Page 84 of Two Kinds of Stranger

‘You’re what?’

The two cops in uniform strode past me. Elly was still in the conference room with my team. Harry and Bloch got up and stood in the doorway, blocking the cops.

‘Stand aside, please,’ said one of the cops.

‘Son, you’d better back away until we understand what’s happening here,’ said Harry.

‘We saidstand aside, grampa,’ repeated the cop.

‘You put one hand on him, and I’ll hurt you,’ said Bloch.

Both cops took a step back. Bloch didn’t mean it as a threat. It was just a statement of fact. One of the officers grabbed the radio on his stab vest and squeezed.

‘Four-oh-two to dispatch, we need another unit at Flynn and Brooks to deal with a hostile. . .’

‘Dispatch to four-oh-two, identify the hostile,’came the reply from the radio.

‘It’s Bloch,’ said the cop.

‘Four-oh-two from dispatch, DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT engage Bloch. Sending three additional units to your location asap.’

‘Only three more units? That’s kind of insulting,’ said Bloch.

‘Wait! Everybody take a second,’ I said. ‘Sacks, tell me what the hell is happening here. I don’t want half a dozen cops bleeding on my floor.’

‘Two words, Flynn,’ said Sacks. ‘NYPD standard detective procedure. Your client poisoned her husband and best friend. When the suspect is charged with multiple homicide due to poisoning, we look at all similar causes of death from those in the suspect’s immediate family circle. Standard procedure. We got a hit. Yesterday, we got a court order to exhume the body of Stewart Yorke. He died of a cardiac arrest four years ago. The medical examiner just found traces of tetrahydrozoline in his liver.’

I looked through the glass of the conference room.

Elly had heard every word Sacks had just said.

She buried her face in her hands and collapsed to the floor.

Sacks said, ‘Your client is going back to jail. And, unless Bloch steps aside, she’s going with her.’

‘Who the hell is Stewart Yorke?’ I asked.

Sacks smiled grimly, said, ‘He was your client’s father.’

29

Eddie

‘We’ve got you.’

That’s what I said to Elly as Detective Bill Sacks followed her and the two uniformed cops out of my office. She was in handcuffs. White with shock. The two cops were practically holding her upright. I told her not to say a word to the cops, but I didn’t think she could formulate speech, even if she had wanted to. She was in shock.

Whatever sliver of fight was left in Elly Parker had been taken from her.

I don’t know if she heard me. She hadn’t spoken a word since Sacks read her the Miranda warning in my conference room. She had passed out a few minutes before that. I didn’t blame her. There are only so many punches anyone can take and for the past few days Elly had been bleeding on the ropes. This one, the arrest for the murder of her father–this was the knockout.

Life sometimes feels like a mountain falling on top of you.

It felt as if Everest was toppling over onto Elly Parker’s head.

‘We’ve got you.’

Those words felt hollow even as they passed my lips.