Emerald City Blues Read Online Free Page B

with a search warrant, arrest me here and now, or contact my lawyer to request a sworn deposition. And that is everything I have to s ay on the matter at this time."
    Sneer spat. "You play gam es with us and you'll lose, angel. I promise you that, by god."
    "Maddie," Malloy looked heavenward. Praying for patience, likely. " Please don't make this hard on us. We know you didn't do it. This isn't some kind of put-up. We just want your help solving a tough case. You yourself told me yesterday you knew Cooke socially, so I hope you'll do what's right for his sake even if you won't do it for ours. If you remember anything that might help us, leave a message for me down at the station. Dispatch can get it to me directly if it's urgent. Now, we're sorry to have troubled you." He cleared his throat and stepped toward the door, taking his cap out from under his arm and settling it in place with a practiced gesture. Neither mollified nor resigned, Sneer followed after him. His mouth was twisted in a sour line.
    I made no move, so Malloy sighed and opened the door to let himself out. Sneer fixed me with a look of pure vitriol. "Men come to see women all the time," he said venomously, "but not to see you, Miss Sheehan. You might try being with a man once, just to see how it feels." And with that parting shot he ducked through the doorway.
    My face was scarlet. With two swift steps I seized the door and slammed it shut as hard as I could. Bastard.

FIVE
    The sign read CLOSED. I knocked anyway.
    Mary Louise came to the door, saw who it was, and let me in. Her eyes were still noticeably red. "Oh, Miss Sheehan, it's been awful here these last two days, just awful." Her voice was wretched, hoarse and almost overwrought. "You don't know what it's been like, having to tell all the doctor's patients he was m- that had had passed on." Mary Louise put one wrinkled hand to her mouth for a moment and crossed herself with the other as we walked farther into the waiting room of Tommy Cooke's practice.
    "I know," I told her simply, putting a gentle hand on the older woman's shoulder. "I remember it was like that when my father passed. It was like everyone in the city had to drop by and express their condolences when all I wanted was for the whole world to stop." I gave her a sympathetic half-smile. She had known my father. Everyone had. "It must be so hard for you, having to deal with all this. Being Tommy's receptionist can't have been the easiest job in the best of times, and right now is hardly the best of times."
    "Oh, my dear, you don't even know the half of it. As bad as it has been breaking the news to some of Doctor Cooke's older patients - some of them were with Dr. Cooke's father's practice and saw Thomas grow up, you know - I've never wanted to be someplace else so much as when the police came to ask me questions about him. I thought for a while they suspected I was the murderer!"
    I shouldn't have been surprised. It was standard procedure in a murder investigation to visit the victim's place of business and interview his known associates. I imagined Lieutenant Sneer grilling poor Mary Louise and tried not to grind my teeth. "Oh, Mary Louise. I'm so sorry. That must have been terrible for you."
    "Oh my, yes. So many questions, and I'm afraid I wasn't much help. Almost everything I knew they could have learned just by reading his daily logs. Dr. Cooke kept records of all his patient visits, you know. So meticulous! I wonder sometimes how I ever could have kept track the way he did, but it was just his way. His father, rest his soul, was the same w ay." She crossed herself again.
    "Mary, did the police take Tommy's patient log book?" She looked up, surprised. "Yes, I'm looking into things a bit myself. I'd like to get to the bot tom of it if I can. For Tommy."
    Mary pursed her lips. "Dear, I don't mean to criticize, but you know I don't really hold with women being private investigators. The police are the ones to deal with this. What would you