nothing goes to the media unless it goes through me. Understand?’
‘As clear as a crystal,’ Jack said.
Jack could rarely find an excuse to get out on his mountain bike during
the day, so that it was with a good deal of pleasure that he pedaled
with the traffic up First Avenue on his way to visit Dr. Daniel Levitz.
There was no sun, but the temperature was pleasantly in the fifties,
heralding the coming spring. For Jack, spring was the best season in New
York City.
With his bike safely secured to a no parking sign, Jack walked up to the
sidewalk entrance of Dr. Daniel Levitz’s office. Jack had called ahead
to make sure the doctor was in, but he’d specifically avoided making an
appointment. It was Jack’s feeling that a surprise visit might be more
fruitful. If Franconi had had a transplant, there was definitely
something surreptitious about it.
‘Your name please?’ the silver-haired matronly receptionist asked.
Jack flashed open his medical examiner badge. Its shiny surface and
official appearance confused most people into thinking it was a police
badge. In situations like this, Jack didn’t explain the difference. The
badge never failed to cause a reaction.
‘I must see the doctor,’ Jack said, slipping his badge back inside his
pocket. ‘The sooner the better.’
When the receptionist regained her voice, she asked for Jack’s name.
When he gave it, he left off the title of doctor so as not to clarify
the nature of his employ.
The receptionist immediately scraped back her chair and disappeared into
the depths of the office.
Jack’s eyes roamed the waiting room. It was generous in size and
lavishly decorated. It was a far cry from the utilitarian waiting room
he’d had when he’d been a practicing ophthalmologist. That had been
before the retraining necessitated by the managed-care invasion. To
Jack, it seemed like a previous life, and in many ways it was.
There were five well-dressed people in the waiting room. All eyed Jack
clandestinely as they continued to peruse their respective magazines. As
they noisily flipped the pages, Jack sensed an aura of irritation, as if
they knew he was about to upset the schedule and relegate them to
additional waiting. Jack hoped none of them were notorious crime figures
who might consider such an inconvenience a reason for revenge.
The receptionist reappeared, and with embarrassing subservience, she
guided Jack back to the doctor’s private study. Once Jack was inside,
she closed the door.
Dr. Levitz was not in the room. Jack sat in one of the two chairs facing
the desk and surveyed the surroundings. There were the usual framed
diplomas and licenses, the family pictures, and even the stacks of
unread medical journals. It was all familiar to Jack and gave him a
shudder. From his current vantage point, he wondered how he’d lasted as
long as he had in a similar, confining environment.
Dr. Daniel Levitz came through a second door. He was dressed in his
white coat complete with pocket full of tongue depressors and assorted
pens. A stethoscope hung from his neck. Compared with Jack’s muscular,
thick-shouldered, six-foot frame, Dr. Levitz was rather short and almost
fragile in appearance.
Jack immediately noticed the man’s nervous tics, which involved slight
twists and nods of his head. Dr. Levitz gave no indication he was aware
of these movements. He shook hands stiffly with Jack and then retreated
behind the vast expanse of his desk.
‘I’m very busy,’ Dr. Levitz said. ‘But, of course, I always have time
for the police.’
‘I’m not the police,’ Jack said. ‘I’m Dr. Jack Stapleton from the Office
of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York.’
Dr. Levitz’s head twitched as did his sparse mustache. He appeared to
swallow. ‘Oh,’ he commented.
‘I wanted to talk to you briefly about one of your patients,’ Jack said.
‘My patients’ conditions are confidential,’ Dr. Levitz said, as if by
rote.
‘Of course,’ Jack said. He smiled. ‘That is, of course, until they have
died and become a medical examiner’s case. You see, I want to ask you
about Mr. Carlo Franconi.’
Jack watched as Dr. Levitz went through a number of bizarre motions,