Free Death of a Washington Madame by Warren Adler Page A

to Washington as a Roosevelt appointee in the NRA. He had bought the house on 16th Street and died sometime
after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Mrs. Shipley had married young William
soon after. He was subsequently sent overseas and reported missing and presumed
dead in 1944.
    Mrs. Shipley stayed on in Washington and eventually
established herself as one of Capital's prime hostesses in the fifties, sixties
and seventies after which, she began to fade into obscurity until her son
William, jr. became interested in politics, serving first as a Congressman from
Northern Virginia for three terms, then as Governor of Virginia.
    Even in citing Mrs. Shipley's background, the media was
less than expansive. They seemed far more interested in the life of her
daughter-in-law, Madeline Newton, her marriages, her movies, even her political
views.
    In the next few weeks, Fiona expected, the tabloid press
would have a heyday and the speculation about Mrs. Shipley's murderer would, as
Madeline predicted, reach accelerating levels of absurdity.
    The day after the murder, Hal Perry woke her early. He was
calling from Indonesia.
    "You're famous," he said. "Your boss was
quoted in the Post as saying he had his best team on the case. Named
names."
    "News sure travels fast."
    "Over modems, Fi. The globe has shrunk to the size of
a pea."
    "Did they spell my name right?"
    "On the money," he said. "By the way I love
you."
    "And me you."
    "This is crazy, me being so far away."
    "And me in bed here. This is where you should be.
Locked in my arms."
    "That's where I want to be. You can make it happen,
Fi. Say the word. I'll send the jet. We can get married in China."
    "I thought you were in Indonesia."
    "We just took off."
    "When will you be back?"
    "Can't say for sure. There's only one certainty I live
with. My love for you. We have to put it on the front burner, Fi."
    She knew what that meant, the finality of resolution and it
frightened her.
    "We'll certainly discuss it," she said, hoping it
would suffice to placate him temporarily.
    "Will you catch the bad guy, Fi?"
    "Absolutely," she said.
    They talked some more, she steering the conversation to
less controversial areas than their joint future. She hung up. With a force of
will, she quickly filled her mind with speculations about Mrs. Shipley, her
brutal murder and the people who surrounded her.
    "Evidence of semen," Dr. Benson said, his hands
folded in a Cathedral as he peered through them to look at Fiona with his blue
eyes. His Louisiana heritage, he called it, the result of a Frenchman passing
through the Bayou. "Rape is a logical conclusion."
    They were having coffee and bagels in his office. Gail was
doing follow-up calls in the squad room.
    "Before or after she was killed?" Fiona asked.
    "It would be pure speculation. I believe the events
were too close together to call. The woman was stabbed only four times, but the
carotid artery in the neck was the fatal blow."
    "She was seventy-seven," Fiona said.
    "And well preserved," he said. She knew him well
enough to understand his delicate allusions, which sometimes told her more than
his analysis in technical terms.
    "Does that mean you think she still had an active sex
life?"
    "I can't speculate about her behavior. Only about the
possibility. She could, indeed."
    "At seventy-seven?"
    He shook his head and offered a thin smile.
    "Most people have no understanding about the aging
process. The body can exercise the venery for a much longer time than young
people think." He hesitated a moment and grew reflective. "It's a
question of inspiration."
    "And, for the male, Viagra."
    "Ah yes, Viagra. They say it might work for women as
well." He hesitated. "Although I would speculate from a careful
analysis of the remains that Mrs. Shipley had no such need. I would say her
organs were in very good shape and capable of excellent function in that
regard."
    "But you did say rape."
    "I said it was a logical conclusion. I also said there
was evidence of