But I say none of this to Marino because if I do I’ll be saying it to anybody else who might be listening. I’d be saying it to Carrie. I might be saying it to the FBI, and it occurs to me next that Lucy may not know Chanel is dead. That’s assuming she knew her at all. We’ve not released her identity yet and I decide I’d better make sure there’s nothing on the Internet. I call Bryce again. The connection is bad. I ask him where he is.

Chapter 37

CHAPTER 37

THE RECEPTION’S NEVER GOOD IN HERE,” HE SAYS. “You know because of the magnetic field? Imagine a flock of starlings lifting out of the trees all at once? This big black cloud of demonic birds and that’s what it’s like when all these little electrons fly around and mess up your phone? I could call you on a landline if you prefer.”

“That won’t work,” I reply.

“You’re breaking up a little so I’ll make this quick.”

“I’m the one calling you, Bryce.”

“Hello? Doctor Scarpetta, hello? Can you hear me okay? It’s Fort Knox in here.”

“I have only a minute.”

“Sorry. There I’ve moved. Can you hear me better? Whoa I almost feel a little woozy. Well probably from oxygen deprivation. I do think it’s worse after he’s vacuumed down the chamber, sucking all the air out and maybe that changes the level in the lab. How could it not? I’m sitting down and just realized I’ve not eaten a single thing today. Well kale chips that had been in my drawer too long.”

My chatty chief of staff is with Ernie inside the trace evidence lab with its thick steel-reinforced concrete walls, ceiling and floor. That’s why the cell phone reception is never good in there. It’s not because of the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) or Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) or any other high-tech instrument we use in the identification of unknown materials. They can’t possibly make Bryce woozy. But he doesn’t need the assistance of any special circumstances, locations or equipment to spin himself into a dizzying state.

“You go first with updates.” I’m mindful that any covert recording devices inside the Gilbert house can monitor only my side of the conversation.