Робин Кук - Genesis

“How are you ladies doing?” Alex asked. He’d approached and waited for an opportunity to speak. The women had been locked in conversation. “Can I get you any more food or drinks?”

“I’ve had enough,” Aria said.

“Me, too,” Madison said, although she quickly polished off the dregs of prosecco.

“How do you guys want to handle this?” Alex questioned, pointing to the glasses and the dishes in front of the women.

“I’ll take the check,” Madison said. Then, to Aria, she said, “I talked you into stopping here, so my treat.”

Aria stayed silent. If Madison wanted to pay, who was she to complain?

“What’s the quickest and easiest way to get those books you mentioned,” Aria asked while Madison was finger-signing the reader that had her credit card poked into its base.

“The quickest way is to come back with me to my apartment,” Madison said. “You can borrow mine, provided you don’t mind if they’re underlined and a bit dog-eared. I’ve read both several times.” She finished signing and handed the device back to Alex, who immediately produced a receipt.

“Thank you, ladies,” Alex said. “Come back and see us again.”

“Where do you live exactly?” Aria said to Madison.

“West Seventy-Third between Columbus and Amsterdam.”

“That’s close to me,” Aria said. “I live on Seventieth between Columbus and Central Park West.”

“That’s certainly convenient enough. Do you want to come and get the books? If you want to get a jump on genetic genealogy, I’d recommend it for sure.”

“Okay,” Aria said. “We can take a rideshare to your apartment, and I can walk home from there.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Madison said as she pulled on her denim jacket.

When they climbed out of the car in front of Madison’s apartment building, Aria said: “I’ll wait out here.” Although it was on the cool side, it was still a pleasant mid-spring night and it was still early enough for significant vehicular and pedestrian traffic particularly on the bounding avenues.

“Suit yourself,” Madison said. Not having to be hospitable was preferable as she wanted to get to bed as soon as she could. Earlier in the evening she’d worried about what sleep that night was going to be like after the disturbing day, but following the conversation with Aria in Nobu and the prospect of doing something positive for Kera, her natural exhaustion had caught up with her.

Up in her one-bedroom rear apartment, Madison had to scan her sizable bookcase for the two books she’d described to Aria. Once she had both books, she returned outside to the front of her building. Aria was sitting on one of the granite blocks that lined the three steps up into the building. A man with a dog had stopped and was trying to engage her in a conversation. Madison felt sorry for the man as it was apparent things were not going well. Madison wondered if Aria ever let her guard down with anyone. She was a mystery to Madison, who’d never met anyone quite like her. Unpredictable was the word that came to mind. One minute she seemed tolerable enough, the next minute disagreeable. Madison wondered if Aria was typical of all forensic pathologists. Considering the experience she’d had that day, she wondered if they all might be a bit weird. Dealing with death on an everyday basis had to have a consequence. She couldn’t imagine doing it herself.

Aria stood, ignoring the man with the dog, and took the books from Madison. “These do look used,” she said as she quickly flipped through them.

Holding her tongue from what she initially thought to say in response, Madison said instead, “I think you’ll find them useful. And let’s talk tomorrow. I’ve got patients all day, but I’ll be able to talk in between them if that works for you. Then we can decide how we’re going to proceed.”

“Sounds good,” Aria said. “I’ll be able to have these books back to you quickly. I’m a fast reader.”

“Whatever,” Madison said with a wave of her hand. “Keep them as long as you like. As I said, I’ve read them several times.”

“Okay,” Aria said with a nod before striking off toward Columbus Avenue.

Aria walked quickly. Now that she had the books about genetic genealogy, she wanted to get home and start reading. Although she’d been initially disappointed in Madison’s suggestion about using genetic genealogy to locate the missing man, she now felt encouraged. Sensing that Kera had been an intelligent, culturally endowed, educated woman despite her appearance that day prior to the autopsy, it seemed to make sense that she would have been involved with a man with similar traits and interests. If so, it stood to reason that his relatives would be similar, and Aria surmised such people would have the means and interest to indulge in genetic genealogy. All that meant was finding him by this process would be that much easier.

As it was dog-walking time before bed, she encountered several other men who tried to engage her in conversation, using her white coat and their dog as a convenient entrée. Aria either ignored them completely or told them that she couldn’t stand dogs, which was a convenient turnoff. In less than ten minutes she was mounting the steps up the front stoop of her building.

When Aria first came to New York for her residency, she thought it best to buy herself a condominium rather than have to deal with a landlord. She’d always liked New York because the sheer number of people made it easy to ignore everyone. In medical school at Yale, she’d not had that luxury, as New Haven in comparison seemed like a small town. She’d wanted to live on the Upper West Side because of its proximity to Central Park and because it was a real neighborhood. Within a short walking distance, she had everything she needed. She didn’t own a car and didn’t want one.

The apartment she ended up buying was on a street lined with brownstones. Although they were originally single-family dwellings, many were now converted into condominiums. She was particularly drawn to 70th Street because some of the buildings were still single family, significantly reducing the congestion. Her building, strangely enough, had been painted white to cover up the many repairs that had been done on the brownstone. Her unit was on what was called the ground floor even though it was elevated from the street by the ten steps of the stoop. Beneath her was another unit whose windows were partly below ground level.

Originally Aria’s two-bedroom apartment had been the building’s parlor and formal dining room when it had been a single-family home. During the building’s conversion, the floor plan had been altered. Now as she came through the apartment’s door from the common hallway, she was in the living room/kitchen/dining area with a wood-burning fireplace. To the left was a corridor to her bedroom and the apartment’s only bathroom. Such a setup was a little unfortunate since it meant that the bedroom was exposed to street noise like ambulance sirens and drunk neighbors on summer Saturday nights. To the right from where she was standing there was a doorway in the corner that led to a final small room. When Aria had originally been shown the apartment by the Realtor, this last room had been marketed as a bedroom without a bath. Instead Aria had turned it into a study, and it was in this room that she spent most of her awake time. All in all, the apartment was a pleasant environment, particularly with its twelve-foot ceilings that magnified the sense of space.

After draping her white coat over the back of the sofa, Aria went directly into the study with the two borrowed books. One of her fortes was the ability to concentrate regardless of what was going on around her, and despite being tired from a full day’s activities, she intended to become significantly more knowledgeable about genetic genealogy.