“Now? Not a day goes by I don’t get a call to consult about this show or that movie. Authors, screenwriters, producers, directors. Everybody wants to see an autopsy and tromp all over a crime scene. I’m so sick of it, I can’t tell you.”

Her long gown flapped around her knees as she walked in quick, clipped steps.

She said, “This case? Already I’ve had, must be a dozen phone calls. I suppose because it’s a dwarf. My first, actually. Very interesting. Mild lumbar lordosis, bowed legs, some frontal bossing. And megalencephaly, which is enlargement of the brain,” she explained, as if Scarpetta wouldn’t know what that was. “Common in people with achondroplasia. Doesn’t affect intelligence. In the IQ department, they’re no different than the rest of us. So it’s not as if this lady was stupid. Can’t blame what happened on that.”

“I’m not sure what you’re implying,” Benton said.

“There very well may be more to this case than meets the eye. It may not be what you think it is. You’ve taken a look at the scene photographs, I hope, and I’m about to give you a set of the ones taken during the autopsy. Typical asphyxia by ligature strangulation. Assuming this is a homicide.”

“Assuming?” Benton said.

“In an unusual case like this, you have to keep every option open. As small as she was, she was more vulnerable to things going awry that might not have with someone else. Four-foot- one. Eighty-nine pounds. If it’s an accident—rough sex, let’s say—she was more at risk for things going too far.”

Scarpetta said, “In several photographs, I noticed blood and contusions on her legs. How might that fit with your suggestion of rough sex?”

“Possibly spanking that got out of control. I’ve seen it before. Whippings, kicking, other types of punishment that go too far.”

They were on the administrative floor now. Old gray linoleum tiles and bright red doors.

“I found no defensive-type injuries,” Dr. Lester went on. “If she was murdered, then whoever did it managed to subdue her instantly. Maybe with a gun, a knife, and she did what she was told. But I can’t dismiss the possibility that she and her boyfriend or whoever she was with last night were engaging in some sort of sex game that didn’t turn out exactly as planned.”

“What evidence, specifically, are you referring to that makes you think we’re possibly dealing with a sex game, as you call it?” Benton asked.