Linda Fairstein by Lethal Legacy

Author:Lethal Legacy [Legacy, Lethal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-01-05T01:24:56+00:00

“What’s with the freezers?” Mike asked Lucy.

“Why? Do you think…?”

Jill had gone over to Lucy when she heard us run to the back. She was standing with her arm around the girl, who seemed to be trying to absorb the fact that Tina’s body may have been concealed right under her nose.

“How often do you open them?”

“Not—not often. Not for months at a time,” Lucy said.

“What are they for?”

“Disaster recovery. Freezing the books stops mold from doing more destruction. It kills insects that have infested them. You want to do some damage control to a hurt volume, you put it in the freezer, record that in the log in the back room, and nobody opens it again for six months.”

“And everybody working down here knows that?” Mike asked.

“Yes. But not just us. All the curators upstairs know it, too. So do most of the collectors we deal with,” Lucy said, wide-eyed with concern, as though Mike were accusing her of Tina’s murder.

“Frozen coffins,” Mike said to none of us in particular. He was trying to get a signal on his phone. “How frigging convenient. Plenty of room for a short broad. Odor proof—and it already stinks in here. An unwelcoming basement room with no windows for anyone to peek inside. Whoever killed her could have kept her on ice for weeks, if the mayor hadn’t made the evening so convenient for a nearby disposal.”

“The thermostat’s right on top,” Mercer said. “I imagine he turned up the temperature till he took the body out.”

“Same effect. Cool but not so stiff he couldn’t move her after the rigor passed,” Mike said. “By the time somebody discovered a body, there’d be so much contamination in this room that no forensics would be of any value.”

“Cell phones don’t work down here,” Lucy Tannis said. “You can use the landline near the door.”

“Why don’t you wait here with Lucy while I grab the Crime Scene crew?” Mike said to Mercer. His impatience was palpable. “She can explain this place to the guys. You show them what you found. I’ll take Coop and Jill with me. We’ll make that map room the command post.”

Mike took the stairs three at a time, yelling back at us to wait for him in Bea Dutton’s office.

There was no reason for me to separate Jill and Bea at this point. I walked to a corner of the room, away from them, to call Pat McKinney and give him an update. I was unlikely to get any goodwill out of letting him be the one to tell Battaglia about the developments, but it was worth a try.

By the time I finished answering McKinney’s questions, Mike had returned.

“Did you catch up with the guys?”

“Yeah,” he said. “They’re going to process the conservation lab first. You going downtown to your office?”

“That makes the most sense. If you need a warrant drafted or any subpoenas, I’ll be at my desk.”

“Excuse me, Mike,” Bea said as she approached us. “Are you going to keep me

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