Robin Cook - Marker

"Good recall!" Jack said. "That must have been a good eight years ago when I helped you guys out when you had all that trouble with those nasty germs."

Charles looked back at Lou. "What are they doing here?" His tone was anything but hospitable.

"They're helping me with my investigation."

Charles nodded as if pondering Lou's explanation. "I will let Dr. Bingham know they were here on Monday. Meanwhile, I wanted to introduce myself to you, Lieutenant, and say that I will avail you of any help we can provide."

"Thank you," Lou said. "I think we're doing okay at the moment."

"There is something I would like to ask of you."

"Okay, shoot," Lou said.

"With two unfortunate murders in as many days, I would like to ask you to be as discreet as possible, particularly about the gruesome details of the one discovered today. Furthermore, I would like to respectfully request that all information to be released goes through our public relations department. We have to think of the institution and limit the collateral damage."

"I'm afraid a smidgen of the lurid facts have already gotten to the media," Lou admitted. "I have no idea how it was leaked, but I was forced to give a mini-press conference. I can assure you that I did not give them any details. In an investigation like this, it is best not to do so."

"That's my opinion precisely," Charles said, "although I imagine for different reasons. In any event, we appreciate any help that you can give us in this most unfortunate circumstance. Good luck with your investigation."

"Thank you, sir," Lou said.

Charles turned and went back into his office.

"What an ass," Jack commented.

"I bet he went to Harvard," Lou said enviously.

"Come on," Laurie urged. "I've got to get back to the OCME."

Lou opened the door and the three walked into Roger's office.

While Laurie hesitated just over the threshold, Lou and Jack went directly over to Roger's desk. Laurie's eyes slowly traversed the room. Being in Roger's space brought back the enormity of her loss. She'd been acquainted with him for only five weeks, and she knew deep down that she really didn't know him, yet she'd liked him and perhaps even loved him. She'd felt intuitively that he was a good person and had been generous to her at a time when she was needy. In some respects, she might have even taken advantage of him to a degree, which caused her a twinge of guilt.

"Laurie, come over here!" Lou called.

Laurie started across the room, but stopped when her cell phone jangled in her coat pocket. It was the OCME operator with the message that a police custody case had come in. Laurie assured her that she'd be back within the hour and asked the operator to tell Marvin to start setting up. Deaths in police custody were politically notorious, and this was certainly one that she'd have to post rather than wait until Monday.

"Looks like we've got a lot of material here," Lou said when Laurie joined him and Jack. "These sheets might be the most important. They've even got stars next to the names." He handed the sheets to Jack, who scanned them before handing them on to Laurie. They were the credentialing records for Dr. José Cabreo and Dr. Motilal Najah.

Laurie read through both. "The timing of Najah's transfer and the fact that he apparently favored the night shift are suspicious, to say the least."

"I'm wondering why the record of his arrest isn't on there," Lou questioned. "That's important for someone handling controlled substances. I mean, it would have to have been on his DEA application."

Laurie shrugged.

"Here's another list that Rousseau put on star on," Lou said. "It's people who transferred from Saint Francis to the General between mid-November and mid-January."

Jack glanced at it and handed it to Laurie.

Laurie read down the list of seven names, noting which department in the hospital they worked. "All these people would easily have access to patients, especially on the night shift."

Lou nodded. "We've got our work cut out for us. It's almost too much. Here's a list of eight docs that got kicked off the General's staff over the last six months. I imagine one of them could be a deranged oddball who'd like to get back at AmeriCare somehow."

"That sounds familiar," Jack said. "Maybe you should add me to that list."

"I'm going to have to get a whole team to start working on all this," Lou said. "If Najah isn't our man, then we'll be looking at interviewing the lot. Hmmm. What's this, I wonder?" Lou held up a CD that was on top of several of the lists.

"Let's check it out," Laurie said. She took the CD and booted up Roger's computer by quickly typing in his password, which caused Jack's eyebrows to rise. Laurie caught the reaction but opted to ignore it.

The CD turned out to be the digital hospital records of all the cases in her series, including those from St. Francis. She guessed that Roger had gotten the St. Francis data when he'd gone over to get the employee records. Laurie explained to Lou what it was and asked if she could take it with her back to the OCME. It might help her when she went over the charts.

Lou thought for a moment. "Can you make a copy?"

Laurie located the computer's CD burner and made herself a copy.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind having copies of all this printed material as well," Laurie said after she thought about it. "Later this afternoon, I'll have time to go over it all, and maybe I'll have some helpful ideas. I'm sure there's a copy machine somewhere close by."

"Not a problem," Lou said. "With this much material, we can use all the help we can get."

The copy machine was just outside Roger's office, and Laurie made copies of all Roger's lists. When she was finished, she told Lou and Jack that she was heading back to the OCME.

"Do you want me to go back with you?" Jack asked. "I mean, I'll even take call if you want to go home."

"I'll be fine," Laurie assured him. "I'd rather stay busy than sit around in my apartment. You're welcome to come, but it's up to you."

Jack looked at Lou. "What's your plan?"

"I want to interview the man who found the body," Lou said.

"Then I want to meet this Najah, and check to see if we lucked out obtaining his gun. It might be that just reminding him of the science of ballistics might make him spill the beans, and wouldn't that be nice."

"Mind if I hang with you for a while?" Jack asked. "I'd like to meet Dr. Najah myself."

"Be my guest."

Jack turned to Laurie. "I'll be over. I'll even help you with that police custody case if you'd like."

"It's not going to be a problem," Laurie said. "I'll see you when I see you, but thanks for coming in and doing the case that you did. I really mean that."

Laurie gave each man a hug and lingered a little longer with Jack. She even gave his arm an added squeeze before walking out.

Prior to leaving the hospital administration area, Laurie took a detour into the ladies' room. Balancing Roger's lists and the CD on the edge of the washbasin, Laurie went into the stall. While she relieved herself, her mind flip-flopped from Roger's untimely demise to those of the two teenagers, whose innocent mischief had caused their deaths. It reminded her that humans, like all living organisms large and small, were always precariously poised on the edge of the abyss.

Preoccupied with such thoughts, Laurie used a small, folded wad of toilet tissue to wipe herself. As she was about to drop the paper in the toilet, she noticed something abnormal. There was a tiny bit of blood. She was spotting!

Laurie instinctively recoiled from the implications. It was only a minute amount of blood, yet as far as she could remember, any bleeding wasn't a good sign during a pregnancy, especially so early. At the same time, the limited exposure she'd had to obstetrics as a medical student had long since faded in her memory, so she didn't want to jump to conclusions.