Nick of Time (A Bug Man Novel) by Tim Downs Page B

Nick said. “Of course, you used to be FBI.”
    “Never heard of you when I was with the Bureau,” Yanuzzi said. “But I had a deputy a few months back; he was trying to clear up a couple of old cases and he read about you guys in some law enforcement journal.”
    “ Had a deputy? Then I take it he doesn’t work here anymore?”
    “No, he doesn’t.”
    “Any idea how I can get in touch with him?”
    “Any idea how I can get “That wouldn’t be easy.”
    “Why?”
    “He’s dead.”
    Nick paused. “He just died in the last few months?”
    “Back in December.”
    “Mind if I ask how?”
    “Mind if I ask why you want to know?”
    “C’mon, Sheriff, I can look it up in the local newspaper.”
    “Help yourself. You asked me.”
    “Fair enough,” Nick said. “I have a friend in Philadelphia— had a friend, I should say. He was murdered a few days ago.”
    “Sorry to hear it.”
    “Me too. My friend was also a colleague of mine—a forensic botanist. We were both members of Vidocq.”
    “What is it you do, Mr. Polchak?”
    “It’s Dr . Polchak, actually. I’m a forensic entomologist.”
    “You’re a bug man.”
    “That’s what they call me. I looked over my friend’s phone records from the last few months and I found quite a few calls to a number in this area code. I cross-checked the number with a list of law enforcement officials who presented cases to Vidocq in the last few months, and guess what I found?”
    “Your friend made phone calls to my deputy.”
    “No wonder you landed this job. It’s not unusual for a Vidocq member to stay in touch with a presenter after he visits—it happens whenever a member thinks he has something to contribute to the ongoing investigation.”
    “And your friend had something to contribute?”
    “He thought he did—he wrote to me and told me so. He thought I might be able to help out too, so he invited me to join him at the next Vidocq meeting—but when I showed up he wasn’t there.”
    “And you think your friend might have been murdered because of the cold case my deputy was working on?”
    “It’s quite a coincidence, don’t you think?”
    “I’d call it a possibility. So what is it you want from me?”
    “I want to see the evidence for the case your deputy was working on—notes, photographs, physical evidence, everything you’ve got.”
    Yanuzzi just looked at him for a moment. “You said you checked your friend’s phone records.”
    “That’s right.”
    “So Vidocq is looking into your friend’s murder?”
    “Not exactly,” Nick said. “Vidocq won’t consider a case until it’s at least two years old—until the local authorities have given up on it.”
    “Then you must be working with the Philadelphia police.”
    Nick hesitated. “We . . . have an understanding.”
    “Uh-huh. ’Cause those phone records you looked over would probably be considered case evidence, and I’m pretty sure Philly doesn’t make a habit of handing case evidence over to civilian personnel—and neither do I.”
    “Okay,” Nick said, “you got me. I’m not here with Vidocq and I’m not working with the Philadelphia police. This guy was a friend of mine, okay? A very old friend—and I want to make sure nothing gets overlooked.”
    “And you don’t think the boys in Philly are up to it?”
    “They have a way of . . . missing things.”
    “Like phone records?”
    Nick felt his face getting hot. “Look, I’m a forensic professional. I’ve consulted with law enforcement agencies all over the world—including the FBI. What can it hurt to let me take a look at that evidence? I mean, it’s a cold case, right? It’s just sitting in a box somewhere.”
    “And it’ll keep right on sitting there,” Yanuzzi said. “Sorry, Polchak, I appreciate your loyalty to your friend and all, but you can’t just walk in here and ask to see case evidence. It has to be an official request from another law enforcement agency—you oughta know