exactly what GenSys is doing there and why Franconi made the trip.’
‘Hmmm,’ Laurie said. ‘I’m starting to warm to the idea.’
After Laurie had her things ready, she and Jack took Tom’s Styrofoam
casket into the backyard. In the far corner of the garden where there
was loose loam, they dug a deep hole. The chance discovery of a rusted
spade made the job easy, and Tom was put to rest.
‘My word!’ Jack complained as he hauled Laurie’s suitcase out the front
door. ‘What did you put in here?’
‘You told me to pack for several days,’ Laurie said defensively.
‘But you didn’t have to bring your bowling ball,’ Jack quipped.
‘It’s the cosmetics,’ Laurie said. ‘They are not travel size.’
They caught a cab on First Avenue. En route to Jack’s they stopped at a
bookstore on Fifth Avenue. While Jack waited in the taxi, Laurie dashed
inside to get a book on Equatorial Guinea. Unfortunately, there weren’t
any, and she had to settle for a guidebook for all of Central Africa.
‘The clerk laughed at me when I asked for a book on Equatorial Guinea,’
Laurie said, when she got back in the cab.
‘That’s one more hint it’s not a top vacation destination,’ Jack said.
Laurie laughed. She reached over and gave Jack’s arm a squeeze. ‘I
haven’t thanked you yet for coming over,’ she said. ‘I really
appreciated it, and I’m feeling much better.’
‘I’m glad,’ Jack said.
Once in Jack’s building, Jack had to struggle with Laurie’s suitcase up
the cluttered stairs. After a series of exaggerated grunts and groans,
Laurie asked him if he wanted her to carry it. Jack told her that her
punishment for packing such a heavy bag was to listen to him complain.
Eventually, he got it outside his door. He fumbled for his key, got it
into the cylinder and turned. He heard the dead bolt snap back.
‘Hmmm,’ he commented. ‘I don’t remember double-locking the door.’ He
turned the key again to release the latch bolt and pushed open the door.
Because of the darkness, he preceded Laurie into the apartment to flip
on the light. Laurie followed and collided with him because he’d stopped
suddenly.
‘Go ahead, turn it on,’ a voice said.
Jack complied. The silhouettes he’d glimpsed a moment before were now
men dressed in long, dark coats. They were seated on Jack’s sofa, facing
into the room.
‘Oh my god!’ Laurie said. ‘It’s them!’
Franco and Angelo had made themselves at home, just as they had at
Laurie’s. They’d even helped themselves to beers. The half-empty bottles
were on the coffee table, along with a handgun and its attached
silencer. A straight-backed chair had been brought into the center of
the room to face the couch.
‘I assume you are Dr. Jack Stapleton,’ Franco said.
Jack nodded, as his mind began to go over ways of handling the
situation. He knew the front door behind him was still ajar. He berated
himself for not being more suspicious to have found it double-locked.
The problem was he’d gone out so quickly, he couldn’t remember which
locks he’d secured.
‘Don’t do anything foolish,’ Franco admonished as if reading Jack’s
mind. ‘We won’t be staying long. And if we’d known that Dr. Montgomery
was going to be here, we could have saved ourselves a trip to her place,
not to mention the effort of going over the same message twice.’
‘What is it you people are afraid we might learn that makes you want to
come and threaten us?’ Jack asked.
Franco smiled and looked at Angelo. ‘Can you believe this guy? He thinks
we made all this effort to get in here to answer questions.’
‘No respect,’ Angelo said.
‘Doc, how about getting another chair for the lady,’ Franco said to
Jack. ‘Then we can have our little talk, and we’ll be on our way.’
Jack didn’t move. He was thinking about the gun on the coffee table and
wondering which of the men was still armed. As he tried to gauge their
strength, he noticed that both were on the thin side. He figured they
were most likely out of shape.
‘Excuse me, Doc,’ Franco said. ‘Are you with us or what?’