Free Five Scarpetta Novels by Patricia Cornwell Page B

as?”
    â€œWell, for example, it’s used to extract gold from ore. It’s also used in metal plating, and as a fumigant, and to manufacture phosphoric acid from bones,” I said. “In other words, anyone from a jeweler to a worker in an industrial plant to an exterminator could have access to cyanide. Plus, you’re going to find it and hydrochloric acid in any chemical lab.”
    â€œWell,” it was Marino who spoke, “if someone poisoned Eddings, then they had to know he was going to be out in his boat. They had to know where and when.”
    â€œSomeone had to know many things,” I agreed. “For example, one would have had to know what type of breathing apparatus Eddings planned to use because had he gone down with scuba gear instead of a hookah, the MO would have had to be entirely different.”
    â€œI just wish we knew what the hell he was doing down there.” Marino opened the screen to tend to the fire.
    â€œWhatever it was,” I said, “it seems to have involved photography. And based on the camera equipment it appears he had with him, he was serious.”
    â€œBut no underwater camera was found,” Lucy said.
    â€œNo,” I said. “The current could have carried it anywhere, or it might be buried in silt. Unfortunately, the kind of equipment he apparently had doesn’t float.”
    â€œI sure would like to get hold of the film.” She was still looking out at the snowy night, and I wondered if she was thinking of Aspen.
    â€œOne thing’s for damn sure, he wasn’t taking pictures of fish.” Marino jabbed a fat log that was a little too green. “So that pretty much leaves ships. And I think he was doing a story somebody didn’t want him to do.”
    â€œHe may have been doing a story,” I agreed, “but that doesn’t mean it’s related to his death. Someone could have used his being out diving as an opportunity to kill him for another reason.”
    â€œWhere do you keep the kindling?” He gave up on the fire.
    â€œOutside under a tarp,” I answered. “Dr. Mant won’t allow it in the house. He’s afraid of termites.”
    â€œWell, he ought to be more afraid of the fires and wind shear in this dump.”
    â€œIn back, just off the porch,” I said. “Thanks, Marino.”
    He put on gloves but no coat and went outside as the fire smoked stubbornly and the wind made eerie moaning sounds in the leaning brick chimney. I watched my niece, who was still at the window.
    â€œWe should work on dinner, don’t you think?” I said to her.
    â€œWhat’s he doing?” she said with her back to me.
    â€œMarino?”
    â€œYes. The big idiot’s gotten lost. Look, he’s all the way up by the wall. Wait a minute. I can’t see him now. He turned his flashlight off. That’s kind of weird.”
    Her words lifted the hair on my neck and instantly I wason my feet. I dashed into the bedroom and grabbed my pistol off the nightstand. Lucy was on my heels.
    â€œWhat is it?” she exclaimed.
    â€œHe doesn’t have a flashlight,” I said as I ran.

chapter
4
    I N THE KITCHEN , I flung open the door leading to the porch and ran into Marino. We almost knocked each other down.
    â€œWhat the shit . . . ?” he yelled behind a load of wood.
    â€œThere’s a prowler,” I spoke with quiet urgency.
    Kindling thudded loudly to the floor and he ran back out into the yard, his pistol drawn. By now, Lucy had fetched her gun and was outside, too, and we were ready to handle a riot.
    â€œCheck the perimeter of the house,” Marino ordered. “I’m going over here.”
    I went back in for flashlights, and for a while Lucy and I circled the cottage, straining eyes and ears, but the only sight and sound was our shoes crunching as we left impressions in the snow. I heard Marino decock his pistol as we reconvened in deep