Robin Cook - Crisis

Jack and Liam said good-bye to the Newton police, and the police drove off in their respective vehicles, which were rapidly swallowed by the inky darkness. Night had fallen reluctantly, but now the transition was complete. The only light in the neighborhood was from the Bowmans' front windows and from a lonely streetlamp in the opposite direction the police had gone. Above in the dark sky a narrow scimitar-shaped sliver of a moon peeked through the leafy canopy of the trees lining the street.

"Want to sit in my limo?" Liam asked as they reached his bottom-of-the-line Ford.

"Actually, it's beautiful outside," Jack said. It had cooled from the day, and the temperature was invigorating.

With both men leaning against the vehicle, Jack told the story of his confrontation with Tony Fasano, the threat he'd received, and his two fisticuffs with his crony, Franco. Liam listened intently.

"I'm acquainted with Tony Fasano," Liam responded. "He's an individual who's going in a lot of different directions, including personal injury litigation and now medical malpractice. He's even done some criminal work defending a handful of low-level nasties, which is how I am aware of him. I have to say he's more clever than you might initially give him credit for."

"I've had the same impression."

"Do you think he's behind this professional but crude extortion attempt? With the people he's in bed with, he's got the contacts."

"It stands to reason, considering the way he threatened me, but then again, it seems almost too simple and too stupid, considering how clever he apparently is."

"Do you have anyone else you suspect?"

"Not really," Jack said. He briefly considered bringing up the conspiracy idea, but he thought the chances the notion had any validity were so infinitesimally small he was embarrassed to mention it.

"I'll check into the Fasano angle," Liam said. "His office is in the North End, so he falls under our jurisdiction, but with no evidence, at least so far, there is little we can do, especially in the short run."

"I know," Jack said. "Listen, I appreciate your taking the time to come out here tonight and get involved. I was afraid the Bowmans might not have reported the episode."

"I'm always willing to do a favor for my old buddy Lou Soldano. I got the impression you guys are really tight."

Jack nodded and smiled inwardly. He'd originally met Lou when both of them were pursuing Laurie. He felt it was a tribute to Lou's personality that when Lou's chances with Laurie dimmed by his own doing, he was gracious enough to become Jack's advocate, which turned out to be key. Jack's pursuit of Laurie had not been without its bumps, thanks to Jack's psychological baggage.

"Which brings me to the final issue," Liam said. He unlocked his car and rummaged in a duffel bag on the front seat. He turned to Jack and handed him a snub-nose.38 Smith and Wessen. "You'd better be tight with him, because this is something I don't usually do."

Jack turned over the revolver in his hand. It glistened in the darkness, reflecting the light coming from the Bowmans' windows.

"You'd better have one hundred ten percent good reason to use this thing," Liam said. "And I hope to hell you don't."

"Rest assured it would have to be life or death," Jack said. "But with the girls not here, maybe I don't need it." He extended the revolver back toward Liam.

Liam held up his hand, palm out. "Keep it. You've been smacked a couple of times. This Franco sounds like he's got a couple of screws loose. Just be sure I get it back. When are you leaving?"

"Sometime tomorrow, which is all the more reason I shouldn't take it."

"Take it!" Liam insisted. He handed Jack his business card before walking around the car and opening the driver's-side door. "We can hook up when you leave or you can drop it by head-quarters in a bag with my name on it. Don't go advertising what it is!"

"I'll be sure to be subtle," Jack said. Then he added humorously, "It's my middle name."

"Not according to Lou," Liam laughed. "But he said you were an enormously responsible guy and that's what I am counting on."

With a final good-bye, Liam climbed into his car and quickly disappeared in the same direction as the Newton police.

Jack handled the gun in the darkness. It felt deceptively innocent, like the toy guns he had as a child, yet as a medical examiner, he knew its destructive potential. He'd traced more bullet tracks in cadavers than he'd care to admit, always marveling at the degree of trauma. Putting the gun in one pocket, Jack took out his cell from another. He had understandable ambivalence about calling Laurie because he knew she would be justly upset and angry over his remaining in Boston. From her perspective, his returning home Thursday, maybe even Thursday might, with the wedding at 1:30 p.m. on Friday was ludicrous, unreasonable, and even hurtful, yet he felt powerless. He'd become ensnared in a quicksand of circumstance. After all that had happened, some of it his doing, there was no way he could just abandon Alexis and Craig. Moreover, he was genuinely intrigued because someone for some reason seriously did not want an autopsy. And as this reality tumbled around inside his brain, something new occurred to him: What about the hospital? Could something have happened at the hospital the night Patience Stanhope had been brought in that needed to be covered up? He hadn't thought about that angle, and even though it was unlikely, it seemed a hell of a lot more likely than the outlandish concierge-medicine conspiracy idea.

With trepidation and just about every neuron in his brain associated with feeling guilty firing, Jack speed-dialed Laurie's cell phone.

"It's about time!" Laurie said curtly.

Jack winced. Her greeting was 180 degrees from the night before, heralding the kind of conversation he feared.

"It's almost ten o'clock!" Laurie complained. "Why haven't you called? It's been eight hours since your cowardly message on my voicemail."

"I'm sorry," Jack said as contritely as he could. "It's been a rather strange evening."

Although such a comment was a deliberate understatement, it was hardly the kind of sarcastic humor that Jack was capable of. He was making a conscious effort to resist the tendency that had become reflex with his devil-may-care approach to life after his family tragedy. Being careful with his vocabulary and as succinctly as possible, Jack told Laurie about the break-in, the terrorizing of the children, and the visit by the police made possible by Lou's timely intercession. Jack then told her about Tony Fasano and his threat, as well as about Franco, including the previous day's episode, which he had not mentioned to her the evening before.

"This is incredible!" Laurie said after a pause. Most of the anger had gone out of her voice. "Are you all right?"

"I've got a swollen lip and a few busted capillaries over a cheekbone, but I've had worse from basketball. I'm okay."

"I'm nervous about this Franco. He sounds like a lunatic."

"He's been on my mind as well," Jack said. He thought about mentioning the gun but decided it might make her more nervous.

"I'm gathering you believe Tony Fasano is behind the episode with the children."

Jack repeated some of the conversation he'd had with Liam Flanagan.

"How are the children?"

"They seem remarkably poised, considering what they've been through. Maybe it has something to do with their mother being a psychologist. Alexis is terrific with them. She took them to their grandparents', Craig's parents', for a few days. To give you an idea, the littlest one was together enough to empathize with me about my kids when they were saying good-bye. It took me completely by surprise."