“What made you decide to deal with dead people instead of the living?” she asked. “It seems a strange thing for a doctor to choose.”

“It is my intense concern for the living that makes me study the dead,” I said. “What we learn from the dead is for the benefit of the living, and justice is for those left behind.”

“Don’t it get to you?” inquired an old man with big, rough hands. The expression on his fare was so sincere that he seemed in pain.

“Of course it does.”

“How many years did you have to go to school after you graduated from high school?” asked a heavyset black woman.

“Seventeen years, if you include residencies and the year I was a fellow.”

“Lord have mercy.”

“Where all did you go?”

“To school, you mean?” I said to the thin young man wearing glasses. .

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Saint Michael’s, Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown.”

“Was your daddy a doctor?”

“My father owned a small grocery store in Miami.”

“Well, I’d hate to be the one paying for all that school.” Several of the jurors laughed softly.

“I was fortunate enough to receive scholarships,” I said. “Beginning with high school.”

“I have an uncle who works at the Twilight Funeral one in Norfolk,” said someone else.

“Oh, come on, Barry. There really isn’t a funeral home called that.”

“I kid you not.’

“That’s nothing. We got one in Fayetteville owned by the Stiff family. Guess what its called.”

“No way.”

“You’re not from around here.”

“I’m a native of Miami,” I replied.

“Then the name Scarpetta’s Spanish?”

“It’s Italian.”

“That’s interesting. I thought all Italians was dark.”

“My ancestors are from Verona in northern Italy, where a sizable segment of the population shares blood with the Savoyards, Austrians, and Swiss,” I patiently explained. “Many of us are blue-eyed and blond.”

“Boy, I bet you can cook.”

“It’s one of my favorite pastimes.”

“Dr. Scarpetta, I’m not real clear on your position,” said a well-dressed man who looked about my age. “Are you the chief medical examiner for Richmond?”

“For the Commonwealth. We have four district offices. Central Office here in Richmond, Tidewater in Norfolk, Western in Roanoke, and the Northern Office in Alexandria.”

“So the chief just happens to be located here in Richmond?”

“Yes. That seems to make the most sense, since the medical examiner system is part of state government and Richmond is where the legislature meets,” I replied as the door opened and Roy Patterson walked in. He was a broad shouldered, good-looking black man with close-shorn hair that was going gray. His dark blue suit was double-breasted, and his initials were embroidered on the cuffs of his pale yellow shirt. He was known for his ties, and this one looked hand painted, He greeted the jurors and was tepid toward me.