place but you were gone. I followed your footprints in the snow. They led right here. You wear what? Size eight? It wasn’t hard.”
“Well, I’m sorry for…”
“Please,” Stevie says intensely, strongly. “I know I’m not just another notch on your belt, as they say.”
“I’m not into that,” Lucy says, but she is.
She knows it, even if she would never describe it like that. She feels bad for Stevie. She feels bad for her aunt, for Johnny, for everyone she has failed.
“Some might argue you’re a notch on mine,” Stevie says playfully, seductively, and Lucy doesn’t want to have the feeling again.
Stevie is sure of herself again, full of secrets again, amazingly attractive again.
Lucy shoves the Hummer into reverse as snow blows in and her face stings from the snow and the wind blowing off the water.
Stevie digs in her coat pocket, pulls out a slip of paper, hands it to her through the open window.
“My phone number,” she says.
The area code is 617, the Boston area. She never told Lucy where she lived. Lucy never asked.
“That’s all I wanted to say to you,” Stevie says. “And happy Valentine’s Day.”
They look at each other through the open window, the engine rumbling, snow coming down and clinging to Stevie’s black coat. She’s beautiful and Lucy feels what she felt at Lorraine’s. She thought it was gone. She is feeling it.
“I’m not like all the rest,” Stevie says, looking into Lucy’s eyes.
“You’re not.”
“My cell phone number,” Stevie says. “I actually live in Florida. After I left Harvard, I never bothered to change my cell phone number. It doesn’t matter. Free minutes, you know.”
“You went to Harvard?”
“I usually don’t mention it. It can be rather off-putting.”
“Where in Florida?”
“Gainesville,” she says. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” she says again. “I hope it turns out to be the most special one you’ve ever had.”
Chapter 11
The smart board inside classroom 1A is filled with a colorful photograph of a man’s torso. His shirt is unbuttoned, a large knife plunged into his hairy chest.
“Suicide,” one of the students volunteers from his desk.
“Here’s another fact. Although you can’t tell from this picture,” Scarpetta says to the sixteen students who make up this session’s Academy class, “he has multiple stab wounds.”
“Homicide.” The student quickly changes his answer and everybody laughs.
Scarpetta flashes up the next slide, this one of multiple wounds clustered near the fatal one.
“They look shallow,” another student says.
“What about the angle? They should be angled up if he did it to himself?”
“Not necessarily, but here’s a question,” Scarpetta says from the podium in the front of the classroom. “What might his unbuttoned shirt tell you?”
Silence.
“If you were going to stab yourself, would you do it through your clothing?” she asks. “And, by the way, you’re right.” She directs this to the student who made the comment about shallow stab wounds. “Most of these”—she points them out on the smart board—“barely broke the skin. What we call hesitation marks. ”
The students take notes. They are a bright, eager bunch, different ages, different backgrounds, from different areas of the country, two of them from England. Several are detectives who want intensive forensic training in crime-scene investigation. Others are death investigators who want the same thing. Some are college graduates working on master’s degrees in psychology, nuclear biology and microscopy. One is an assistant district attorney who wants more convictions in court.
She displays another slide on the smart
“Well, I’m sorry for…”
“Please,” Stevie says intensely, strongly. “I know I’m not just another notch on your belt, as they say.”
“I’m not into that,” Lucy says, but she is.
She knows it, even if she would never describe it like that. She feels bad for Stevie. She feels bad for her aunt, for Johnny, for everyone she has failed.
“Some might argue you’re a notch on mine,” Stevie says playfully, seductively, and Lucy doesn’t want to have the feeling again.
Stevie is sure of herself again, full of secrets again, amazingly attractive again.
Lucy shoves the Hummer into reverse as snow blows in and her face stings from the snow and the wind blowing off the water.
Stevie digs in her coat pocket, pulls out a slip of paper, hands it to her through the open window.
“My phone number,” she says.
The area code is 617, the Boston area. She never told Lucy where she lived. Lucy never asked.
“That’s all I wanted to say to you,” Stevie says. “And happy Valentine’s Day.”
They look at each other through the open window, the engine rumbling, snow coming down and clinging to Stevie’s black coat. She’s beautiful and Lucy feels what she felt at Lorraine’s. She thought it was gone. She is feeling it.
“I’m not like all the rest,” Stevie says, looking into Lucy’s eyes.
“You’re not.”
“My cell phone number,” Stevie says. “I actually live in Florida. After I left Harvard, I never bothered to change my cell phone number. It doesn’t matter. Free minutes, you know.”
“You went to Harvard?”
“I usually don’t mention it. It can be rather off-putting.”
“Where in Florida?”
“Gainesville,” she says. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” she says again. “I hope it turns out to be the most special one you’ve ever had.”
Chapter 11
The smart board inside classroom 1A is filled with a colorful photograph of a man’s torso. His shirt is unbuttoned, a large knife plunged into his hairy chest.
“Suicide,” one of the students volunteers from his desk.
“Here’s another fact. Although you can’t tell from this picture,” Scarpetta says to the sixteen students who make up this session’s Academy class, “he has multiple stab wounds.”
“Homicide.” The student quickly changes his answer and everybody laughs.
Scarpetta flashes up the next slide, this one of multiple wounds clustered near the fatal one.
“They look shallow,” another student says.
“What about the angle? They should be angled up if he did it to himself?”
“Not necessarily, but here’s a question,” Scarpetta says from the podium in the front of the classroom. “What might his unbuttoned shirt tell you?”
Silence.
“If you were going to stab yourself, would you do it through your clothing?” she asks. “And, by the way, you’re right.” She directs this to the student who made the comment about shallow stab wounds. “Most of these”—she points them out on the smart board—“barely broke the skin. What we call hesitation marks. ”
The students take notes. They are a bright, eager bunch, different ages, different backgrounds, from different areas of the country, two of them from England. Several are detectives who want intensive forensic training in crime-scene investigation. Others are death investigators who want the same thing. Some are college graduates working on master’s degrees in psychology, nuclear biology and microscopy. One is an assistant district attorney who wants more convictions in court.
She displays another slide on the smart
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