‘Shoot,’ Lou said.
Jack outlined the reasons for his belief that Carlo Franconi might have
traveled abroad for his liver transplant. He added that according to the
man’s mother, he’d taken a trip to a supposed spa four to six weeks
previously.
‘What I want to know is, is there a way to find out by talking to
Customs if Franconi left the country recently, and if so, where did he
go?’
‘Either Customs or the Immigration and Naturalization,’ Lou said. ‘Your
best bet would be Immigration unless, of course, he brought back so much
stuff he had to pay duty. Besides, I have a friend in Immigration. That
way I can get the information much faster than going through the usual
bureaucratic channels. Want me to check?’
‘I’d love it,’ Jack said. ‘This case is bugging the hell out of me.’
‘My pleasure,’ Lou said. ‘As I said this morning, I owe you.’
Jack hung up the phone with a tiny glimmer of hope that he’d thought of
a new angle. Feeling a bit more optimistic, he leaned forward, looked
into his microscope, and began to focus.
Laurie’s day had not gone anything like she’d anticipated. She’d planned
on doing only one autopsy but ended up doing two. And then George
Fontworth ran into trouble with his multiple gunshot wound case, and
Laurie volunteered to help him. Even with no lunch, Laurie didn’t get
out of the pit until three.
After changing into her street clothes, Laurie was on her way up to her
office when she caught sight of Marvin in the mortuary office. He’d just
come on duty and was busy putting the office in order after the tumult
of a normal day. Laurie made a detour and stuck her head in the door.
‘We found Franconi’s X rays,’ she said. ‘And it turned out that floater
that came in the other night was our missing man.’
‘I saw it in the paper,’ Marvin said. ‘Far out.’
‘The X rays made the identification,’ Laurie said. ‘So I’m extra glad
you took them.’
‘It’s my job,’ Marvin said.
‘I wanted to apologize again for suggesting you didn’t take them,’
Laurie said.
‘No problem,’ Marvin said.
Laurie got about four steps away, when she turned around and returned to
the mortuary office. This time she entered and closed the door behind
her.
Marvin looked at her questioningly.
‘Would you mind if I asked you a question just between you and me?’
Laurie asked.
‘I guess not,’ Marvin said warily.
‘Obviously, I’ve been interested in how Franconi’s body was stolen from
here,’ Laurie said. ‘That’s why I talked to you the afternoon before
last. Remember?’
‘Of course,’ Marvin said.
‘I also came in that night and talked with Mike Passano,’ Laurie said.
‘So I heard,’ Marvin said.
‘I bet you did,’ Laurie said. ‘But believe me I wasn’t accusing Mike of
anything.’
‘I hear you,’ Marvin said. ‘He can be sensitive now and then.’
‘I can’t figure out how the body was stolen,’ Laurie said. ‘Between Mike
and security, there was always someone here.’
Marvin shrugged. ‘I don’t know, either,’ he said. ‘Believe me.’
‘I understand,’ Laurie said. ‘I’m sure you would have said something to
me if you had any suspicions. But that’s not what I wanted to ask. My
feeling at this point is that there had to be some help from inside. Is
there any employee here at the morgue that you think might have been
involved in this somehow? That’s my question.’
Marvin thought for a minute and then shook his head. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘It had to have happened on Mike’s shift,’ Laurie said. ‘The two
drivers, Pete and Jeff, do you know them very well?’
‘Nope,’ Marvin said. ‘I mean, I’ve seen them around and even talked with
them a few times, but since we’re on different shifts, we don’t have a
lot of con tact.’
‘But you don’t have any reason to suspect them?’
‘Nope, no more than anybody else,’ Marvin said.
‘Thanks,’ Laurie said. ‘I hope my question didn’t make you feel
uncomfortable.’
‘No problem,’ Marvin said.
Laurie thought for a minute, while she absently chewed on her lower lip.
She knew she was missing something. ‘I have an idea,’ she said suddenly.