Chromosome 6. Chapter 16-2
Chapter 16-2
After promises to talk with each other by phone that evening,
specifically about the weekend plans, Laurie headed to her own office.
With good intentions she sat down at her desk and started to go through
the lab reports and other correspondence that had come in that day
involving her uncompleted cases. But she found it difficult to
concentrate.
Jack’s generosity in crediting her with providing the breakthrough in
the Franconi case only made her feel guilty for not coming up with a
working hypothesis about how Franconi’s body was taken. Seeing the
effort Jack was expending on the case made her want to redouble her
efforts.
Pulling out a fresh sheet of paper, Laurie began to write down
everything Marvin had related. Her intuition told her that Franconi’s
mysterious abduction had to involve the two bodies that went out the
same night. And now that Lou had said the Lucia crime family was
implicated, she was more convinced than ever that the Spoletto Funeral
Home was somehow involved.
Raymond replaced the phone and raised his eyes to Darlene who’d come
into his study.
‘Well?’ Darlene asked. She had her blond hair pulled back into a
ponytail. She’d been working out on an exercise bike in the other room
and was clothed in sexy workout gear.
Raymond leaned back in his desk chair and sighed. He even smiled.
‘Things seem to be working out,’ he said. ‘That was the GenSys
operational officer up in Cambridge, Mass. The plane will be available
tomorrow evening so I’ll be on my way to Africa. Of course, we’ll stop
to refuel, but I don’t know where yet.’
‘Can I come?’ Darlene asked hopefully.
‘I’m afraid not, dear,’ Raymond said. He reached out and took her by the
hand. He knew he’d been difficult over the previous couple of days and
felt badly. He guided her around the desk and urged her to sit on his
lap. As soon as she did, he was sorry. She was, after all, a big woman.
‘With the patient and the surgical team, there’ll be too many people on
the plane on the return trip,’ he managed, even though his face was
becoming red.
Darlene sighed and pouted. ‘I never get to go anywhere.’
‘Next time,’ Raymond croaked. He patted her on her back and eased her up
into a standing position. ‘It’s just a short trip. There and back. It’s
not going to be fun.’
With a sudden burst of tears Darlene fled from the room. Raymond
considered following her to console her, but a glance at his desk clock
changed his mind. It was after three and therefore after nine in Cogo.
If he wanted to talk to Siegfried, he felt he’d better try now.
Raymond called the manager’s home. The housekeeper put Siegfried on the
line.
‘Things still going okay?’ Raymond asked expectantly.
‘Perfectly,’ Siegfried said. ‘My last update on the patient’s condition
was fine. He couldn’t be doing any better.’
‘That’s reassuring,’ Raymond said.
‘I suppose that means our harvest bonuses will be forthcoming,’
Siegfried said.
‘Of course,’ Raymond said, although he knew there would be a delay. With
the necessity of raising twenty thousand cash for Vinnie Dominick,
bonuses would have to wait until the next initiation fee came in.
‘What about the situation with Kevin Marshall?’ Raymond asked.
‘Everything is back to normal,’ Siegfried said. ‘Except for one incident
when they went back to the staging area around lunch time.’
‘That hardly sounds normal,’ Raymond complained.
‘Calm down,’ Siegfried said. ‘They only went back to look for Melanie
Becket’s sunglasses. Nevertheless, they ended up getting fired at again
by the soldiers I’d posted out there.’ Siegfried laughed heartily.
Raymond waited until Siegfried had calmed down.
‘What’s so funny?’ Raymond asked.
‘Those numbskull soldiers shot out Melanie’s rear window,’ Siegfried
said. ‘It made her very angry, but it had the desired effect. Now I’m
really sure they won’t be going out there again.’
‘I should hope not,’ Raymond said.
‘Besides, I had an opportunity to have a drink with the two women this
afternoon,’ Siegfried said. ‘I have a feeling our nerdy researcher has
something risque going on.’