It was Tuesday morning, and Nigel was feeling a tad overwhelmed. All the reports on the arsenic victims – the hair and nail samples, the liver samples, plus re-running the tox reports on the stomach contents for Stevie ... it was all a bit much. He had a good idea of where Stevie was going with the specific chemicals she had asked to be checked, but wasn't completely sure. And it wasn't like everyone was standing outside the lab doors waiting on results... indeed, his fellow ME's hadn't bothered him at all, giving him wide berth to work in peace. But he felt the pressure of "what ifs" ... what if there's another victim and he didn't work quickly enough....what if, what if, what if....

"Hey handsome, how's it goin'?," a voice called from the doorway. It was Stevie, finally checking in on Nigel.

Nigel turned and glanced over at Stevie. "As well as can be expected. I'm working as quickly as possible, but it's still slow."

Stevie walked over to where Nigel was busy with his computer equipment. She ran a finger along the counter. "Wow...all these buttons. I thought we had the latest stuff at my state's medical examiner's office, but jeez. Think, if there's time before I leave, you could let me play with your toys?"

Nigel grinned. He was enjoying having Stevie here. She was intelligent and pretty and feisty. He hated to think about her leaving. He would miss her jokes and her smile. "When are you thinking about flying south again, love?"

"Not immediately. I'd really like to stay and see this thing through. It just depends. My boss said I could take as long as needed. Things are a little slow in Chapel Hill. But I have other things back in North Carolina I need to attend to."

"A man?" Nigel asked, not sure if he really wanted an answer to that question.

"Ummmmm, no."

"Not a chance you could spend the rest of the summer in Boston?"

Stevie grinned at Nigel. "No, I'm afraid not. Besides doesn't it start snowing here sometime in August?" She hated cold weather, and Boston had more than its fair share.

Laughing, Nigel put his arm around her shoulders. "Not exactly August, more like October, November. However, I should have these reports ready by tomorrow. I've asked Garrett to schedule a meeting between our office, the police, and the DA tomorrow afternoon. Think after that we could maybe go grab some dinner and go to the Pogue?"

The mention of the reports was what immediately drew Stevie's attention, not the prospect of a date. "What do you know so far, Nige...tell me."

"No can do, lady fair. It's not conclusive yet."

"Just tell me what you've found as far as the chemical contents in the stomach...please."

Nigel was enjoying baiting Stevie. "Let's just say I don't think you're going to be surprised...." Beneath his arm, Nigel felt Stevie's shoulders relax and heard her blow out a sigh. "Well, that's good news, I think," she said. She pulled away and headed for the door. "I'll go tell Jordan. If the reports are in tomorrow, I guess I need to start thinking about heading home towards the end of the week."

"Stevie?"

"Yeah, Nige?"

"I hope you don't have to leave then."

Stevie smiled at Nigel. "Thanks....and by the way, I'd love dinner and drinks at the Pogue."

Nigel quickly turned back to his lab equipment, trying to hide from her the smile that threatened to split his face in two.

=====================================================

"Jordan," Stevie called as she reached her friend's office door. "Got a min... ooops, sorry." She had walked in on Woody and Jordan in mid-hug. "Guess I am definitely not your favorite person, Woody."

"You know, you're making a bad habit of doing that," said Woody, remembering that Stevie had also interrupted them at Jordan's apartment.

"Well, you're going to love me in a minute. Just talked to Nigel. The reports will be done soon and we're meeting tomorrow. Guess I need to plan to schedule a flight out towards the end of the week."

"I would wait until after the meeting," Jordan said. "You never know what Macy will do."

"So now I'm the unpredictable one?" asked Garrett from the doorway.

"I didn't say that..." Jordan began.

Garrett chuckled. "I take it you now know about the meeting. As far as flying out this week Stevie, I'd really like for you to stay a little longer. I've already talked to your boss, and she's willing to let you stay as long as needed, but alluded to the fact that there's an 'item' you need to attend to in North Carolina that may require you to come home as early as possible."

"Yeah, there is."

"We could make arrangements for that."

"I don't know, Garrett. A hotel may be kind of hard for weeks at a time."

This time Woody's curiosity was getting the better of him. "What is going on?"

Completely ignoring Woody, Jordan continued, "What about Dad's house? It's empty right now and he's not coming home anytime soon."

"Perfect," said Stevie, reaching for her pocketbook. "I'll get on the phone and make arrangements for her to fly up. I'll need to find somewhere for her to stay during the day, though."

"The daycare on the corner has a summer camp that really rocks – or so I've heard," said Garrett.

"I'll check into that this afternoon. Can I have a few hours off to get this together, Dr. Macy?"

"Take however long you need," said Garrett, pulling away from the doorway and heading back to his office.

Woody made an impatient sound in his throat. Stevie pulled the album out of her pocketbook and handed it to Woody. "That's who I've got to make arrangements for – Miss Katherine Elizabeth Murphy – my daughter."

Woody stared at the image of the child. Stevie was the same age as Jordan and she had started a family? He had heard no mention of a husband...no rings on Steve's fingers...he had a feeling he had missed out on a few details. "Cute..how old?"

"Steve said she's four going on thirty-two," said Jordan.

Woody looked puzzled.

"Just wait until you talk to her," Stevie said. "Then you'll understand."

==================================================================

The next afternoon, Rene Walcott, Woody, and medical examiners all gathered in the conference room. Nigel had the computer set up and pulled up pictures of all the victims' hair and nail samples. After showing the ridges in the nails and the lines in the hairs, he noted that both indicated high levels of arsenic in the system. The liver samples backed that up. "And if that wasn't bloody enough, take a look at the autopsy reports, both the initial ones and the ones we made last week." The reports had indicated that the internal organs were in advanced stages of deterioration that had nothing to do with normal decomposition.

"What does that mean?" Woody asked.

"It means," Stevie said, "that either one of two things happened. Either the victims ingested mass amounts of arsenic at few exposures, or had a fairly steady diet of arsenic over an extended period of time. My hunch is that the first victim, Henry, may have had light doses to begin with and then heavier ones when he didn't die when she wanted him to. Maybe even the second victim, James, too. Once she got her method of killing perfected, she would more than likely feed a steady amount to the victim over a period of time. The arsenic slowly causes the internal organs to literally fall apart – that's where the pain comes in from this type of poisoning. And since organ failure can mimic all kinds of illnesses, no one may have suspected they were slowly being murdered."

"You're still referring to the murderer as a 'she'," said Rene'. "Are you sure?"

"I'd bet a dollar to a doughnut hole it's a woman." Stevie turned to Woody. "You need to find some woman these folks have in common. And my guess it's an older lady, almost a mother-figure."

Woody fanned through his notes. "The main thing that all these men have in common is that they had contact with a homeless shelter at various times towards the end of their lives. Henry worked there as a handyman. Daniel was doing volunteer work there as part of his college program. The others stayed at the shelter."

"Nigel, what about the stomach contents?" inquired Garrett.

"Well, the list of chemicals that Stevie asked for -- pyrethrins, piperonyl, butoxide, butulcarbital, and 6-propylpiperonyl – were not present."

Stevie grinned. "What about borax?"

"There in heavy amounts."

"Hot dog!" Stevie exclaimed.

Everyone in the room looked confused. They had no idea why she was so happy about borax. Glancing around the room and noting the glazed looks in their eyes, Stevie went on to explain. "The absence of pyrethrins, piperonyl, butoxide, butulcarbital, and 6-propylpiperonyl indicates that this was not a typical poisoning. The presence of borax, however, does strongly back up the arsenic poisoning theory. Borax is often used with arsenic as a stabilizing agent to add shelf-life to the poison. Arsenic in itself cannot be purchased over the counter unless you're a chemist, an exterminator, or something similar, and even they rarely purchase it. Several years ago there was an over-the-counter ant poison that used arsenic, but that product was discontinued a while ago. What food showed up in the stomach, Nigel?"

"There was a great deal of garlic, Daniel had peanut butter, three had spaghetti," replied Nigel.

"That clinches it," said Stevie. "Whoever is doing this is putting it in their food. All of those food items could mask the taste of arsenic. So you are looking for a person who had access to these men's food, more than likely an older woman, say a cook or another shelter worker. She also would have to have access to the arsenic, probably either through an exterminator or having possession of that old ant killer."

Woody nodded. Stevie had just saved him hours of work.

"And Woody, one more thing," Stevie said.

"After you arrest the woman, check her employment history and make some calls to wherever else she may have worked. My guess is that she may have been doing this for a while."