Free Death of a Washington Madame by Warren Adler

by the fact that he was unable to find cash in the woman's
pocketbook. He probably raped her in anger, killed her in outrage, then took
off. It was, Fiona knew, a clichéd theory, but, more often than not, a
reasonable assumption.
    "I'm trying to be cooperative, Miz FitzGerald,"
Gloria said, having seen the friction between Fiona and her partner.
    "I have to cover all the bases, Gloria. Perhaps you
need time to think about this. I'd suggest you do and we'll certainly talk
again."
    Gloria nodded.
    Fiona studied the woman's face. At that moment, her
formidable air of protection of her late employer seemed impregnable.
    "I'll be right here Miz FitzGerald."
    "Here?"
    She was almost militantly emphatic, which was puzzling.
Fiona hadn't thought about where Gloria and Roy would live now that Mrs. Shipley
was gone. She had simply assumed the house would revert to Mrs. Shipley's
estate and be disposed of according to her official behest.
    Perhaps, Fiona speculated, the murdered woman had made
arrangements for the two to stay on and provided them with the income for
maintenance. It was a matter that seemed too delicate to be brought up at the
present time.
    "Well then Gloria," Fiona said as she and Gail
prepared to leave the room. "We'll know where to find you."
    Flanagan's boys had discovered plenty of latent fingerprints
and Fiona speculated that these clues might lead to a fingerprinted juvenile
with a long rap sheet who would be easily identified, with an arrest sure to
follow. Unfortunately, this was a high profile case, as Madeline Newton had
contended, sure to be spread over the media and interpreted as a manifestation
of the crime epidemic that the police were, allegedly, powerless to stop.
    "Ragtime?" Fiona asked Gail, trying, with a spin
of gender joking, to jolt her out of her long pout as they drove back to
headquarters.
    "Must you?" Gail muttered.
    "Considering the wild eruption, it does have a certain
logic."
    "With you it's either hormonal or political,
Fiona."
    "And with you Gail? What the devil is going on?"
    "I think you were a little patronizing with Gloria
Carpenter," Gail said.
    The comment took Fiona by surprise. She cut a puzzling
glance at Gail.
    "Patronizing?"
    "Like you were talking to a darkie on the old
plantation," Gail said.
    "Are you serious Gail?" Fiona asked, knowing she
was, but hoping she wasn't.
    "That's the way it struck me," Gail said. Then
after a long pause with unmistakable intent: "Sergeant."
    "Sergeant?"
    "You couldn't possibly understand," Gail
murmured.
    Fiona turned away before answering, going over in her mind
the full impact of her intent. It was unmistakably racial. The dreaded dragon
rises from the mud, Fiona thought, hating the implication and fearing its
consequences to their relationship.
    "Sorry," Fiona said, hoping she might deflect the
obvious. "I don't see it that way. I see no violation in method, protocol
or sensitivity. Frankly your attitude is puzzling ... officer."
    Gail shrugged.
    There was an undercurrent here that she had best avoid. Let
it ride, she decided. Maybe the dreaded dragon would return to the slime and go
back into hibernation.
    They drove to headquarters in silence.

CHAPTER 5
    As Fiona had expected, the television news and the
newspapers were filled with the story of the murder. As if in revenge for the
manner in which Madeline Newton treated him, the Eggplant was quoted as saying
that Mrs. Shipley was probably raped. The headlines in the press were, as
Madeline Newton predicted, lurid and sensational.
    Old pictures of Mrs. Shipley at the height of her glory
were displayed. There she was with Presidents and royalty, just as Roy had described it. There was an irony, too, in the fact that there were more pictures
of her more famous daughter-in-law in the coverage than of victim.
    The stories filled in more details of Mrs. Shipley's
earlier background. Her father had been in the auto parts business in Ohio, had sold his business after his wife had died and come