Page 7 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Polished Off

door. It was then I noticed that she did not carry a purse. I wondered
if this were true of all women officers in street clothes. Her jacket
was large and loose-fitting, allowing both freedom of movement and
concealment of the tools of her trade. It did not occur to me that she
might be carrying a gun: another potential misjudgment?
I ordered a tuna sandwich for myself and another to go, for Iris.
The detective had a small glass of tomato juice. She did not
immediately speak after the waitress left, so I took the opportunity to
reassert myself.
“You know, I’m glad I found you at the shop: something doesn’t
ring true about Ms. Trench dying of a heart attack.”
“Is that what Iris Call told you?”
“Well, maybe not in so many words, but she implied that the poor
woman was suddenly struck down as if by an act of God.”
“That is correct. I have established that she died quickly and
alone. Her struggles were not conscious nor directed at anyone or
anything else. The objects beneath her body were in a location
consistent with being knocked off the desk by the violent flailing
motions of a falling person’s death throes. After she was removed by
the coroner I was able to establish some preliminary trajectories for
the heavier objects, given their original locations.”
“What? How could you know that?”
“The decedent kept a large number of bottles, jars and tins of
makeup, food and other personal supplies in her office, many on her
desk. One of those containers held face powder, a fine layer of which
was deposited over a wide area each time it was used. She had not
dusted or displaced the bulk of them in several weeks. They therefore
left footprints of temporally-indicative depth as well as distinctive
shape when removed simultaneously.”
“Oh.” I was but momentarily nonplussed. “What I’m getting at is
that I think she was too healthy to die like that. In fact, it wasn’t long
ago that she told me she had just gotten a clean bill of health from
her doctor.”
“That may have been exaggerated. I have already spoken with her
physician, Dr. Mills, and her medical profile was not ideal. But you
are essentially correct with regard to the state of her coronary
arteries.”

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