Gilda jammed her hands beneath her armpits to keep them from shaking. Doc's request for her to meet him at the morgue that morning puzzled her, especially since Thayer and Fabio already sat on two plastic chairs outside his office.
"Miss Wright." Fabio looked up from his magazine. "Nice to see you again. I take it Doc called you too."
She fought the urge to hyperventilate. "Yeah. He wanted to see me about something."
Thayer, head still bowed and frown in place, glanced up.
"Us too." Fabio stretched his short legs and scratched at the growth of stubble on his chin. Since it was about the same length as Mick's, she guessed he hadn't shaved since Walter's murder either. "We've been sitting here for the last hour, waiting."
"Really? That's odd. He just called me ten minutes ago." She tapped his office door.
Thayer jolted upright. "Are you serious? He made us sit out here and wait for almost an hour, yet he just called you?"
"Yes, I did." Doc appeared in the doorway. "Do you want to debate my motives, or do you want to know why you're all here?"
Thayer barged into the room ahead of the others.
Fabio hung back and shrugged before he followed his partner.
"You and I need to have a chat." Doc grabbed Gilda's arm and lowered his voice. "Thayer gave me the coffee you thought was poisoned."
"You didn't drink it, did you?" Her eyes widened.
"No, but from the look on his face, I'm sure he'd want me to right now," Doc said. "You were right. There was a trace of cyanide. Not enough to kill you. Just enough to give you stomach cramps."
"Which is why I went to see you Friday. I've had cramps for the past couple weeks." She glanced back into his office at Thayer, who sat with his arms folded across his chest, while Fabio toyed with Doc's Newton's cradle. "You don't think the two are related, do you? Maybe Xavier wanted me out of the way."
"It's possible." Doc nudged his glasses up his nose.
"But why would he do that?" she asked. "Do you think he killed Walter, or does he think I did?"
"Sorry. I can't help you with Xavier's motives." Doc's reply was punctuated by a curse from Thayer before the metal balls on the Newton's cradle went silent. "I do think I can help you with Fabio and Thayer, however. Shall we?"
She skirted around Thayer and Fabio to sit across the heavy pine desk from Doc. All the questions that went through her head when she took her run earlier were lost to nerves.
"You all want to know about Walter's autopsy," Doc said. "I'm aware this is privileged information, and my duty is to both the police and the victim's family."
Thayer shot Gilda a nasty glare. "Then maybe someone who is neither of those should leave the room."
Doc cleared his throat. "Gilda has a vested interest in this case, and I'd like her to stay."
"I do?" she asked. "I just hoped you'd say it was a crime of passion or a fight gone bad. I don't want to think someone actually set out to murder Walter. If you tell me it was an accident or self-defense, I'll back off."
Doc sat back and toyed with his pen while he gazed out the window. "From everything I saw during the autopsy, the katana attack came after the fist fight."
"A fist fight? Like a brawl, or are we talking karate moves like they do in the school?" Thayer asked. "Is that why he was so bruised?"
Doc looked amused. "From the bruising, I can tell they were precise, well-placed strikes. A black belt could be that exact."
Gilda shifted in her seat. "Would the blows have been enough to knock him out?"
"If you're asking if he took any direct hits to the head, the answer is no," Doc said. "At least nothing that left a mark or could have incapacitated him."
She closed her eyes. "Then someone must have poisoned him."
"I checked him for known poisons and found nothing," Doc said. "But then I—"
"Then maybe the killer was just stronger and faster," Fabio said. "There are a lot of different pressure points martial artists learn to aim for."
"Which is exactly why Gilda is here." Doc turned to her.
She hesitated. "I don't really know all the pressure points. I'm still learning all that. I do know the only people stronger and faster than Walter in our school are a couple of the other black belts."
"Who?" Thayer asked.
"Mick or Razi in particular. Both of them have extensive martial arts backgrounds. Xavier doesn't have the power, but he's big on poisons. Erik might be able to do some serious damage if he was mad enough." She scowled, unable to stop talking. "It has to be someone familiar with both the school and Walter's schedule."
"Like you or anyone else at the Yoshida school," Thayer said.
Fabio whistled. "That's a lot of suspects."
"What if you exclude kids and people who couldn't physically carry out the crime?" Doc asked. "Or someone who didn't have access to—"
Thayer jumped in. "Then we're back to our four main suspects."
"Unless the killer had some help," Doc said.
"Yeah, from someone who either lured Walter to the back room or let in the killer." Thayer's gaze met Gilda's. "What's wrong with you?"
She folded her arms across her chest and turned to Doc. "You found something else."
Fabio raised one eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"
"She's known me for forever, and she's right. Walter was poisoned, but with something we don't normally test for." Doc hesitated. "Cobra venom."
Gilda's heart raced. Cobra venom was far more exotic than she expected and not something she knew much about. She was willing to bet Xavier did. If he and Erik worked together, the two of them could easily…
"Cobra venom? That seems like a long shot, doesn't it?" Thayer asked. "I didn't think you'd have the capabilities to test for something so exotic."
"Normally, no, but I called in a favor." Doc flipped a pen across the backs of his fingers. "I never would've tested for it except I was acting on a tip."
Fabio shifted in his seat. "A tip? You mean a phone call or something someone said?"
"Someone pointed out Razi had recently been overseas to visit family, Mick was in the Dominican last week, and Walter's wife went to Asia not very long ago," Doc said. "I wasn't convinced at first, but when I did some online research, I learned a couple curious things."
"Like what?" Thayer asked.
"Cobra venom is a neurotoxin, which means it paralyzes the nerve centers that control breathing and heart rates. Walter would've become slow and drunk, which made him vulnerable to attack from anyone. Even someone Gilda's size could've beaten and killed him if she were so inclined." Doc shrugged. "I guess this means you gentlemen have some work to do."
Direct and dismissive. Both men took the hint and left. When Thayer paused in the doorway and opened his mouth, Fabio grabbed his collar and dragged him away.
Doc's lips tightened into a thin, white line. "Something tells me you'd better watch your back, my dear. Keep me in the loop, okay? Here's my cell number. Call if you need backup."
"Backup?" She laughed. "You make me sound like some big-league detective."
"We both know you're really more of a nosy Nelly, but I am concerned for your safety." He moved around the desk and stood in front of her. "If there is a murderer in your midst, and you keep sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, there's a good chance someone will try to chop that nose off your face."
"You think someone will try to kill me if I ask too many questions?" A chill ran through her core.
"I brought you into this world, Gilda, and I don't want to watch them bury you," Doc said. "Promise me you'll be careful."
She shuffled out of the hospital, heart pulsing somewhere near the pit of her stomach. Maybe it would be best to let Fabio and Thayer do their jobs so she could get on with her life. Why worry about finding a killer when Thayer and Fabio were far more qualified and had better resources to do the investigating?
On her way home, she pushed open the door to Café Beanz. She planned to pick up a coffee and a muffin then go home and make sure her uniform was clean for training with Yoshida that evening. His classes were tough, but she'd learned to focus on everything except any pain incurred until she got home and collapsed into the bathtub.
Yoshida. He lived in another town and visited so occasionally she'd never even thought of him as a suspect.
Gilda took a deep breath. There she went again. She'd promised Doc she'd keep her nose out of things and let the police do the dirty work. No more investigating. If she didn't honor her promise, she'd end up under his scalpel before long. She paid for her breakfast and scurried toward the school to clean up before the workshop.
Gary stepped out of Happy Harvey's Hangover Hut and waved. He was tenacious and should have been a cop alongside her father.