Chromosome 6. Chapter 16-1
CHAPTER 16-1
———-
MARCH 6, 1997
2:30 P.M.
NEW YORK CITY
WITH all the tests on Franconi pending, Jack had forced himself to go to
his office and try to concentrate on some of his other outstanding
cases. To his surprise, he’d made reasonable headway until the phone
rang at two-thirty.
‘Is this Dr. Stapleton?’ a female voice with an Italian accent asked.
‘It is indeed,’ Jack said. ‘Is this Mrs. Franconi?’
‘Imogene Franconi. I got a message to call you.’
‘I appreciate it, Mrs. Franconi,’ Jack said. ‘First let me extend my
sympathies to you in regards to your son.’
‘Thank you,’ Imogene said. ‘Carlo was a good boy. He didn’t do any of
those things they said in the newspapers. He worked for the American
Fresh Fruit Company here in Queens. I don’t know where all that talk
about organized crime came from. The newspapers just make stuff up.’
‘It’s terrible what they’ll do to sell papers,’ Jack said.
‘The man that came this morning said that you got his body back,’
Imogene said.
‘We believe so,’ Jack said. ‘That’s why we needed some blood from you to
confirm it. Thank you for being cooperative.’
‘I asked him why he didn’t want me to come down there and identify it
like I did last time,’ Imogene said. ‘But he told me he didn’t know.’
Jack tried to think of a graceful way of explaining the identity
problem, but he couldn’t think of any. ‘Some parts of the body are still
missing,’ he said vaguely, hoping that Mrs. Franconi would be satisfied.
‘Oh?’ Imogene commented.
‘Let me tell you why I called,’ Jack said quickly. He was afraid that if
Mrs. Franconi became offended, she might not be receptive to his
question. ‘You told the investigator that your son’s health had improved
after a trip. Do you remember saying that?’
‘Of course,’ Imogene said.
‘I was told you don’t know where he went,’ Jack said. ‘Is there any way
you could find out?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Imogene said. ‘He told me it had nothing to do with
his work and that it was very private.’
‘Do you remember when it was?’ Jack asked.
‘Not exactly,’ Imogene said. ‘Maybe five or six weeks ago.’
‘Was it in this country?’ Jack asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Imogene said. ‘All he said was that it was very
private.’
‘If you find out where it was, would you give me a call back?’ Jack
asked.
‘I suppose,’ Imogene said.
‘Thank you,’ Jack said.
‘Wait,’ Imogene said. ‘I just remembered he did say something strange
just before he left. He said that if he didn’t come back that he loved
me very much.’
‘Did that surprise you?’ Jack asked.
‘Well, yes,’ Imogene said. ‘I thought that was a fine thing to say to
your mother.’
Jack thanked Mrs. Franconi again and hung up the phone. Hardly had he
had his hand off the receiver when it rang again. It was Ted Lynch.
‘I think you’d better come up here,’ Ted said.
‘I’m on my way,’ Jack said.
Jack found Ted sitting at his desk, literally scratching his head.
‘If I didn’t know better I’d think you were trying to put one over on
me,’ Ted spat. ‘Sit down!’
Jack sat. Ted was holding a ream of computer-generated paper plus a
number of sheets of developed film with hundreds of small dark bands.
Ted reached over and dropped the mass into Jack’s lap.
‘What the hell’s this?’ Jack questioned. He picked up several of the
celluloid sheets and held them up to the light.
Ted leaned over and with the eraser end of an old-fashioned wooden
pencil pointed to the films. ‘These are the results of the DNA
polymarker test.’ He fingered the computer printout. ‘And this mass of
data compares the nucleotide sequences of the DQ alpha regions of the
MHC.’
‘Come on, Ted!’ Jack urged. ‘Talk English to me, would you please? You
know I’m a babe in the woods when it comes to this stuff.’
‘Fine,’ Ted exclaimed as if vexed. ‘The polymarker test shows that
Franconi’s DNA and the DNA of the liver tissue you found inside him