Chapter 44
‘Was this the first time you’d worked with Professor Doyle since your engagement?’ Doctor Lang asked.
‘I think it probably was,’ Poe replied. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘Because she seemed unusually harsh on you. I’m wondering if in her desire to be seen as impartial, she overcompensated.’
‘You’re talking about when I asked if there were any other injuries on Cornelius Green?’
‘I am.’
‘Then I haven’t described Estelle properly. She doesn’t suffer fools at the best of times and cutting into the body of a murder victim is not the best of times. If you don’t respect the science, she doesn’t respect you. I’ve seen her reduce her assistants to tears and I’ve seen her ban senior investigating officers from her post-mortems.’
‘But she was harsh on you.’
‘I’d asked a question.’
‘Surely asking questions is a step towards finding answers?’
Poe nodded. ‘Estelle encourages questions, but only when she’s finished her briefing. She talks police officers through her findings in a logical, linear manner. She uses accessible language and, because she needs you to understand the scientific sequence of events, she doesn’t like to be interrupted. I knew this and I asked a question anyway. If anything, she went easy on me.’
‘OK,’ Doctor Lang said. ‘I think I’m beginning to get a grip on her. Is she like this with you when she isn’t working?’
‘Absolutely not. The moment she steps out of the mortuary, the cold, logical scientist is put into a locked drawer. It’s me who can’t get my work/life balance right. When I’m working a murder, I’m always working it. Even when I’m not, if that makes sense.’
‘You think about it when you should be thinking about your friends and family.’
‘I do. Always have.’
‘Everyone needs downtime, Washington. Taking a break isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s a sign of strength. It’s an acknowledgement that the most powerful tool at your disposal,’ – she touched herself on the temple – ‘needs to be recharged. If it runs flat, it doesn’t work properly. Mood, cognitive functioning, even memory begins to suffer. And because of your nightmares, you’re not even getting the restorative power of sleep. I think you’re now operating on sheer willpower, and although this case is over, there’ll be others that require your undivided attention. There will be times when you have to work for thirty-six hours straight, and the only way you can do what you need to do, is to not do it when you don’t need to.’ She gestured at where they were and added, ‘Otherwise you might find yourself in a place like this. Estelle’s a doctor; I’m sure she’ll agree.’
‘Oh, I know she agrees,’ he said.
‘We have something we can work on then. Now, where were we?’
‘Estelle had finished telling us the killer had probably used a stun gun to get Cornelius Green up to the Lightning Tree.’
‘Was there anything else?’
‘Oh yes. She’d noticed something about Cornelius’s tattoos.’
‘Something important?’
‘It didn’t seem so at the time.’
‘And later?’
‘Everything, Doctor Lang,’ Poe said. ‘The tattoos were the key to everything.’