Scarpetta

- - Scarpetta.

We got us another one.

Okay. I'm on my way.

Hey, Doc. This here is the husband, Matt Petersen.

Is this sort of evasion what you envision for the new Scarpetta regime?

Did you call the attorney of the Commonwealth?

- Dr. Scarpetta. - Mr. Boltz.

Someone tried to remotely break into your computer

- and look up the Petersen case. - What? I've been hacked?

How, uh, does Lori Petersen affect your profile?

Rape is no longer the motive. Murder is.

Cho found partials on the wife's body, same glitter slime

on her as the rest of the vics.

I know you wanted this job, Dr. Reddy, so you and I are gonna have to

find a way to live together.

- Scarpetta. - There's been a murder.

At Daingerfield, on the train tracks.

Gwen Hainey, 33.

Biomedical engineer at Thor Labs.

Wow. I didn't expect to see you both here. Dr. Reddy. Maggie.

This looks like a skin graft.

I didn't notice it during the autopsy,

but now she's decomposing.

Boyfriend, this Jinx Slater.

You know you can't tell your wife any of this, right?

Lu, I'm gonna need you to find somebody else when you have the time.

Name is Jinx Slater. Long-time boyfriend of this Gwen Hainey we found

murdered on the railroad tracks.

Ma.

Your sister's doing her homework.

She's always doing her homework.

Nothing can stop her from doing her homework.

You know none of that's gonna matter when you grow up, right?

You only say that 'cause you're dumb.

Hey, I'd rather be dumb and cute than some kind of genius dorkasaurus.

- What is he, a taxi driver? -

Well, Mama says he's not a gentleman.

Your mama forgets what it is to be young.

- Good night, Pop. - Ciao, bella.

Not too late.

- -

She's just finished the 23rd book in her Dot the Dorkasaurus series.

Please welcome to the show Dorothy Farinelli.

Thank you.

And as my father, Kay Scarpetta, would say, buongiorno, Chicago.

- - I love that.

Tell me, what does it feel like to be the author of over 20 books?

It's... I mean, really, Staci, that is...

seems very surreal to me. That's a big number.

The new book, Dot: It's Not Easy Being an Only Child,

is number 23 in the Dot series.

What made you want to write about an only child now?

- Oh, well, it's interesting because-- - What's going on?

- Oh, oh, look. - Oh, my--

- Look. Look. - What the fuck is that?

What are you doing?

- Are you doing an interview? - That's so fun.

That's my sister, um, getting her morning coffee.

So, I'm not an only child.

She's the chief medical examiner of the Commonwealth.

And the truth is, we're living together.

Oh. I... I don't know that I could live with my sister, love her as I do.

Oh, it's-it's temporary.

Yes, it's just temporary, but my daughter is here, too,

so it's family time all the time, for better, for worse.

Aw. What is your daughter's absolute favorite book in the series?

You know...

You-- Oh... Wow.

I-I-I don't know which one is her favorite,

but she's read them all, obviously. Um...

But you can buy them all on Amazon, with 1-Click.

You've got to be kidding me.

Who does a live interview-- come on--

in someone else's living room

in the morning and not tell them?

Uh, she mentioned it last night.

- She did? - Mm-hmm.

I walked on camera looking like-- I mean, I-I was, like, what-what are you d--

Anyway, I didn't hear her, so...

I don't...

All I know is, for any of this to work, one of us is...

- gonna have to change. - Well, that would have to be her.

Yes, it would.

You remember, back in the day, when you used to sometimes help me shave?

- Mm-hmm. - I liked that.

You want me to do it?

Mm.

You smell good. You always smell so good.

Oh...

You all right?

I just have to go to work. I can't do this now.

- Kay. - Yeah?

Is it all right?

Yes, I'm fine. It's-it's... it's this case.

- It's just not like you. - Mm-hmm.

I know. I have to go.

Yama Matthew Peter. You think he's ditched the acting,

or is this his greatest role yet?

Cult guru veggie grower.

I see cult leader more than I see farmer.

Whatever it is waiting for us up there, we better be prepared.

Well, it's quite possible that Gwen was a spy

and Petersen has nothing to do with this.

Yeah, with her-her 3D bionic leg and her donkey heart?

The DNA on the skin graft was hers, so it was likely biosynthetic.

See, now, why can't it just be bio-bio?

Because the decomp is all wrong,

which is actually good news for us because if...

if Gwen was in deep at Thor and she was selling secrets to

God knows fucking who, then...

Petersen was just a coincidence and...

we don't have anything to worry about.

I did think it was him back then.

But you-you proved me wrong, right?

Yeah, well, you need to be wrong. I need to be right.

Because, I mean,

if he really did have something to do with this, then...

Gwen's death is on me.

- -

Hey, Luce.

Do you think you can stay off the computer today?

Because of the hack and all?

If I had hacked your work computer, Auntie Kay, no one would ever know.

- Hello? - Lulu!

- Guess where I am. - Oh. Hi, mom.

- - Hey, I need to... I need to talk to her.

- I'm gonna pick that up in the bedroom. - I am in

the cutest little tiki bar in Hawaii.

Where?

Hey, Luce, sweetie, can you hang up the phone? I need to talk to your mom.

- Okay. Bye, Mom. - Bye, Lulu.

Hey, you be a good girl for your auntie.

- - You two having fun?

Are you fucking kidding me?

Oh, I guess she told you the news.

What were you thinking telling her you got remarried over the phone?

How else was I supposed to tell her? I'm on a fucking island in Hawaii.

Uh, she's 11. That is a kid,

which is easy to forget when you want to deny all responsibility for her,

but you don't tell your child you got remarried

over the phone when you're far away on your honeymoon.

Was I supposed to lie to her?

- 'Cause that's not me, Kay. - No.

I'm not gonna lie to my kid

to make everyone else feel more comfortable.

No, you should've told me first. I could've softened the blow.

I got married. I'm not going

to the electric chair.

Was she that upset?

What do you think? Her whole life just changed in an instant.

I think you're upset

and you're making it about Lucy. I mean,

- this is not her first stepfather. - That's-that's your def--

Are you serious right now, Dorothy? That's your defense?

That she's had multiple stepfathers?

Okay, I, um, I've just started the biggest job of my life.

There is a serial murderer on the loose

- who-who rapes and tortures women. -

I, uh, have till Friday

to catch him before he kills again.

I don't have time to be a mother to your kid.

Which is why, incidentally, I-I actually

don't have a fucking kid.

Is the nanny I'm paying for still there?

Oh, come on.

This is not about money, and you know it.

No, it's about you having time with your niece.

Excuse me for thinking that you might enjoy spending time

with an actual living person.

You know, in the future, I'll remember

you're only really comfortable with the dead.

- - Fuck you.

- Hey, Dr. Scarpetta. - Abby.

I-I can't talk to you,

and I can't have a reporter staked out by my car at my place of work.

It's-it's not about the case.

I just wanted to, um, ask you something.

It's personal.

Abby, that's worse.

I'm sorry.

I'm a reporter, not the devil, for Christ's sake.

Detergent.