Page 29 of The 24th Hour

THE NOTE CARD to Patricia Delaney read:

“To my darling Pattycakes,

“You know that I love you so very much. I’ve left you enough money to support you for many years. And I’ve left you a remembrance of all we’ve shared. Judy Borinstein has access to my safe deposit box. I hope when you read this, I am in my dotage and yours is the last face I see before closing my eyes forever. Your loving bear-man. J.”

What was that?

Jamie and Patty were in love?

As that bombshell exploded in my boggled mind, I opened the next note, addressed to “Dearest Marly.” Was Marly a pet name for Holly’s assistant, Marilyn Stein?

“Marly, I hope you will always remember that you are the brightest of stars. Some of my best hours on earth were spent with you, our minds and bodies joined, and the earth indeed did move when we were together. My regret that we couldn’t formalize our love is profound. That you are reading thisnote means we will have no more time together. I’m not sure I made it clear how much of my heart and soul belong to you. All my love. James.”

I was trying it on. Was that dog, Jamie Fricke, really capable of heartfelt love for Holly, Patty, and Marilyn all at the same time? I wondered if he’d faked it all or if somehow, he was able to split his love many ways. No woman I knew or had ever known would have accepted that. And the next question was, who among them would have had him killed for his infidelities? Or was there a reason that had nothing to do with love?

The third note, inside an envelope the same size as the other two, was addressed to Arthur Bevaqua.

I’d just taken it into my gloved hand when my phone rang. It was Alvarez.

“You have to come out of there, Sergeant. Right now!” she shouted through my iPhone.

I heard scrabbling on the floor above my head, and then the tail end of a scream.

CHAPTER 37

YUKI STOOD BEHIND the prosecution table and watched her friend Claire Washburn raise her hand and swear on the Bible. Once she’d settled into the witness box, Yuki stepped forward and began questioning Claire about her job.

“Dr. Washburn, as San Francisco’s chief medical examiner, how often do you examine living patients?”

Claire said, “Going to have to estimate the number.”

“Of course. As best you can.”

Claire told the court that she did postmortems on roughly a thousand bodies a year, but occasionally when she was called to the scene of an accident or a crime, there were survivors.

“For example?” Yuki asked.

“Say there’s been a mass shooting or a fire, with both deceased and living victims at the scene. In that case, I call an ambulance and do first aid immediately; tourniquets, wound compression, chest compressions … The EMTs take it from there.”

Yuki said, “Now, taking you back six months to the day in Xe Sogni. How did you come to examine Ms. Hayes?”

Claire explained the birthday lunch, the scream, and the call. “We were having lunch, four of us, including Sergeant Lindsay Boxer. There was a scream for help from the second floor. Sergeant Boxer ran up, and a short time later called my cell, saying, ‘Can you come up and take a look?’ I went.”

Claire was interrupted by a loud yawn from the defense attorney. Yuki turned to glare at Ed Schneider, who didn’t give a flip. He actually grinned back at her. Even Tyler Cates cracked a smile.

The judge leaned across his bench and said, “Restrain yourself, Mr. Schneider. Or else. You get me?”

“Yes, Your Honor. My apologies.”

The judge told Claire to go on.

Yuki asked Claire, “Can you tell the jury what you saw on the second floor?”

“Well, it took a moment for my eyes to focus. The light was dim.”

Claire described the locker room, and how Sergeant Boxer had cuffed the defendant, who was naked from the waist down.

Yuki asked, “Did you see Ms. Hayes?”

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