Robin Cook - Marker

Sticking her head into the investigator's office, she asked the chief investigator, Bart Arnold, if Janice was still around. Laurie wanted to learn the details of the Clark Mulhausen case, to be certain it was another to be added to her series.

"You missed her by about ten minutes," Bart said. "Anything I can help you with?"

"Not really," Laurie said. "How about Cheryl? Is she available?"

"You're striking out. She's already out on a case. Should I have her call you when she returns?"

"You can relay a message," Laurie said. "Yesterday, I asked her to put in a request for hospital charts from Saint Francis Hospital out in Queens. I'd like her to amend the request and make it urgent. I need them as soon as possible."

"No problem," Bart said, as he made a note on a Post-it. "I'll put this on Cheryl's desk. Consider it done."

Laurie headed back toward the ID office to retrieve her coat, but she thought of Jack down in the pit doing the autopsy on Clark Mulhausen. He would have the folder with Janice's investigative report, which would have all the particulars. Reversing her course, she headed for the back elevator. Not only could she make sure Mulhausen fit the demographics of her series, she'd have an excuse to talk with Jack. Remembering her waffling the previous afternoon outside of Jack's office, it would be good to have a professional reason to break the ice with him and give her the opportunity to suggest that they get together away from the OCME for a personal discussion. The thought of the kind of conversation she needed to have with him made her tense. In his current state of mind, she had no idea whether or not he'd be receptive either to meet with her or to what she had to tell him. Lou had suggested he would be, but Laurie didn't know.

In days past, a gown, a hat, and a mask were all that was needed to drop into the autopsy room for a visit to check out a finding or have a short conversation. Times had changed. Now Laurie had to go into the locker room and change into scrubs before heading over to the supply room to get into her full protective gear, as if she was doing a case herself. Calvin had established the new rules, and they were supposedly cut in stone.

"Ahhh!" Laurie whimpered as she extended her arm while hanging up her blouse in the locker. She had gotten a sudden stitch in that same abdominal location that had been intermittently troubling her over the previous few days. This time, it was definitely a sharp pain that made her wince as well as withdraw her hand. Gingerly, she placed it over the bothersome area. Thankfully, the pain quickly eased and then disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Carefully, she pressed in over the area, but there was no residual tenderness. She extended her arm as she had done when hanging the blouse, but still there was no discomfort. Shaking her head with confusion over whether it had anything to do with being pregnant, she thought maybe she should ask Sue whether she had experienced anything similar during her two pregnancies.

With the memory of the pain fading into the background, Laurie continued changing into scrubs, and then headed across the hall to climb into her moon suit. A few minutes later, she pushed into the autopsy room. As the heavy door thumped against the jamb behind her, the two people in the room straightened up from bending over the body splayed open in front of them. They both looked over at her.

"Well, glory be!" Jack quipped. "Is this really Dr. Montgomery already in full regalia, and it is not even eight o'clock? To what do we owe this great honor?"

"I just want to find out if this case truly fits into my series." Laurie said as lightly as she could while bracing herself for Jack's probable continued sarcasm. She advanced to the foot of the table. Jack was on her left and Vinnie on her right. "Please! Go back to work! I don't mean to interrupt."

"I don't want you to think I took this case away from you. Do you know why I'm doing it?"

"I do. Chet told me."

"Have you seen Calvin yet? I couldn't read him this morning. He was acting weird. Is everything hunky-dory between you two?"

"Everything is fine. I was worried myself when Chet told me I was to have an official paper day and that Calvin wanted to see me ASAP. It turned out that all he wants is for me to sign out the earlier cases in my series. I'm supposed to say they were natural."

"Are you going to do it? I'm thinking there's no way they were natural."

"I don't have a lot of choice," Laurie admitted. "He laid it on the line. I hate the political pressures of this job, of which this situation is becoming a prime example. But, be that as it may, what's your take on Mulhausen. Does this case belong in my series?"

Jack looked down into the corpse's open thorax. He'd already removed the lungs and was in the process of opening the great vessels. The heart was in full view. "So far, I'd have to say yes. The demographics are the same, and I don't see any suggestion of pathology of any note. I'll know for sure in a half hour or so when I finish with the heart, but I'll be very surprised if we find anything."

"Do you mind if I look at the investigator's report in the folder?"

"Mind? Why would I mind? But I can save you the trouble by giving you the facts. The patient was a healthy thirty-six-year-old stockbroker who'd had an uncomplicated hernia repair yesterday morning and was doing fine. Four-thirty this morning, he was discovered dead in his bed. The nurses' notes said he was practically room temperature when he was found, but they tried to resuscitate him anyway. Obviously, they got nothing. So, do I think he fits your series? I do. What's more, I think you are genuinely onto something with this series idea. Obviously, I didn't at first, but I do now, especially now that you've got seven cases."

Laurie tried to see the nuances of Jack's expression, but she couldn't through his plastic screen. Still, she was encouraged. Somewhat like Calvin, he was acting more affable than expected, and it made her feel optimistic on a number of fronts.

"What about those cases Dick Katzenburg mentioned yesterday?" Jack asked. "Have they panned out so far?"

"Yes. At least from the investigators' reports. I'm waiting for the hospital charts to be certain."

"It was a good pickup," Jack said. "Yesterday, when you got up to go to the microphone to give your little presentation, I was pissed, since it meant that the Thursday-afternoon torture session was going to be extended, but now I have to give you credit. If Dick's cases do turn out to match yours, your series doubles, which kind of casts a pall over AmeriCare, wouldn't you say?"

"I don't know what it says about AmeriCare," Laurie said. She was surprised at Jack's talkativeness. Even that seemed encouraging.

"Well, as the saying goes, something's rotten in Denmark: At thirteen cases, it's gone way beyond coincidence. But it's interesting there's no smoking-gun commonality, which is why I hesitate to support your homicide idea, although I'm warming to it. Tell me, have any of the cases occurred in the intensive care unit or the postanesthesia care unit?"

"None of mine. I don't know about Dick's. Mine have all been in regular hospital rooms. Why do you ask? Was Mulhausen in either?"

"No! He was in a normal room. I'm not sure why I'm asking. Maybe because drugs are handled differently in either the ICU or the PACU than they are on a regular hospital floor. Actually I'm trying to think of some sort of systems error, like they are all getting a drug that they are not supposed to get. It's just something else to consider."

"Thanks for the suggestion," Laurie said without a lot of conviction. "I'll keep it in mind."

"I also think you should continue to press toxicology. I still think that ultimately, it's going to be toxicology that solves this conundrum."