Tess Gerritsen - Last to Die

“We’ll discuss that with Detective Parris tonight,” said Jane.

“So it wasn’t an accident. Was it?”

“It appears not.”

Bartusek slumped back against his chair and shook his head. “No wonder Brian freaked out.”

“What do you mean?”

“The day after Neil’s plane went down, Brian came into work white as a sheet. Picked up some of his research papers, said he was going to work from home for a few days, because Lynn and their nephew didn’t want to be alone. A week later, I heard he’d resigned from NASA. That really shocked me, because he loved this job. After twenty-some years, I can’t imagine what would make him just pick up and quit. He didn’t tell any of us where he was going. I didn’t even know they’d moved to New Hampshire until we heard that he and Lynn died in that house fire.”

“So Brian didn’t give you any clue why he left town?”

“Not a word. As I said, he looked pretty shook up, but at the time I thought it was only natural. His best friend and his wife’s sister just got killed, and now he had Neil’s kid to raise.” Bartusek fell silent for a moment, fleshy face drooping at the memory. “Poor boy’s had some damn tough breaks in life. To lose your parents when you’re only twelve.” He shook his head. “You know, I never mentioned this to Detective Parris, but some of us had a theory that it was all a mistake. Maybe the killer put a bomb aboard the wrong Cessna. Couple of big-business types keep their planes at that field. So do a few politicians, and Lord knows some of us would love to bring down their planes.” He paused. “That was a joke. Really.” He looked back and forth at the two detectives. “But I can see you don’t appreciate the humor.”

“We’ve been focusing on Neil, but what about his wife?” said Frost. “Is there any reason she might have been the target?”

“Olivia? No way. She was a sweet gal, but also a bit bland. Whenever I saw her at NASA parties, she’d be standing off in a corner, looking lost. I used to try my best to give her some attention, ’cause she was such a wallflower. But frankly, nothing she ever said was memorable. She had some boring job as a sales rep for medical equipment.”

Frost glanced at his notebook. “Leidecker Hospital Supplies.”

“Yeah, that was it. She didn’t talk much about it. The only time she got animated was when she talked about Will. The kid’s some sort of genius, just like Neil.”

“Okay, let’s go back to Neil,” said Jane. “Did he have any conflicts here at work? Any colleagues he didn’t get along with?”

“Just the usual stuff.”

“Meaning?”

“A scientist proposes a theory, stakes out a position. Sometimes he gets emotionally attached to that position when others disagree.”

“Who disagreed with Neil?”

“I can’t even remember, that’s how normal it was. He and Brian, they were always having spirited debates, but it was never hostile, you know? It was more like this egghead game between them. You get the two of them talking about debris disks, and whoosh! They’re like two rambunctious kids playing in the sandbox, tossing toys at each other.”

Frost looked up from the notes he’d been jotting. “Debris disks? What are those?”

“That was the subject of their research. It has to do with interstellar cloud cores. When they collapse, angular momentum causes them to form these spinning disks of gas and dust around baby stars.”

“They got into arguments about that?” said Jane.

“Hey, we get into arguments about everything. It’s what makes science so damn engaging. Yeah, sometimes the debates might turn personal, but we can deal with it here. We’re all big boys.” He looked down at his belly and added with an ironic sigh, “Some of us bigger than others.”

“What kind of arguments would you get into over a dirt disk?”

“Debris disks. There’s a lot of controversy about how these rings of dust and gas transform into solar systems with planets. Some say the planets form because of multiple collisions, but what makes those debris particles stick together? How does mass accumulate? How do you turn a bunch of swirling particles into a Mercury, Venus, and Earth? It’s a question we can’t answer yet. We do know ours isn’t the only solar system. There are countless planets in this galaxy alone, and many of them are in the habitable zone.”

Frost, who might as well have had TREKKIE tattooed on his forehead, rocked forward with sudden interest. “You mean we could colonize them?”

“Maybe. Habitable zone means that life in some form could exist there. At least, the carbon-based life we’re familiar with. Data from the Kepler Mission identifies a number of what we call Goldilocks planets. Not too hot, not too cold, but just right. In fact, that’s why Neil and Brian were going to Rome. To present their data to the team at the Vatican observatory.”

Frost gave a surprised laugh. “The Vatican has an observatory?”

“Quite well regarded, part of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.” He saw Frost’s raised eyebrow. “Yeah, I know, it sounds strange that this is the same church that attacked Galileo for believing the earth revolves around the sun. But their academy has some impressive astronomers. They were anxious to look over Neil and Brian’s latest research, because it has major implications. Certainly for the Vatican.”

“Why would this research concern the Catholic Church?” asked Jane.

“Because we’re talking about astrobiology, Detective Rizzoli. The study of life in the universe. Think about it. What does it mean to our perceived place in that universe if we find life on another planet? What happens to the concept of divine creation and Let there be light ? It overturns humankind’s most cherished belief, that we are unique. That God made us. It could topple the central pillar of the church.”

“Topple? Did Yablonski and Temple actually have the data to do that?”

“I don’t know that I’d call it proof, exactly.”

“They shared it with you?”

“I saw their initial analysis of data from infrared and radio telescopes. It came from one of those Goldilocks planets I was telling you about. There was carbon dioxide, water, ozone, and nitrogen. Not just the building blocks of life, but also molecules that indicate photosynthesis is taking place.”

“Which means plant life,” said Frost.

Bartusek nodded. “It was highly suggestive.”

“How come we haven’t heard about this?” said Frost. “Where was the press conference, the big White House announcement?”

“You can’t just come out and announce this stuff without being absolutely certain, or you’ll look like an idiot. You know you’ll be attacked. You know there’ll be wacko deniers of every stripe coming after you. We’d need contingency plans to deal with all the nuts who’d try to drive truck bombs into our buildings here.” He stopped to take a calming breath. “So, no. We do not make announcements, not until we can prove anything beyond a shadow of a doubt. Hell, ET himself would need to land on the White House lawn before some people would be convinced. But Neil and Brian, they felt they had enough evidence. In fact, that was one of the last things Neil told me, before he died.”

Jane stared at him. “That he had proof?”

Bartusek nodded. “Of extraterrestrial life.”

TWENTY-FOUR

JANE AND FROST WERE SILENT AS THEY DROVE TOWARD COLUMBIA, both of them stunned and trying to process what they had just heard. After their visit to NASA, this was an anticlimactic journey down a mundane highway toward the unexciting office where Olivia Yablonski worked as a medical equipment sales rep.