Robin Cook - Acceptable Risk

“Your apology is accepted,” Kim said. “Besides, my brother was intrigued with the idea. I suppose the rent will be helpful in paying the taxes on the property. They’re astronomical.”

“One nice thing is that the stables are far enough away from the cottage so the lab’s presence won’t bother us,” Edward said.

They turned off Memorial Drive and headed into the quiet, residential back streets of Cambridge. Edward pulled into his parking spot and turned off the engine. Then he hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.

“Stupid me,” he said. “We should have driven back to your place to get your things.”

“You want me to stay tonight?”

“Of course,” Edward said. “Don’t you want to?”

“You’ve been so busy lately,” Kim said. “I didn’t know what to expect.”

“If you stay it will make heading up to Salem in the morning that much easier,” Edward said. “We can get an early start.”

“You definitely want to go?” Kim asked. “I had the sense you won’t want to take the time.”

“I do now that we are siting Omni there,” Edward said. He restarted the car and backed out. “Let’s go back and get you a change of clothes. Of course that’s assuming you want to stay-which I hope you do.” He smiled broadly in the half-light.

“I suppose,” Kim said. She was feeling indecisive and anxious without knowing exactly why.

Saturday, July 30, 1994

Kim and Edward did not get an early start as Edward had suggested the night before. Instead Edward had spent half the morning on the phone. First he’d called Kim’s contractor and architect about expanding the work at the compound to include the new lab. They’d agreed with alacrity and offered to meet at the compound at eleven. Next Edward had called a series of representatives of laboratory equipment manufacturers and scheduled them to show up at the same time as the contractor and architect.

After a quick call to Stanton to be sure the money he’d promised would be immediately forthcoming, Edward phoned a series of people whom he wanted to consider recruiting for Omni’s professional staff. Edward and Kim did not get into the car for the drive north until well after ten.

By the time Edward parked in front of the stables in the Stewart compound there was a small crowd of people waiting. They had all introduced themselves, so Edward was spared the task. Instead he waved for them to gather by the padlocked sliding door.

The building was a long, single-story stone structure with infrequent windows set high under the eaves. Since the terrain fell off sharply toward the river, the back was two stories, with separate entrances to each stall on the lower level.

Kim tried multiple keys before finding the correct one to open the heavy padlock. After sliding it open, everyone entered what was the ground floor from the front and the second story from the rear.

The interior was a huge, undivided long room with a cathedral ceiling. On the rear side of the building there were multiple shuttered openings. One end of the room was filled with bales of hay.

“At least the demolition will be easy,” George said.

“This is perfect,” Edward said. “My idea of a lab is one big space so that everyone interfaces with everyone else.”

The stairway leading down to the lower level was constructed of rough-hewn oak and pegged together with dowels an inch in diameter. Downstairs they found a long hall with stalls to the right and tack rooms to the left.

Kim tagged along and listened to the plans to convert the barn rapidly into a state-of-the-art biological and pharmacological laboratory. Downstairs there were to be quarters for a menagerie of experimental animals including rhesus monkeys, mice, rats, and rabbits. There was also to be space for tissue-and bacterial-culture incubators along with containment facilities. And finally there were to be specially shielded rooms for the NMR and X-ray crystallography.

The upstairs would house the main laboratory space as well as a shielded, air-conditioned room for a large mainframe computer. Every laboratory bench would have its own terminal. To power all the electronic equipment a huge electrical service would be brought in.

“Well, there you have it,” Edward said when they had finished the tour. He turned to the contractor and architect. “Can you see any problems with all this?”

“I don’t think so,” Mark said. “The building is sound. But I would suggest we design an entrance with a reception area.”

“We won’t be having many visitors,” Edward said. “But I see your point. Go ahead and design it. What else?”

“I can’t see that we’ll have any trouble with permits,” George said.

“Provided we don’t say anything about the animal aspect,” Mark said. “My advice is just not to mention it. It could create problems that would take a long time to resolve.”

“I’m more than happy to leave the civic relations to you experienced men,” Edward said. “The fact is, I’m interested in expediting this project, so I’d like to take full advantage of your expertise. And to speed completion I’m willing to give a ten percent bonus above time, materials, and fees.”

Enthusiastic and eager smiles appeared on Mark’s and George’s faces.

“When can you start?” Edward asked.

“We can start immediately,” Mark and George said in unison.

“I hope my little job isn’t going to suffer with this newer and bigger project,” Kim said, speaking up for the first time.

“No need to worry,” George said. “If anything it will speed work up at the cottage. We’ll be bringing a big crew in here with all the trades represented. If we need a plumber or an electrician for some small task on your job, they’ll already be on site.”

While Edward, the contractor, the architect, and the various medical-equipment reps settled down to work out the details for the new lab, Kim wandered outside the stables. She squinted her eyes against the hazy but intense noontime sun. She knew she wasn’t contributing to the planning of the lab, so she hiked across the field toward the cottage to check on the renovation.

As she neared the building she noticed the trench had been filled in. She also noticed that the workmen had reset Elizabeth’s headstone into the ground above the grave. They’d laid it flat just as they’d found it.

Kim entered the cottage. It seemed tiny after being in the stables. But the work was progressing well, especially in the kitchen and the bathrooms. For the first time she could imagine what they would be like when they were finished.

After touring the cottage, Kim wandered back to the stables, but there was no suggestion that Edward and the others were anywhere near finishing their impromptu conference. Kim interrupted long enough to let Edward know she’d be up in the castle. Edward told her to enjoy herself and immediately went back to some problem involving the NMR machine.

Stepping from the bright sunshine into the somber, heavily draped interior of the castle was like stepping into another world. Kim stopped and listened to the creaks and groans of the house as it adjusted to the heat. For the first time she realized she couldn’t hear the sound of the birds, which outside was loud, particularly the cry of sea gulls.

After a short debate she mounted the grand staircase. Despite her recent success finding seventeenth-century material in the wine cellar, she thought she’d give the attic another chance, especially since it was so much more pleasant.

The first thing she did was open many of the dormer windows to let in the breeze from the river. Stepping away from the last window she opened, she noticed stacks upon stacks of clothbound ledgers. They were arranged along one side of the dormer.