The Unspoken. Heather Graham

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СКАЧАТЬ exactly that kind of bruising,” Will said impatiently.

      His tone made McFarland bristle, and Kat frowned at Will.

      He ignored her.

      Despite the tension in the room, Kat kept her hand lightly on the icy-cold arm of the corpse. She knew that Will was right; she had noted the particular patterns of the bruises on Brady’s arms almost immediately. And combined with the marks around his mouth, they suggested certain conclusions. But then, she was a diver. McFarland was not. And the man who’d been brought to him had been floating alone in the hold of a sunken ship.

      At this rate, however, they weren’t going to be welcome back at the morgue.

      She wished she could get some feel for the man who’d been Brady Laurie.

      Nothing. She was getting nothing from the body. If only Brady Laurie was still somehow here…but his body was cold. Empty.

      “This is ridiculous. It’s…it’s not like he has massive bruising anywhere,” McFarland sputtered.

      “The bruises may darken, giving us a better idea,” Kat said. “He hasn’t been dead that long,” she reminded him.

      “He might not have gone ten rounds at the WWE SmackDown,” Will put in, “but it looks to me as if he was held in a firm grip shortly before his death.”

      “It doesn’t make sense that one of his coworkers could have gotten angry enough to have killed him. It’s not like they’re out to claim the treasures for themselves,” Kat said.

      “So?” McFarland’s voice was strained. “What? A mummy crawled out of an inner sarcophagus and an outer sarcophagus—not to mention careful waterproofing—to rip his regulator out of his mouth?”

      “Of course not,” Kat said.

      “This man was the one who discovered the ship! He was alone down there,” McFarland emphasized.

      “Maybe—and maybe not,” Will said. “Others had to have known. Brady Laurie had done careful charting before the preservation group sent out requests for financial help, trying to sell their research as a documentary. This is the age of computer hackers, so plenty of people could’ve found out. And Lake Michigan hasn’t been closed, has it?”

      Kat wanted to kick him for his sarcasm.

      “Agent Chan, I have been at this job for over twenty years,” McFarland began.

      Kat stepped in quickly. “Of course, Doctor, and your autopsy and notations are commendable. But there are factors involved that weren’t included in the information you were given. You had no reason to suspect foul play. But with the possibilities out there—”

      “What possibilities? A curse! A swimming mummy?”

      Will shrugged and replied casually, “No, I’m sure the mummy would have deteriorated if it had somehow come to life,” he said. “Money, Doctor. A treasure of inestimable worth. We don’t know if any other party discovered the wreck due to Brady’s research. It might have been a simple drowning. And then again, maybe not. At this point in the investigation, we have no idea who else might have been out on the lake.”

      “He died by drowning,” McFarland insisted.

      Will raised his eyebrows. “Yes, he died by drowning. But whether it was accidental or not—that’s a completely different question, isn’t it?”

      “You’re really suggesting he was murdered?”

      “I’m more than suggesting, I’m saying it’s quite likely,” Will said. “Your findings were absolutely correct, Dr. McFarland, except that…they weren’t. Brady Laurie was grabbed and he was held in the water. He drowned not because he ran out of time, but because his regulator was ripped from him. That’s why he has injuries on his lips.”

      “Young man, what you’re suggesting is a remote possibility!” McFarland said.

      “Remote? I don’t think so.”

      “Dr. McFarland, the point is…there is a possibility,” Kat said.

      “And not so remote,” Will added.

      He looked over at Kat. He was challenging her to step up to the plate. She wasn’t in the least worried about doing that; she just wished she didn’t have to.

      She looked back at Will, who watched her steadily. And then, her heart sinking because she’d so badly wanted this to be nothing, she turned to McFarland. “Doctor, this is your morgue and your call. But…under the circumstances, I’d change that report if I were you. At the very least, hold on to it for a couple of days and let us do some more investigating. There’s a good possibility that this was willful death caused by person or persons unknown.”

      3

      “Could you have been any ruder?” Kat demanded of Chan.

      “Could he have been any more incompetent?” he fired back.

      They were out on the street. Car horns blared now and then, and the whir of fast-moving traffic seemed to be all around them.

      Kat shook her head. “There’s still nothing to actually prove him wrong, Agent Chan. The bruise could conceivably have been caused by jostling around.”

      “I never went to medical school, Agent Sokolov, but I don’t think you need a degree to recognize bruises on postmortem flesh. My fingers fit perfectly into those bruises, so I’d say whoever killed him had nice large hands. Brady Laurie wasn’t any kind of a hulk, although he was certainly strong enough to defend himself to some degree. But you dive, so surely you’re aware that a lack of oxygen can quickly deprive you of energy and skill, leaving only the instinct to survive—and fight against whatever is keeping you from breathing. An actor in a James Bond movie may be able to hold his breath forever while waging a heroic battle, but in most instances, you expend what air you have in trying to fight, and then…” He broke off, his implication grim. “And you agreed with my findings. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have said what you did.”

      “I believe your findings suggest further investigation.”

      “Beyond a doubt.”

      “But that would usually suggest not insulting the medical examiner to the point that he doesn’t want you back in the morgue! In any city, we need to be on the best terms with local authorities,” Kat told him.

      Will Chan stared back at her for a moment, then shrugged. “All right, fine. I should have tiptoed around his feelings. We should have pleasantly gone along with him—and then he would’ve released the body and we’d be left with nothing. Well, excuse me. You can go back in and ask the good doctor out for coffee or drinks, but I’m headed to the police station.”

      He turned and started walking. Kat glared at him, her temper soaring. She decided to go after him and practically had to run to keep up with his long strides. She caught him by the arm and was surprised by her own strength when she spun him around to face her.

      “Look, my team was the one called in. You just happened to be here. This is my investigation, and СКАЧАТЬ