The special agent in charge who may have had an affair with Carrie Grethen watches us reach the stone sidewalk. We follow it as she looks on silently, her face framed by long black hair that is thinning prematurely at the temples and on the crown. She has a cockeyed smile that on her best day is insincere and on her worst is condescending like it is right now, and I have to scrutinize closely to detect the scaffolding of a former beauty queen. I have to look carefully for the fine bone structure beneath sunbaked skin, the curves that have been replaced by raw bones and flat buttocks and sagging breasts. Her dark eyes are widely spaced with bags underneath, and her pouty mouth has puppet lines.

The remnants of her Barbie doll prettiness are rapidly eroding, and if I met her at Quantico when Lucy was there I can’t tell and I’m pretty good at remembering people. There’s no spark of recognition and there would be had we been introduced, had I ever chatted with her. At most we might have passed in a hallway. We may have been on the elevator at the same time. I don’t know, and I don’t care if she really was involved with Carrie sexually. What matters is what Lucy believed at the time, and it’s stunningly inappropriate that Erin Loria has led the raid on Lucy’s property, that Erin has anything at all to do with my niece.

“A curious conflict of interest comes to mind.” I don’t greet her in a friendly manner.

“Excuse me?”

“Give it careful thought and you might know what I’m talking about.” I don’t offer to shake her hand.

It’s impossible not to think about what I witnessed on film, and I envision Lucy beside herself with hurt and jealousy after Erin showed up on the Yellow Brick Road obstacle course. It wasn’t a coincidence. It would seem Carrie and Erin were having a relationship right under Lucy’s nose, and I can’t imagine what must have gone through Lucy’s mind when seventeen years later Erin shows up on her private property with a warrant.

“I’m Kay Scarpetta, the chief medical examiner.”

“Yes I know.”

“I’m just making sure you do. I can show you identification if need be,” I say as she blocks the doorway, not budging an inch in any direction. “I believe you and Lucy have already met,” I add a sting of irony.

“I know who you are. And I know your niece. I’m sure you’re aware we go back a long way.” That maddening smile again as she stares at Lucy. “It’s nice to see you didn’t run off.”