Michael Baden - Remains Silent

“I need your help,” he told her.

“Of course.”

“Got any X-ray film? A new box, unopened?”

“A whole cabinet full.”

“Good. And bring me a fresh slide, would you?”

Amy came down moments later. She was not yet thirty, he guessed, but there were already lines around her eyes. Too much staring into microscopes. He put the humerus on the new cassette and asked Amy to change the settings on the X-ray machine to be more penetrating. He went out of the X-ray room and examined his other specimens, which gave her a chance to take the X-ray, then returned and took the cassette into the darkroom. There he removed the film and put it through the automatic developer and then put the X-ray on the viewing box again.

Weird. Worse than weird. The same white blur obscured the humerus, only it was more pronounced. “Did you change the setting on the X-ray machine?” he asked Amy.

“I didn’t touch it.”

“Didn’t touch it?”

“Did I screw up?”

“Tell me once more. You didn’t push the X-ray button?”

“No,” said Amy. “I’m sorry, Dr. Rosen. I was waiting for you to tell me to go ahead. When you took the film from me, I thought you wanted to see it before I x-rayed the bone.”

“My God,” he blurted. He pulled the film from the viewing table and held it to the fluorescent ceiling light, praying he’d see something different. “I can’t believe this,” he said.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Amy, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Jake felt as if his head would burst. “You didn’t turn the X-ray machine on, yet here we have an X-ray of the humerus. Can you explain it?”

“No, sir.”

“It means the bone took a picture of itself. The radiation released by a radioactive bone is similar to the radiation released by the X-ray machine.” He turned to face her, aware that he must seem like a madman.

She took a step back. “You’re telling me that bone is-”

“Radioactive.” He stared at her, as though needing her verification of something he dared not believe. “That bone is radioactive.”

“THERE’S A GENTLEMAN here named Sam. Says you’re expecting him,” the doorman told her over the intercom.

Manny and her mother had long since finished breakfast and were reading the Times. “Send him up.” Damn Jake. One mother’s already here. I don’t need him to act like another.

Sam, dressed in military fatigues, marched in as soon as Rose Manfreda opened the door. “You must be Manny’s sister,” he said, kissing Rose’s hand.

Manny glared at them from the couch. “Oh, brother, Sam, cut it out.”

Rose glared back. “Where are your manners, young lady? Sam’s a gentleman.”

“Runs in his family, Mom, trust me. They have a Ted Bundy gene.”

“Now I know where Philomena gets her charm,” Sam said. “I’ve come to protect her, and all I want to do is murder her.” He winked at Rose. “Instead, I’ll walk the dog. Want to come with me?”

“I don’t think we should leave Manny alone.”

“We’ll double-lock the door. If anyone comes in, she’ll bite him and he’ll die of rattlesnake venom.”

“In that case…” Rose reached for her coat.

“Don’t come back, either of you,” Manny said. “Just give the key to Mycroft. He can let himself in.”

When they left, she called her office and asked Kenneth to field all phone calls and fax her the mail. She didn’t want to tell him Jake had grounded her, so she simply said she had a stomach flu. He seemed to accept it.

She stretched out on her bed. I’ll get to work in a minute, she thought- and fell asleep.

Wally called from Turner just as Jake was saying goodbye to Amy. “I’m coming home,” he announced, his voice alive with triumph.

“Find anything?”

“Lots. Fisk’s in bed with Reynolds Construction. He’s getting ten percent of everything Reynolds makes. Mayor Stevenson doesn’t seem to be involved, though he probably knows about it; he’s got other sources for kickbacks. Marge Crespy? Straight as a ruler. Anyway, Reynolds will get huge bonuses- all legal and aboveboard- from Wal-Mart and PriceChopper if the mall’s finished before next spring, and only under those circumstances does Fisk get his reward.”

I love this man. “What kind of money you talking about?”

“I don’t know the exact amount- the budget’s a greater work of fiction than The Da Vinci Code- but it’s multiple millions to Reynolds, a couple million to Fisk.”

Enough to kill for. “You sure of this? You’ve got proof?”

“Yes and yes. The figures on costs of the mall are public record, distorted downward though they may be. And there’s a written agreement between Reynolds and Fisk- a contract, Dr. Rosen- sitting in Fisk’s safe.”

“You’ve seen the contract?”

“I have a copy of it.”

“For God’s sake, how?”

“My foot. I knew it would come in handy someday. Seems Fisk’s deputy, a Mrs. Bonnie Geller, has a boy born with one leg shorter than the other. Guess who arranged for a specialist to perform the operation that made him all well?”

Of course. “Pete Harrigan.”

“Bingo! When I told her Dr. Harrigan was my teacher, that I owed my life to him, we became friends. Okay, I exaggerated his role- I owe my life to you-but in the interests of research-”

“Go on.”

“Not much more to tell. Bonnie hates Fisk but needs the salary to take care of her boy. Took me all this time to wear her down, but she finally opened up her heart- and his safe.” Wally laughed at his own ingenuity. “Proves two maxims of Dr. Harrigan’s: Over-confidence leads to carelessness and Never trust your assistant.” Another laugh. He’s sky-high. “That last is good advice for you. I can turn against you at any time.”

Pete wasn’t right all the time. I’d trust Wally with my life. “Better get back here,” Jake said. “If Fisk finds out-”

“I’m on my way. See you in the office tomorrow morning.” Wally hung up.

Jake stood in the vestibule of Galt’s lab. I can understand why they didn’t want the project held up, he thought, but it doesn’t explain radioactive bones.

Manny awoke to a gentle hand shaking her shoulder. Jake? She opened her eyes. Her mother was looking at her.

“Dinner’s ready.”

“What time it?”

“After seven. You’ve been asleep for nine hours.”

Manny sat up, pain coursing through her leg. “I’m not hungry.”

“You’re eating nevertheless.”

There’s something special about being babied. “Bring it on.”

They had pasta, salad, and a glass of wine, mother and daughter sitting side by side, comfortable in each other’s presence. “Best meal I ever ate,” said Manny, meaning it. She had been hungry after all.

Rose did the dishes while Manny tried to concentrate on the material Kenneth had sent. Impossible. Images of the attack crowded in on her; thank God she had only been warned, not executed. Next time…? She picked up her latest copy of Vogue. Fashion was the only thing that could get her mind off her fear.

At eleven, her mother and Mycroft had gone back to New Jersey with Kenneth, and Manny had turned on the news. A suicide bomber had killed seventeen Iraqi special forces and wounded forty-two others in Baghdad.

“Closer to home, a bombing has rocked New York’s Upper East Side,” the anchorman announced. “Here with that story is reporter Tim Minton. Tim?”

“Less than an hour ago, an explosion shook the house of City Medical Examiner Jacob Rosen-”

A pain sharper than any inflicted on her earlier shot through Manny’s system. No! Not Jake!

On the screen, Manny saw fire engines and police cars in front of what was surely Jake’s house.