Page 123 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Airtight

“How long is the Ecodome crew going to be in that debriefing
room?” asked Labelle Gramercy, making yet another entry in that
tiny notebook.
I looked at my watch. “Maybe another half hour. They don’t really
have that much to do.”
She nodded. “Then please drop in there and tell them all to wait.
I’ll meet you at the entrance to the dome in five minutes. I’ve got to
call my office and find out if the toxicology report has come in yet.”
And off she went, taking her authority for granted. So now I’ve
found a lower job than publicist, I noted. Police flunky. But it was
just something we all had to go through, and I was probably the best
one to handle all the personalities involved. I entered the conference
room. The team was seated around the long polished table. Five faces
turned to me, each with its own question or objection ready to fire
off at the first outsider coming through the door. Waldo, I could see,
was having the fidgets because he still couldn’t light his pipe after
twelve months; he would try to get out of the building on any
pretext, I was sure. Blanche looked worried, about what I couldn’t
guess. Ray might have been in shock, or just coming out of it. He was
next to Dr. Kapil, who had a blood-pressure cuff in his hands and a
stethoscope around his neck. And Toro just sat there with his arms
folded, a magnificent statue with one shaggy eyebrow raised
interrogatively.
I raised both hands and adopted a tone much calmer than I felt.
“Hold on, gang. I’ve got some news, such as it is. You didn’t get the
big welcoming committee production with flashbulbs popping and
the mayor offering you the key to the city, but I’m going to
reschedule that for the next day or so. You will get your fifteen
minutes of fame, I promise you that. On the downside, we now have
police on the premises investigating Laurel’s death. I don’t know how
much I can say about it—I don’t really know that much, anyway—
but the officer in charge, a policewoman named Lt. Gramercy, told
me that Laurel died of poisoning.”
A discordant chorus of groans and sobs gave me the sense of their
reaction. “I thought so!” muttered Dr. Kapil. “No other way to
explain the motor paralysis.”
“I don’t believe it!” wailed Blanche.

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