Deception: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman Page B

the night, drove down to L.A. It wasn't until my postdoc at Langley Porter that I even saw Oakland again."
    "My buddy the miscreant. Time to revoke your degrees."
    I said, "Fraud's below your pay grade." A mile later: "If you add up the alumni contributions I've made, they exceed the difference."
    He laughed. "Everything needs to be atoned for, huh?"
    "You have to start somewhere."
    Back at his office, Milo phoned Dr. Clarice Jernigan at the coroner's office.
    Last year, he'd closed the murder of one of Jernigan's investigators, a man named Bobby Escobar, though the solve was officially recorded as a Sheriff's Homicide victory. Back when the case had looked hopeless, Jernigan flippantly offered to trade priority cutting for resolution on Bobby.
    Woman of her word.
    Milo switched his phone to conference as Jernigan's crisp voice filled his tiny office.
    "Just sewed up your victim, Milo. Which demigod do you have inroads with besides me?"
    "What do you mean, Doc?"
    "Freeman's body comes in, leapfrogs immediately over our backlog, straight to the table, along with an unsigned message slip on different paper from the ones we use with orders for me to get to it stat and keep the findings to myself. When I call my boss, he's not in, even though I know he is. My C.I. is sure the slip wasn't with the body when it came in, our drivers say the same thing, so somehow, this body got tagged without our spotting it. I figure maybe it was you, you're pushing our arrangement a bit, but fine. Then moments after the body hits the table someone calls my private cell line--the ones my kids use--and warns me to be discreet on Elise Freeman. I think the exact phrase was 'This needs to be handled ultra-quietly.' When I try to ask why, she hangs up."
    "Who's she?"
    "Someone who identified herself as calling from Parker. Is it true?"
    "Probably."
    "What's going on, Milo? I Googled Freeman and she's not rich or famous or otherwise noteworthy."
    "It's complicated, Doc."
    "Meaning shut up and cut," said Jernigan. "Well, I put my irritation aside and did both and here's what I've got for you: Freeman's blood alcohol was over three times the legal limit, plus she'd ingested some kind of opiate. No needle marks, so she probably snorted. Precise metabolites will take time to analyze. There's also clear pulmonary evidence of an overdose. In a relatively healthy young woman."
    "Relative to what?"
    "She had a smidge of atherosclerosis and some hepatic scarring--the beginnings of cirrhosis. Meaning she could've been hitting the sauce pretty hard. Clogged arteries could also be booze-related, or she had bad genetics. Or both. But none of that would've proved problematic in the short run, she had years to go before she slept. There are no signs of violence to the body, no damage to the hyoid to indicate strangulation, same for ocular petechiae. No sexual assault and she's never been pregnant. Cause of death is overdose, mode of death is up for grabs."
    "Could it be an accidental O.D.?"
    "Or suicide. Or homicide. My C.I. didn't spot any vomitus at the scene, or other signs of a seizure. Same for empty liquor bottles or drug Baggies. That dry ice bath is bizarre, never seen that before. I suppose it could've been some sort of erotic game that she played by herself, though it's hard to see how she could've withstood the agony."
    "Could she have O.D.'d herself into stupor, slipped into the ice just before losing consciousness?"
    "I suppose it's theoretically possible--talk about feeling no pain. Any idea where the ice came from? My C.I. didn't see any bags, either."
    "I just got the case, Doc."
    "Given a drugged state," said Jernigan, "I'd expect her to plunge rather than slip and that would've caused a mess, maybe even a head bump. There was none of that. Dry ice doesn't melt, it sublimates, so you wouldn't expect puddles. But still, she was tucked in too perfectly and skin burns say she'd been in there for a while. We both know this is homicide, but I don't have