‘She’s okay,’ Jack said, patting Lou reassuringly on the back. ‘She’s
back to her old, rational, calm self.’
‘Really?’ Lou questioned, still giving Laurie a close inspection.
Laurie couldn’t help but smile under Lou’s intense scrutiny. ‘Jack’s
right,’ she said. ‘I’m fine. In fact, I’m embarrassed I made us rush
down here.’
Lou breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Well, I’m happy to see both of you. Come
on back to my palace.’ He led the way to his office.
‘I can offer you coffee, but I strongly advise against it,’ Lou said.
‘At this time of day the janitorial staff considers it strong enough to
clean out sink drains.’
‘We’re fine,’ Laurie said. She took a chair.
Jack did likewise. He glanced around the spartan quarters with an
unpleasant shiver. The last time he’d been there about a year ago, it
had been after he’d narrowly escaped an attempt on his life.
‘I think I figured out how Franconi’s body was taken from the morgue,’
Laurie began. ‘You teased me about suspecting the Spoletto Funeral Home,
but now I think you’re going to have to take that back. In fact, I think
it’s time that you took over.’
Laurie then outlined what she thought had happened. She told Lou that
she suspected that someone from the medical examiner’s office had given
the Spoletto people the accession number of a relatively recent,
unidentified body as well as the location of Franconi’s remains.
‘Often when two drivers come to pick up a body for a funeral home, one
of them goes in the walk-in cooler while the other handles the paperwork
with the mortuary tech,’ Laurie explained. ‘In these instances, the
mortuary tech prepares the body for pickup by covering it with a sheet
and positioning its gurney in a convenient location just inside the
cooler door. In the Franconi situation, I believe the driver took the
body whose accession number he had, removed its tag, stashed the body in
one of the many unoccupied refrigerator compartments, replaced
Franconi’s tag with that one, and then calmly appeared outside the
mortuary office with Franconi’s remains. All the tech did at that point
was check the accession number.’
‘That’s quite a scenario,’ Lou said. ‘Can I ask if you have any proof of
this or is it all conjecture?’
‘I found the body whose accession number Spoletto called in,’ Laurie
said. ‘It was in a compartment which was supposed to be vacant. The name
Frank Gleason was bogus.’
‘Ahhhh!’ Lou said, becoming much more interested. He leaned forward on
his desk. ‘I’m beginning to like this very much, especially considering
the matrimonial association between the Spoletto and the Lucia people.
This could be something important. It kind’a reminds me of getting Al
Capone on tax evasion. I mean, it would be fantastic if we could get
some of the Lucia people on body theft!’
‘Of course, it also raises the specter of an organized crime connection
to illicit liver transplantation,’ Jack said. ‘This could be a
frightening association.’
‘Dangerous as well,’ Lou said. ‘So I must insist on no more amateur
sleuthing on your part. We take over from here. Do I have your word on
that?’
‘I’m happy to let you take over,’ Laurie said. ‘But there is also the
issue of a mole in the medical examiner’s office.’
‘I think it’s best I deal with that, too,’ Lou said. ‘With the
involvement of organized crime, I’d expect some element of extortion or
criminal coercion. But I’ll deal directly with Bingham. I shouldn’t have
to warn you that these people are dangerous.’
‘I learned that lesson all too well,’ Laurie said.
‘I’m too preoccupied with my end of the mystery to interfere,’ Jack
said. ‘What did you learn for me?’
‘Plenty,’ Lou said. He reached over to the corner of his desk and hefted
a large book the size of a coffee-table art book. With a grunt, he
handed it to Jack.
With a look of confusion, Jack cracked the book. ‘What the hell!’ he
commented. ‘What’s an atlas for?’
‘Because you’re going to need it,’ Lou said. ‘I can’t tell you how long
it took me to scrounge one up here at police headquarters.’