Accidentally overdosed and fell in?'

'Maybe. But I doubt it. Like I said, she wasn't an addict. And another thing. Her medical insurance card was in her purse and I checked it out. She was a lefty.'

'So?'

'Harry, with the greatest will in the world, I can't see a left-handed person injecting herself in the side of the right buttock. It's possible but unlikely.'

He reached for a De Soutter vibratory saw.

'So you're saying she was stiffed by someone?'

'Harry, like you, I've spent years in the death business. You get a smell for it. Yes, I'd say someone wasted her.'

'Which means I've got a murder case on my hands.'

'I'd say so. Now I'm about to take off the skullcap, so if you're not too happy about that, I'd leave.'

'Excellent advice. I'll take it,' said Harry Parker, and he turned and left.

He found his way to Abruzzi's office. She was seated at r desk, working away.

'I hear you turned up ID on the Jane Doe,' he said. 'Let me see."

Itt's — an interesting one. She's a reporter for Truth magazine, named Katherine Johnson. I did a computer printout. Divorced, no children. Her husband was a guy called Blake Johnson, FBI'

Parker's mouth went dry. 'Blake Johnson?'

'That's right. You know him?'

'We've worked together. Except he isn't FBI anymore. He works for the President.'

Jesus, is this a hot one, Captain?'

'I'd say as hot as they come. You zip your mouth tight,Sergeant.'

'If you say so.'

'Jesus,' he said again. He looked at her. 'You wouldn't happen to have a bottle of anything here, would you, Sergeant?'

She hesitated, then took a half-bottle of Irish whiskey from a drawer in her desk. 'For medicinal purposes,' she said.