Chromosome 6

“A complete strikeout,” Jack said. “Have Bart give me a call as soon as he comes in. We have to go back and retry all the transplant centers in this country now that we have a name.”

“If Bart’s not in by the time I leave, I’ll put a note on his desk,” Janice said.

Jack whistled as he walked through communications on his way to the ID room. He could taste the coffee already while dreaming of the euphoria that the first cup of the day always gave him. But when he arrived he could see he was too early. Vi

“Hurry up with that coffee,” Jack said, as he dropped his heavy package onto the metal desk Vi

Vi

Vi

Jack sat down to read the article. As usual, it was written in a sarcastic bent with the implication that the city’s medical examiners were bunglers. Jack thought it was interesting that while the journalist had had enough information to write the article, he didn’t appear to know that the body had been headless and handless in a deliberate attempt to conceal its identity. Nor did it mention anything about the shotgun wound to its right upper quadrant.

After finishing with the coffee preparation, Vi

“You see this article?” Jack asked, slapping the front page.

“Yeah, I seen it,” Vi

Jack resisted the temptation to correct his English. Instead he said: “Did it surprise you? I mean, when we did the autopsy yesterday, did it ever cross your mind it might have been the missing Franconi?”

“No, why should it?” Vi

“I’m not saying it should,” Jack said. “I’m just asking if it did.”

“No,” Vi

Jack stood up, pushed Vi

“At least I’m not a cheapskate,” Vi

Jack went to the coffeemaker and poured himself a brimming cup. He took it over to the scheduling desk. While sipping contentedly, he went through the multitude of Franconi’s hospital admissions. On his first perusal of the material, he just wanted the basics, so he read each discharge summary page. As Janice had already told him, the admissions were mostly due to liver problems starting from a bout of hepatitis he contracted in Naples, Italy.

Laurie arrived next. Before she even had her coat off, she asked Jack if he’d seen the paper or heard the morning news. Jack told her he’d seen the Post.

“Was it your doing?” Laurie asked, as she folded her coat and put it on a chair.

“What are you talking about?”

“The leak that we tentatively identified Franconi with your floater,” Laurie said.

Jack gave a little laugh of disbelief. “I’m surprised you’d even ask. Why would I do such a thing?”

“I don’t know, except you were so excited about it last night,” Laurie said. “But I didn’t mean any offense. I was just surprised to see it in the news so quickly.”

“You and me both,” Jack said. “Maybe it was Lou.”

“I think that would surprise me even more than you,” Laurie said.

“Why me?” Jack said. He sounded hurt.

“Last year you leaked the plague story,” Laurie said.

“That was a completely different situation,” Jack said defensively. “That was to save people.”

“Well, don’t get mad,” Laurie said. To change the subject she asked: “What kind of cases do we have for today?”

“I didn’t look,” Jack admitted. “But the pile is small and I have a request. If possible, I’d like to have a paper day or really a research day.”

Laurie bent over and counted the autopsy folders. “Only ten cases; no problem,” she said. “I think I’ll only do one myself. Now that Franconi’s body is back, I’m even more interested to find out how it left here in the first place. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I believe it had to have been an inside job in some form or fashion.”

There was a splashing sound followed by loud cursing. Both Laurie and Jack looked over at Vi

“Watch out for Vi

“Are you all right, Vi

“I’m okay,” Vi

“I’m a little confused,” Jack said to Laurie. “Why does Franconi’s return make you more interested in his disappearance?”

“Mainly because of what you found during the autopsy,” Laurie said. “At first I thought that whoever stole the body had done it out of pure spite, like the killer wanted to deny the man a proper funeral, something like that. But now it seems that the body was taken to destroy the liver. That’s weird. Initially I thought that solving the riddle of how the body disappeared was simply a challenge. Now I think if I can figure out how the body disappeared, we might be able to find out who did it.”

“I’m begi

“Exactly,” Laurie said. “The ‘how’ will lead to the ‘who,’ and the ‘who’ will explain the ‘why.’ ”

“And you think someone who works here is involved,” Jack said.

“I’m afraid I do,” Laurie said. “I don’t see how they could have pulled it off without someone on the inside. But I still have no clue how it happened.”

After his call to Siegfried, Raymond’s brain had finally succumbed to the high levels of hypnotic medication circulating in his bloodstream from the two sleeping pills. He slept soundly through the remaining early hours. The next thing he was aware of was Darlene opening the curtains to let in the daylight. It was almost eight o’clock, the time he’d asked to be awakened.

“Feel better, dear?” Darlene asked. She made Raymond sit forward so she could fluff up his pillow.

“I do,” Raymond admitted, although his mind was fuzzy from the sleeping pills.

“I even made you your favorite breakfast,” Darlene said. She went over to the bureau and lifted a wicker tray. She carried it over to the bed and placed it across Raymond’s lap.

Raymond’s eyes traveled around the tray. There was fresh-squeezed orange juice, two strips of bacon, a single-egg omelette, toast, and fresh coffee. In a side pocket was the morning paper.

“How’s that?” Darlene asked proudly.

“Perfect,” Raymond said. He reached up and gave her a kiss.

“Let me know when you want more coffee,” Darlene said. Then she left the room.

With childlike pleasure Raymond buttered his toast and sipped his orange juice. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing quite so wonderful as the smell of coffee and bacon in the morning.

Taking a bite of both bacon and omelette at the same time to savor the combined tastes, Raymond lifted the paper, opened it, and glanced at the headlines.