Read Online Critical by Robin Cook - Free Book Online Page B

war over territory breaks out, a lot of innocent people get killed. I’m hoping you or Laurie could find something, some kind of break so we can nip this in the bud, before all hell breaks loose.”
    â€œI’ll do my best,” Jack said. “What else?”
    â€œThe next one’s a sad story. A detective sergeant in Special Fraud, and a good guy, has a daughter who has been arrested for killing her good-for-nothing boyfriend with a baseball bat last night. His name is Satan Thomas, if you can believe it. She’s been a disaster for the detective since she was a preteen, always hooking up with the dregs for boyfriends and into drugs and you name it. Anyhow, she denies killing the guy and says the boyfriend was using the baseball bat to trash the apartment. She even claims he came after her, which he’d done in the past. By the way, Satan’s delightful family is camped out in the waiting room.”
    â€œYou mean he’d been physically abusive to her.”
    â€œApparently. She claims that when she fled, he was still busting up the place.”
    â€œDid it look like he died of blunt trauma?”
    â€œOh, yeah! I’m afraid it looks like he got bashed in the forehead with the bat.”
    Jack rolled his eyes. “Sounds bad for your detective friend, and even more so for the daughter.” Jack felt depressed. Two out of three autopsies were going to be straightforward. Reluctantly, he asked for the details on the third case.
    â€œThis one is similar to the last, but it’s the girl who got whacked. She, too, was in an abusive relationship, according to her parents, the Barlows, who are also still in the waiting room. Apparently, Sara Barlow and her boyfriend got into a row over the fact she didn’t clean the apartment to his liking. He admits he slapped her around but claims that when he left to calm down, she was fine, just bawling and saying she’d do better. When he gets back, he claimed she was lying across the bed with her face and hands purple.”
    â€œPurple blotches or her whole face?”
    â€œOne of the patrolmen who responded to the scene insisted the boyfriend said the whole face, but when the patrolman viewed the body, all he saw was what he described as purple bruises.”
    â€œWhat about the hands?”
    â€œHe didn’t say.”
    â€œDid you see the body?”
    â€œI did. I happened to be in the area because of the detective’s daughter’s case, so I went over.”
    â€œAnd?” Jack questioned.
    â€œJust looked like bruises to me, too. I was convinced he beat her up good.”
    â€œWhat about the hands?”
    â€œI guess they could have been somewhat blue. What are you thinking?”
    â€œI’m thinking this case might be interesting,” Jack said, as he reached for his crutches and got to his feet. “How about we do it first.”
    â€œI’m more interested in the floater,” Lou called after him. “I might not be able to stay awake for all three, so I’d appreciate the floater first.”
    Jack approached the desk. Riva was still going through the cases, suggesting it was going to be a busy day. Laurie had a couple of envelopes on her lap. She was sitting in the club chair next to Vinnie, who was still behind his paper.
    Remembering the reporters in reception, Jack called back to Lou, asking which of the three cases had brought the reporters to the OCME so bright and early. Short of possibly the floater, Jack had a hard time imagining any of the three being particularly news-worthy. In a city the size of New York, sad, violent events were all too common.
    â€œNone of the ones I’ve talked about,” Lou called back. “The media is salivating about a death in police custody in the Bronx of a man called Concepcion Lopez. It’s going to be one of those excessive-force brouhahas, I’m afraid. What I was told was that the guy went ballistic with an overdose