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Patricia Cornwell is the Gold Dagger and Edgar Award winning author whose international bestsellers include Black Notice, Point of Origin, Unnatural Exposure, Cause of Death, From Potter's Field, The Body Farm, Cruel And Unusual, All That Remains, Body Of Evidence, Postmortem and the non-Scarpetta novels Hornet's Nest and Southern Cross.  Cornwell is the author also of the biography of Ruth, A Portrait, The Story Of Ruth Bell Graham; a childeren's book, Life's Little Fable; and a cookbook, Scarpetta's Winter Table.  She divides her time between Richmond, Virginia, and New York.

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The Last Precinct

Random House Large Print Publishing

Chapter One

I KNOW FROM LUCY'S VOICE THAT SHE IS SCARED.Rarely is my brilliant, forceful, helicopter-piloting, fitness-obsessed,federal-law-enforcement-agent niece scared.

    "I feel really bad," she continues to repeat herself over the phone asMarino maintains his position on my bed and I pace.

    "You shouldn't," I tell her. "The police don't want anybody here, andbelieve me, you don't want to be here. I guess you're staying with Jo andthat's good," I say this to her as if it makes no difference to me, as if itdoesn't bother me that she is not here and I haven't seen her all day. Itdoes make a difference. It does bother me. But it is my old habit to givepeople an out. I don't like to be rejected, especially by Lucy Farinelli,whom I have raised like a daughter.

    She hesitates before answering. "Actually, I'm downtown at theJefferson."

    I try to make sense of this. The Jefferson is the grandest hotel in thecity, and I don't know why she would go to a hotel at all, much less anelegant, expensive one. Tears sting my eyes and I force them back, clearingmy throat, shoving down hurt. "Oh," is all I say. "Well, that's good. Iguess Jo's with you at the hotel, then."

    "No, with her family. Look, I just checked in. I've got a room for you.Why don't I come get you?"

    "A hotel's probably not a good idea right now." She thought of me andwants me with her. I feel a little better. "Anna's asked me to stay withher. In light of everything, I think it's best for me to go on to her house.She's invited you, too. But I guess you're settled."

    "How did Anna know?" Lucy inquires. "She hear about it on thenews?"

    Since the attempt on my life happened at a very late hour, it won'tbe in the newspapers until tomorrow morning. But I expect there hasbeen a storm of news breaks over the radio and on television. I don't knowhow Anna knew, now that I think about it. Lucy says she needs to stayput but will try to drop by later tonight. We hang up.

    "The media finds out you're in a hotel, that's all you need. They'll bebehind every bush," Marino says with a hard frown, looking like hell."Where's Lucy staying?"

    I repeat what she told me and almost wish I hadn't talked to her. Allit did was make me feel worse. Trapped, I feel trapped, as if I am insidea diving bell a thousand feet under the sea, detached, light-headed, theworld beyond me suddenly unrecognizable and surreal. I am numb yetevery nerve is on fire.

    "The Jefferson?" Marino is saying. "You gotta be kidding! She win thelottery or something? She not worried about the media finding her, too?What the shit's gotten into her?"

    I resume packing. I can't answer his questions. I am so tired of questions.

    "And she ain't at Jo's house. Huh," he goes on, "that's interesting.Huh. Never thought that would last." He yawns loudly and rubs histhick-featured, stubbly face as he watches me drape suits over a chair,continuing to pick out clothes for the office. To give Marino credit, hehas tried to be even-tempered, even considerate, since I got home fromthe hospital. Decent behavior is difficult for him given the best of circumstances,which certainly are not the ones he finds himself in at present.He is strung out, sleep-deprived and fueled by caffeine and junkfood, and I won't allow him to smoke inside my house. It was simply amatter of time before his self-control began to erode and he stepped backinto his rude, big-mouthed character. I witness the metamorphosis andam strangely relieved by it. I am desperate for things familiar, no matterhow unpleasant. Marino starts talking about what Lucy did last nightwhen she pulled up in front of the house and discovered Jean-BaptisteChandonne and me in my snowy front yard.

    "Hey, it's not that I blame her for wanting to blow the squirrel's brainsout," Marino gives me his commentary. "But that's where your training'sgot to come in. Don't matter if it's your aunt or your kid involved, yougot to do what you're trained to do, and she didn't. She sure as hell didn't.What she did was go ape-shit."

    "I've seen you go ape-shit a few times in your life," I remind him.

    "Well, it's my personal opinion they never should have thrown herinto that undercover work down there in Miami." Lucy is assigned tothe Miami field office and is here for the holidays, among other reasons."Sometimes people get too close to the bad guys and start identifyingwith them. Lucy's in a kill mode. She's gotten trigger-happy, Doc."

    "That's not fair." I realize I have packed too many pairs of shoes. "Tellme what you would have done if you'd gotten to my house first insteadof her." I stop what I am doing and look at him.

    "At least take a nanosecond to assess the situation before I went inthere and put a gun to the asshole's head. Shit. The guy was so fuckedup he couldn't even see what he was doing. He's screaming bloody murderbecause he's got this chemical shit you threw in his eyes. He wasn'tarmed by this point. He wasn't going to be hurting nobody. That was obviousright away. And it was obvious you was hurt, too. So if it had beenme, I'd called for an ambulance, and Lucy didn't think to even do that.She's a wild card, Doc. And no, I didn't want her in the house with allthis going on. That's why we interviewed her down at the station, got herstatements in a neutral place to get her calmed down."

    "I don't consider an interrogation room a neutral place," I reply.

    "Well, being inside the house where your Aunt Kay almost gotwhacked ain't exactly neutral, either."

    I don't disagree with him, but sarcasm is poisoning his tone. I beginto resent it.

    "All the same, I got to tell you I've got a really bad feeling about herbeing alone in a hotel right now," he adds, rubbing his face again, andno matter what he says to the contrary, he thinks the world of my nieceand would do anything for her. He has known her since she was ten, andhe introduced her to trucks and big engines and guns and all sorts of so-calledmanly interests that he now criticizes her for having in her life. "Imight just check on the little shit after I drop you off at Anna's. Not thatanybody seems to care about my bad feelings," he jumps back severalthoughts. "Like Jay Talley. Of course, it ain't my business. The self-centeredbastard."

    "He waited with me the entire time at the hospital," I defend Jay yetone more time, deflecting Marino's naked jealousy. Jay is ATF's Interpolliaison. I don't know him very well but slept with him in Paris four daysago. "And I was there thirteen or fourteen hours," I go on as Marino practicallyrolls his eyes. "I don't call that self-centered."

    "Jesus!" Marino exclaims. "Where'd you hear that fairy tale?" His eyesburn with resentment. He despises Jay and did the first time he ever laideyes on him in France. "I can't believe it. He lets you think he was atthe hospital all that time? He didn't wait for you! That's total bullshit.He took you there on his fucking white horse and came right back here.Then he called to see when you was going to be ready to check out andslithered back to the hospital...