Margaret Truman's Experiment in Murder Read Free Page B

shrugged. “I never knew. It was always to some psychiatric convention or other. He’s been involved for years with a clinic in San Francisco. I really don’t know much about it and frankly never cared. I just knew that it took him away from home more than was healthy for the children.”
    â€œHe ever talk about his patients with you?”
    She shook her head. “That was strictly off-limits. I understood.”
    â€œA witness said the driver was a blond woman.”
    Her face was blank.
    â€œHe ever talk about girlfriends?”
    â€œNo, of course not. We’ve kept our private lives to ourselves since we separated and divorced.”
    â€œWe’re told that he had some sort of government connection.”
    â€œThat’s right. He had a security clearance and was a consultant to NIH, at least for a while. He also did work at GW, where he received his training.”
    â€œHe was busy.”
    â€œToo busy. What will happen with … with his body?” She choked up, then allowed the tears to flow.
    â€œThat’s up to the medical examiner, ma’am.” He handed her his card. “Again, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. We’ll leave you alone now. I’ll see what the plans are for disposal of and—” He forced a smile. “Call me and I’ll let you know.”
    She escorted them outside.
    â€œIs that Mercedes your only car?” one asked.
    â€œNo. I have another in the garage.”
    â€œMind if we see it?”
    â€œNo, of course not.”
    The taller of the two detectives peered through a row of small windows at the top of the garage doors and saw a white vehicle.
    â€œOpen the garage for us, please.”
    â€œAll right but … you aren’t thinking that—”
    â€œPlease open the door.”
    She did. The white car was another Mercedes. The detectives examined the front of the vehicle, which was perfectly intact.
    â€œMany thanks, ma’am,” they said as they got in their car and drove away.
    â€œNice lady,” the driver’s colleague said from the passenger seat.
    â€œMust not be easy married to a shrink.”
    â€œThe money’s good, though. Two Mercedes Benzes. Not bad.”
    â€œMy wife has a shrink friend, a psychologist. Whenever we’re with her I think she’s analyzing everything I say.”
    â€œShe probably is.”
    â€œMakes me uncomfortable.”
    They drove in silence until the driver said, “There’s more to this guy than meets the eye, huh? They send us to deliver the news instead of a Maryland cop. A Maryland cop would have been the one if it was routine.”
    â€œYou never know about people.”
    â€œEspecially shrinks. They’re all weird. You ever see one? I mean for a problem?”
    â€œNo. You?”
    â€œOnce, to help me get off cigarettes.”
    â€œIt worked. You don’t smoke.”
    â€œI don’t know whether the shrink helped or not. He tried hypnosis. That mumbo-jumbo didn’t work. I kicked the habit on my own, cold turkey.”
    His partner nodded. “Hypnosis? Lotta mumbo-jumbo. Shrinks. They can really screw you up. Let’s move, Harry. I’m taking the wife out to dinner tonight.”

 
    CHAPTER
    5
    The following day, Nicholas Tatum sipped cold tea from a Styrofoam cup that had rested on his desk since class commenced a little less than an hour ago. The classroom was filled to capacity, which it usually was when he taught his two-hour seminar on evaluating human behavior to aspiring attorneys enrolled in the George Washington Law School. He conducted the seminar only once each semester, and it had immediately become a favorite elective. Did students flock to it because they viewed the subject as important to their legal careers, or because it was a welcome respite from classes on torts and contracts and habeas corpus? It didn’t matter to Dr. Tatum, or “Nic” to his