Robin Cook - Fatal Cure

"Here it is," he said finally. "Van Slyke got a medical discharge."

"Does it say for what?" Angela asked.

"I'm afraid not," Robert said. "But there is some interesting stuff here. It says that Van Slyke went to submarine school in New London, Connecticut, then on to nuclear power school. He was a submariner."

"Why is that interesting?" Angela asked.

"Not everybody goes out on submarines," Robert said. "It says he was assigned to the U.S.S. Kamehameha out of Guam."

"What kind of job did Clyde Devonshire have in the navy?" Angela asked.

There was more shuffling of paper. "He was a navy corps-man," Robert said. Then he added: "My gosh, isn't this a coincidence."

"What?" Angela asked. It was frustrating not to have the papers herself.

"Devonshire got a medical discharge, too," Robert said. "Having done hard time for rape, I would have guessed it would have been something else."

"That sounds even more interesting to me than Van Slyke's going to submarine school," Angela said.

After thanking Robert again for all his efforts, Angela hung up. Returning to the kitchen where David and Nikki were putting the finishing touches on the jack o' lantern's grotesque face, Angela told David that Robert had more material for them that she wanted to get. She also told him what she'd just learned about Devonshire and Van Slyke.

"So they both had medical discharges," David said. It was obvious he was preoccupied.

"What do you think?" David asked Nikki as they both stepped back to admire their work.

"I think it's great," Nikki said. "Can we put a candle in it?"

"Absolutely," David said.

"David, did you hear me?" Angela asked.

"Of course I did," David said. He handed a candle to Nikki.

"I wish we could find the reasons for these medical discharges," Angela said.

"I bet I know how we could," David said. "Get someone in the VA system to pull it out of their data banks. They'd have to have it recorded."

"Good idea," Angela said. "Do you have any suggestions who we could ask?"

"I have a doctor friend at the VA in Boston," David said.

"Do you think he would mind doing us a favor?" Angela asked.

"It's a she," David said. David told Nikki that she should cut out a little depression inside the pumpkin to hold the candle. She hadn't been able to get the candle to stay upright.

"So who's your doctor friend?" Angela asked.

"She's an ophthalmologist," David said, still overseeing Nikki's efforts to stabilize the candle inside the pumpkin.

"I wasn't referring to her specialty," Angela said. "How do you know her?"

"We went to high school together," David said. "We dated senior year."

"And how long has she been in the Boston area?" Angela asked. "And what's her name?" Two could play at this jealousy game.

"Her name is Nicole Lungstrom," David said. "She came to Boston at the end of last year."

"I've never heard you mention her before," Angela said. "How did you know she came to town?"

"She called me at the hospital," David said. He gave Nikki a congratulatory pat when the candle was finally stabilized. Nikki ran to get matches. David turned his attention to Angela.

"So have you seen her since she's come to Boston?" Angela asked.

"We had lunch once," David said, "and that was it. I told her it was better that we not see each other because she had romantic hopes. We parted friends."

"Honest?" Angela asked.

"Honest," David said.

"You think that if you call out of the blue she'll help us?" Angela asked.

"To tell you the truth, I doubt it," David said. "If we want to take advantage of her employment status with the VA, then I think I should go down there. There's no way I can ask her to violate confidentiality rules over the telephone. Besides, I'd do better to explain the whole sordid story in person."

"When would you go?" Angela asked.

"Today," David said. "I'll call her first to make sure she's available. Then I'll go. I'll even stop at MIT and pick up that material you want from Robert. What do you say?"

Angela bit the inside of her lip as she pondered. She was surprised to feel such a pang of jealousy. Now she knew how David felt. She shook her head and sighed. "Call her," she said.

While Angela cleaned up the mess from the gutting of the pumpkin, David went into the family room and called Nicole Lungstrom. Angela could hear bits and pieces of the conversation even though she tried not to. It bothered her that David sounded so cheerful. A few minutes later he came back into the kitchen.

"It's all arranged," David said. "She's expecting me in a couple of hours. Conveniently, she's on call at the hospital."

"Is she blond?" Angela asked.

"Yeah, she is," David said.

"I was afraid of that," Angela said.

Nikki had the candle lit in the pumpkin, and David carried the jack o' lantern out onto the front porch. He let Nikki decide where she wanted it.

"It looks cool," Nikki said, once it was in place.

Returning inside the house, David asked Angela to call Robert Scali and tell him he would be stopping by. While David went upstairs to get ready to drive to Boston, Angela gave Robert a call.

"That will be interesting," Robert said once Angela explained the reason for her call.

Angela didn't know how to respond. She simply thanked him again for his help and hung up. Then she tried to call Calhoun. Once more she got his answering machine.

David came down wearing his blue blazer and gray slacks. He looked quite handsome.

"Do you have to get so dressed up?" Angela asked.

"I'm going to the VA hospital," David said. "I'm not going in jeans and a sweatshirt."

"I tried to call Calhoun again," Angela said. "Still no answer. That man must have come in late and gone out early. He's really involved in this investigation."

"Did you leave a message?" David asked.

"No," Angela said.

"Why not?"

"I hate answering machines," Angela said. "Besides, he must know we want to hear from him."

"I think you should leave a message," David said.

"What should we do if we don't hear from him by tonight?" Angela asked. "Go to the police?"

"I don't know," David admitted. "The idea of going to Robertson for anything doesn't thrill me."

After Angela watched David pull down their drive, she put her full attention on Nikki. More than anything she wanted her daughter to enjoy the day.

Motivated more by curiosity than anything else, David went to meet Robert Scali first. Hoping the man would look like a nerdy academic, David was crestfallen to discover that Robert was a handsome man with a tanned face and an athletic bearing. To make matters worse, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy.

They shook hands. David could tell Robert was also sizing him up.

"I want to thank you for your help," David said.

"That's what friends are for," Robert said. He handed over another box full of information.

"There's something new on the financial side that I should mention," Robert said. "I discovered that Werner Van Slyke has opened several new bank accounts in the last year, apparently traveling to both Albany and here to Boston to do so. I hadn't gotten that information yesterday because I'd been more interested in credit card history and debt."

"That's strange," David said. "Is it a lot of money?"

"There's less than ten thousand in each account, probably to avoid the rule that banks have to report movements of more than ten thousand."

"That's still a lot of money for a man running a maintenance department at a community hospital," David said.

"This day and age, it probably means the fellow is running a little drug ring," Robert said. "But if he is, he shouldn't be banking the money. He's supposed to bury it in PVC pipe. That's the norm."