Dead Certain

it’s a relatively short-acting drug. It works by temporarily paralyzing the long muscles of the body. Administered continuously through an IV, it causes respiratory arrest, but given in a single dose in an injection would probably only render the subject incapable.”
    “For how long?” I demanded, as the sickening realization of what had happened slowly began to dawn.
    “That would depend on how much was given, as well as the size of the person it was administered to.”
    “I understand all that, but what would be your best ballpark guess?”
    “Somewhere between thirty and ninety seconds.”
    “Just long enough to make it easy to stab her in exactly the right spot,” I declared bitterly, “and then leave her there to die without the murderer so much as getting blood on his shoes.”
     
    As soon as I got off the phone I called Joe Blades. At this point I didn’t care about HCC and Prescott Memorial Hospital, I didn’t even care if my mother never spoke to me again. I was determined to do what I could to help find out who’d murdered Claudia.
    I also needed to keep moving, if only to keep myself from dwelling on the horror of what had happened to her. Even as I dialed the number, all I could think of was her lying paralyzed on the floor of her own apartment watching as someone she trusted enough to let into the apartment fetched a knife from the block in order to stab her.
    I didn’t know if Dr. Gordon had already called Blades and let him know about the toxicology results, but it was clear he was expecting my call.
    We agreed to meet at a restaurant called Emperor’s Choice, a storefront in Chinatown that was convenient to the sixth district police station where he was assigned. Through the dim light of the restaurant I could make out two heads in the booth at the back of the restaurant, and my heart sank, thinking that I’d have to contend with Blades’s partner, Kowalczyk. But when I got back to the table, I was relieved to find Joe reliving the highlights of their most recent police league basketball game with Elliott.
    They were drinking Tsing Tao beer and eating hot scallion pancakes. I slid into the booth beside Elliott, grateful for the reassuring warmth of his thigh against mine. A waiter materialized, and I ordered myself a beer, but couldn’t stomach the thought of food. Elliott took my hand under the table and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
    “When Joe told me that you guys were meeting, I thought I’d come along and make sure he brought the rubber hoses.”
    “You just heard she was buying dinner and didn’t want to pass up a free meal,” Joe replied.
    “Have you brought Carlos in for questioning yet?” I asked. Usually I enjoyed listening to their gym-floor banter, but tonight I had no patience for it.
    “We picked him up at home this morning and brought him in,” replied Blades. “It doesn’t look like he’s our guy.”
    “Why not?” I demanded.
    “Somebody called in sick in his unit, and he ended up pulling a double shift last night.”
    “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” I pointed out. “Paramedics are like firemen. They come and go while they’re on. It’s not like they ride around on patrol. Did you check his log? Just because he was working doesn’t mean he couldn’t have come to the apartment—“
    “That’s why we’re pretty sure it’s not him,” reported Blades patiently. “He and his partner answered a call last night at seven-ten. A four-hundred-pound woman got wedged into her bathroom and couldn’t get out. Her neighbors heard her screaming for help and dialed 911, but by the time Carlos and his partner got there, she was having chest pains to boot. They weren’t able to get her stable and out of there until after midnight. The medical examiner puts the time of her death somewhere between nine and midnight, so our friend Carlos is off the hook.“
    “Shit.”
    “Why do you say that?” asked Elliott.
    “I was working on a theory, and I was starting to get attached to it,” I confessed. I went on to tell Joe about the postsurgical deaths at Prescott Memorial and my suspicion that Pavulon had been the agent used to cause them. I also told him about Mrs. Estrada and Claudia’s efforts to find a common denominator among the patients and the fact that her notes and backpack had disappeared from the apartment.
    “We had them check at the hospital,” reported Blades. “They didn’t find her backpack or anything like the notes you