristle. I overheard quite a bit, including the bit about me. I’m flattered.”
    “You shouldn’t be. You’re right; I was only irritated because he was trying to tell me what to do.” She thought of something else. “But I’m not pleased you scared him away. I wanted to ask him some more questions about this damn reconstruction.”
    “To quote one of your fellow southerners, ‘Tomorrow is another day.’ ”
    “That’s a terrible southern accent.”
    “It’s the best a poor lad from Liverpool can do.” He sat in the chair beside her bed. “You didn’t know anything about this job when you came here?”
    “I knew it was a request from a respected member of the Senate.”
    “And you wanted to get away from Quinn.”
    She looked at him.
    “Okay, I’m obviously out of line.”
    “Right.” She paused. “And Melton was also right. I don’t need you, Galen.”
    “You’re getting hoarse again. You’ve been talking too much.” He took her glass and filled it with ice chips. “I’ll stay away from talking about Quinn. But there’s the slimmest possibility you may need me, so I’ll stick around.” He handed her the glass. “I just came from Marie Letaux’s house. She’s dead.”
    Shock surged through her. “What?”
    “I found her on the kitchen floor. There was a plate on the table with the remains of stew on it.” He grimaced. “And also remains all over the floor. She’d evidently been throwing up.”
    “She took the stew home?” Eve shook her head in horror. “My God, that’s terrible.”
    “You said you assumed she put it in the refrigerator.”
    “She must have changed her mind. I left before she did.” Sad. So incredibly sad. “She had a son. He was studying medicine in New Orleans.”
    Galen nodded. “She had pictures all over the living room. Nice-looking kid.”
    “It was clear she adored him.” Eve could feel the tears sting her eyes. “Shit. I’d only just met her, but I liked her. I guess I identified with her. She was a woman alone who’d had to make her way in the world. They’re sure it was food poisoning?”
    “There hasn’t been time for an autopsy, but I suspect that will probably be the decision. Particularly since you landed here with the same ailment.”
    There was something in his tone. . . . “You don’t think it was?”
    “I didn’t say that. I believe it was food poisoning.”
    “Galen.”
    “Sorry. It’s my suspicious nature. She was in a nightgown and a chenille robe, and her bed had been slept in. That means she probably got up in the middle of the night and ate a huge plate of the stew. Very heavy meal for a midnight snack.”
    “Maybe she didn’t eat dinner and woke up hungry.”
    “Possibly. Now when you started throwing up, you tried to get help, didn’t you? Marie Letaux had a phone, but evidently wasn’t able to contact anyone. She lives very close to her neighbors, so wouldn’t you think that she’d manage to get one of them to take her to the hospital?”
    “It would have been difficult. I was so weak I could barely move.”
    “But you did move. And you said she was a woman who was accustomed to taking care of herself. Evidently she was so overcome she didn’t even make it to the sink or the toilet to throw up. Wasn’t that your first instinct?”
    She nodded. “What are you getting at, Galen?”
    “Oh, I was just playing ‘what if.’ ” He took the glass from her and set it on the table. “What if she didn’t get the munchies during the night? What if someone sat across from her at that table and forced her to eat that stew and then waited with her