The Greatest Lie Part 5

The vision of my lovely, lively Daylene buried alone, un-mourned, and as an anonymous male at first devastated me, and then energized me with rage. "What’s the matter?" Finch inquired. In my trial interview for the Transgendered Sex Workers project, I had given him an edited version of my interlude with Daylene, emphasizing her role as the paradigm and inspiration of the project, rather than as a lost lover. Finch understood immediately, and was horrified. He suggested, with academic objectivity, that I add a new section of questions to our interviews: the degree to which the subjects had been subjected to discrimination or abuse by the police. God, if only you knew! I thought to myself.

I phoned Keyes, and he picked up his line. "Keyes here."

"This is Alex Rios. I'm the one who gave you the report on the Daylene Doe murder. I have a question about the case."

"In this business, we ask the questions. I've got nothing to tell you on a pending investigation."

"I'm not asking about your investigation. I'm calling about Daylene's remains. Did you tell the morgue not to call me after the family didn't claim her? You promised that you would notify at the number I gave you."

"Things changed. After investigating, I determined you were not an appropriate person to receive a secondary disposition of the remains."

"You mean you were investigating me, and not who murdered Daylene? That's disgusting."

"It didn't take much investigating to figure that you're one of her trannie streetwalker friends. That makes you part of the problem, not part of the solution, doesn't it. You'll be lucky we don't charge you. So don't call us, we'll call you. Get it?"

"Yeah, I got it," I said, hanging up.

I burned with rage and the desire for revenge against Keyes, and I desperately wanted to make it up to Daylene. A plan formed in my mind.

"Professor Finch, don't you think that this project would benefit from a little publicity on the street?"