From Potter's Field

by Patricia Cornwell

  'Dr. Gruber, please let me do it another time.' I did not put up any pretenses. My face showed him how I felt.

  He patted my shoulder and led me through a back door that took us out of the museum into a loading area where an old trailer painted army green was parked.

  'Belonged to Eisenhower,' Dr. Gruber said as we walked. 'He lived in there at times, and it wasn't too bad unless Churchill visited. Then the cigars. You can imagine.'

  We crossed a narrow street, and the snow was blowing harder. My eyes began to water as I again envisioned the pennywhistle in the showcase and thought about the woman we called Jane. I wondered if Gault had ever come here. He seemed to like museums, especially those displaying artifacts of violence. We followed a sidewalk to a small beige building I had visited before. During World War II it had been a filling station for the army. Now it was the repository for the Quartermaster archives.

  Dr. Gruber unlocked a door and we entered a room crowded with tables and manikins wearing uniforms from antiquity. Tables were covered with the paperwork necessary to catalog acquisitions. In back was a large storage area where the heat was turned low and aisles were lined with large metal cabinets containing clothing, parachutes, mess kits, goggles, glasses. What we were interested in was found in large wooden cabinets against a wall.

  'May I see what you've got?' Dr. Gruber asked, turning on more lights. 'I apologize about the temperature, but we've got to keep it cold.'

  I opened my briefcase and pulled out an envelope, from which I slid several eight-by-ten black-and-white photographs of the footprints found in Central Park. Mainly, I cared about those we believed had been left by Gault. I showed the photographs to Dr. Gruber, and he moved them closer to a light.

  1 realize it's rather difficult to see since they were left in snow,' I said. 'I wish there were a little more shadow for contrast.'

  'This is quite all right. I'm getting a very good idea. This is definitely military, and it's the logotype that fascinates me.'

  I looked on as he pointed to a circular area on the heel that had a tail on one side.

  'Plus you've got this area of raised diamonds down here and two holes, see?' He showed me. 'Those could be shoe grip holes for climbing trees.' He handed the photographs to me. 'This looks very familiar.'

  He went to a cabinet and opened its double doors, revealing rows of army boots on shelves. One by one he picked up boots and turned them over to look at the soles. Then he went to the second cabinet, opened its doors and started again. Toward the back he pulled out a boot with green canvas uppers, brown leather reinforcements and two brown leather straps with buckles at the top. He turned it over.

  'May I see the photographs again, please?'

  I held them close to the boot. The sole was black rubber with a variety of patterns. There were nail holes, stitching, wavy tread and pebble grain. A large oval at the ball of the foot was raised diamond tread with the shoe grip holes that were so clear in the photographs. On the heel was a wreath with a ribbon that seemed to match the tail barely visible in the snow and also on the side of Davila's head where we believed Gault's heel had struck him.

  'What can you tell me about this boot?' I said.

  He was turning it this way and that, looking. 'It's World War Two and was tested right here at Ft. Lee. A lot of tread patterns were developed and tested here.'

  'World War Two was a long time ago,' I said. 'How would someone have a boot like this now? Could someone even be wearing a boot like this now?'

  'Oh sure. These things hold up forever. You might find a pair in an Army Surplus store somewhere. Or it could have been in someone's family.'

  He returned the boot to its crowded locker, where I suspected it would be neglected again for a very long time. As we left the building and he locked it behind us, I stood on a sidewalk turning soft with snow. I looked up at skies solid gray and at the slow traffic on streets. People had turned their headlights on, and the day was still. I knew what kind of boots Gault had but wasn't sure it mattered.

  'Can I buy you coffee, my dear?' Dr. Gruber said, slipping a little. I grabbed his arm. 'Oh my, it's going to be bad again,' he said. 'They're predicting five inches.'

  'I've got to get back to the morgue,' I said, tucking his arm in mine. 'I can't thank you enough.'

  He patted my hand.

  'I want to describe a man to you and ask if you might have seen him here in the past.'

  He listened as I described Gault and his many shades of hair. I described his sharp features and eyes as pale blue as a malamute's. I mentioned his odd attire, and that it was becoming clear he enjoyed military clothing or designs suggestive of it, such as the boots and the long black leather coat he was seen wearing in New York.

  'Well, we get types like that, you know,' he said, reaching the museum's back door. 'But I'm afraid he doesn't ring a bell.'

  Snow frosted the top of Eisenhower's mobile home. My hair and hands were getting wet, and my feet were cold. 'How hard would it be to run down a name for me?' I said. 'I'd like to know if a Peyton Gault was ever in the Quartermaster Corps.'

  Dr. Gruber hesitated. 'I'm assuming you believe he was in the army.'

  'I'm not assuming anything,' I said. 'But I suspect he's old enough to have served in World War Two. The only other thing I can tell you is at one time he lived in Albany, Georgia, on a pecan plantation.'

  'Records can't be obtained unless you're a relative or have power of attorney. That would be St. Louis you'd call, and I'm sorry to say records A through J were destroyed in a fire in the early eighties.'

  'Great,' I said dismally.

  He hesitated again. 'We do have our own computerized list of veterans here at the museum.'

  I felt a surge of hope.

  'The veteran who wants to pull his record can do so for a twenty-dollar donation,' Dr. Gruber said.

  'What if you want to pull the record of someone else?'

  'Can't do it.'

  'Dr. Gruber' - I pushed wet hair back - 'please. We're talking about a man who has viciously murdered at least nine people. He will murder many more if we don't stop him.'

  He looked up at snow coming down. 'Why on earth are we having, this conversation out here, my dear?' he said. 'We're both going to catch pneumonia. I assume Peyton Gault is this awful person's father.'

  I kissed his cheek. 'You've got my pager number,' I said, walking off to find my car.

  As I navigated through the snowstorm, the radio was nonstop about the murders at the morgue. When I reached my office I found television vans and news crews surrounding the building, and I tried to figure out what to do. I needed to go inside.

  'The hell with it,' I muttered under my breath as I turned into the parking lot. Instantly, a school of reporters darted toward me as I got out of my black Mercedes. Cameras flashed as I walked with purpose, eyes straight ahead. Microphones appeared from every angle. People yelled my name as I hurried to unlock the back door and slam it shut behind me. I was alone in the quiet, empty bay, and I realized everyone else probably had gone home for the day because of the weather.

  As I suspected, the autopsy suite was locked, and when I took the elevator upstairs, the offices of my assistant chiefs were empty, and the receptionists and clerks were gone. I was completely alone on the second floor, and I started feeling frightened. When I entered my office and saw CAIN's dripping red name on my computer screen, I felt worse.

  'All right,' I said to myself. 'No one is here right now. There's no reason to be afraid.'

  I sat behind my desk and placed my .38 within reach.

  'What happened earlier is the past,' I went on. 'You've got to get control of yourself. You're decompensating.' I took another deep breath.

  I could not believe I was talking to myself. That wasn't in character, either, and I worried as I began dictating the morning's cases. The hearts, livers and lungs of the dead policemen were normal. Their arteries were normal. Their bones and brains and builds were normal.

  'Within normal
limits,' I said into the tape recorder. 'Within normal limits.' I said it again and again.

  It was only what had been done to them that was not normal, for Gault was not normal. He had no limits.

  At a quarter of five I called the American Express office and was fortunate that Brent had not left for the day.

  'You should head home soon,' I said. 'Roads are getting bad.'

  'I have a Range Rover.'

  'People in Richmond do not know how to drive in the snow,' I said.

  'Dr. Scarpetta, what can I help you with?' asked Brent, who was young and quite capable and had helped me with many problems in the past.

  'I need you to monitor my American Express bill,' I said. 'Can you do that?'

  He hesitated.

  'I want to be notified about every charge. As it comes in, I'm saying, versus waiting until I get the statement.'

  'Is there a problem?'

  'Yes,' I said. 'But I can't discuss it with you. All I need from you this moment is what I just requested.'

  'Hold on.'

  I heard keys click.

  'Okay. I've got your account number. You realize your card expires in February.'

  'Hopefully, I won't need to do this by then.'

  There are very few charges since October,' he said. 'Almost none, actually.'

  'I'm interested in the most recent charges.'

  'There are five for the twelfth through the twenty-first. A place in New York called Scaletta. Do you want the amounts?'

  'What's the average?'

  'Uh, average is, let's see, I guess about eighty bucks a pop. What is that, a restaurant?'

  'Keep going.'

  'Most recent.' He paused. 'Most recent is Richmond.'

  'When?' My pulse picked up.

  Two for Friday the twenty-second.'

  That was two days before Marino and I delivered blankets to the poor and Sheriff Santa shot Anthony Jones. I was shocked to think Gault might have been in town, too.

  'Please tell me about the Richmond charges,' I then said to Brent.

  'Two hundred and forty-three dollars at a gallery in Shockhoe Slip.'

  'A gallery?' I puzzled. 'You mean an art gallery?'

  Shockhoe Slip was just around the corner from my office. I couldn't believe Gault would be so brazen as to use my credit card there. Most merchants knew who I was.

  'Yes, an art gallery.' He gave me the name and address.

  'Can you tell what was purchased?'

  There was a pause. 'Dr. Scarpetta, are you certain there isn't a problem here that I can help you with?'

  'You are helping me. You're helping me a great deal.'

  'Let's see. No, it doesn't say what was purchased.

  I'm sorry.' He sounded more disappointed than I was.

  'And the other charge?'

  'To USAir. A plane ticket for five hundred and fourteen dollars. This was round trip from La Guardia to Richmond.'

  'Do we have dates?'

  'Only of the transaction. You'd have to get the actual departure and return dates from the airline. Here's the ticket number.'

  I asked him to contact me immediately if further charges showed up on the bank's computer. Glancing up at the clock, I flipped through the telephone directory. When I dialed the number of the gallery, the phone rang a long time before I gave up.

  Then I tried USAir and gave them the ticket number Brent had given me. Gault, using my American Express card, had flown out of La Guardia at 7:00 a.m. on Friday, December 22. He had returned on the 6:50 flight that night. I was dumbfounded. He was in Richmond an entire day. What did he do during that time besides visit an art gallery?

  'I'll be damned,' I muttered as I thought about New York laws.

  I wondered if Gault had come here to buy a gun, and I called the airline again.

  'Excuse me,' I said, identifying myself one more time. 'Is this Rita?'

  'Yes.'

  'We just spoke. This is Dr. Scarpetta.'

  'Yes, ma'am. What can I do for you?'

  'The ticket we were just discussing. Can you tell if bags were checked?'

  'Please hold on.' Keys rapidly clicked. 'Yes, ma'am. On the return flight to La Guardia one bag was checked.'

  'But not on the original flight out of La Guardia.'

  'No. No bags were checked on the La Guardia to Richmond leg of the trip.'

  Gault had served time in a penitentiary that once was located in this city. There was no telling who he knew, but I was certain if he wanted to buy a Glock nine-millimeter pistol in Richmond, he could. Criminals in New York commonly came here for guns. Gault may have placed the Glock in the bag he checked and the next night he shot Jane.

  What this suggested was premeditation, and that had never been part of the equation. All of us had supposed Jane was someone Gault chanced upon and decided to murder, much as he had his other victims.

  I made myself a mug of hot tea and tried to calm down. It was only the middle of the afternoon in Seattle, and I pulled my National Academy of Medical Examiners directory off a shelf. I flipped through it and found the name and number of Seattle's chief.

  'Dr. Menendez? It's Dr. Kay Scarpetta in Richmond,' I said when I got him on the phone.

  'Oh,' he said, surprised. 'How are you? Merry Christmas.'

  'Thank you. I'm sorry to bother you, but I need your help.'

  He hesitated. 'Is everything all right? You sound very stressed.'

  'I have a very difficult situation. A serial killer who is out of control.' I took a deep breath. 'One of the cases involves an unidentified young woman with a lot of gold foil restorations.'

  'That's most curious,' he said thoughtfully. 'You know, there are still some dentists out here who do those.'

  'That's why I'm calling. I need to talk to someone. Maybe the head of their organization.'

  'Would you like me to make some calls?'

  'What I'd like you to do is find out if by some small miracle their group is on a computer system. It sounds like a small and unusual society. They might be connected through E-mail or a bulletin board. Maybe something like Prodigy. Who knows? But I've got to have a way to get information to them instantly.'

  'I'll put several of my staffers on it immediately,' he said. 'What's the best way for me to reach you?'

  I gave him my numbers and hung up. I thought of Gault and the missing dark blue van. I wondered where he had gotten the body pouch he zipped Sheriff Brown in, and then I remembered. We always kept a new one in each van as a backup. So he had come here first and stolen the van. Then he had gone to Brown's house. I thumbed through the telephone directory again to see if the sheriff's residence was listed. It was not.

  I picked up the phone and called directory assistance. I asked for Lament Brown's number. The operator gave it to me and I dialed it to see what would happen.

  'I can't get to the phone right now because I'm out delivering presents in my sleigh . . .' the dead sheriff's voice sounded strong and healthy from his answering machine. 'Ho! Ho! Ho! Merrrrrrry Christmas!'

  Unnerved, I got up to go to the ladies' room, revolver in hand. I was walking around my office armed because Gault had ruined this place where I had always felt safe. I stopped in the hall and looked up and down it. Gray floors had a buildup of wax and walls were eggshell white. I listened for any sound. He had gotten in here once. He could get in again.

  Fear gripped me strongly, and when I washed my hands in the bathroom sink, they were trembling. I was perspiring and breathing hard. I walked swiftly to the other end of the corridor and looked out a window. I could see my car covered in snow, and just one van. The other van remained missing. I returned to my office and resumed dictating.

  A telephone rang somewhere and I started. The creaking of my chair made me jump. When I heard the elevator across the hall open, I reached for the revolver and sat very still, watching the doorway as my heart hammered. Quick, firm footsteps sounded, getting louder as they got nearer. I raised the gun, both hands on the rubber grips.

>   Lucy walked in.

  'Jesus,' I exclaimed, my finger on the trigger. 'Lucy, my God.' I set the gun on my desk. 'What are you doing here? Why didn't you call first? How did you get in?'

  She looked oddly at me and the .38. 'Jan drove me down, and I've got a key. You gave me a key to your building a long time ago. I did call, but you weren't here.'

  'What time did you call?' I was light-headed.

  'A couple hours ago. You almost shot me.'