Together, they cabbed down to the medical examiner’s office. When they
walked into the ID room Vinnie lowered his newspaper and looked at them
as if they were ghosts.
‘What are you guys doing here?’ he asked with a voice that broke. He
cleared his throat.
‘What kind of question is that?’ Jack asked. ‘We work here, Vinnie. Have
you forgotten?’
‘I just didn’t think you two were on call,’ Vinnie said. He hastily took
a drink from his coffee cup before coughing again.
Jack and Laurie went to the coffee urn. ‘He’s been in a weird mood for
the last couple of days,’ Jack whispered.
Laurie glanced back at Vinnie over her shoulder. Vinnie had gone back
behind his newspaper.
‘That was a strange reaction,’ she agreed. ‘I noticed he was nervous
around me yesterday.’
Jack and Laurie’s eyes met. They regarded each other for a moment.
‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ Laurie asked.
‘Maybe,’ Jack said. ‘It kind of fits. He certainly has access.’
‘I think we should say something to Lou,’ Laurie said. ‘I’d hate it to
be Vinnie, but we have to find out who’s been giving out confidential
information around here.’
Conveniently for Laurie, her week-long rotation as the day chief was
over, and Paul Plodgett’s was starting. Paul was already at the desk,
going over the cases that had come in the previous night. Laurie and
Jack told him they were planning on taking vacation time and wanted to
skip doing any autopsies that day unless there was a glut. Paul assured
them that the case load was light.
Laurie was more politically minded than Jack, and it was her opinion
that they should approach Calvin about their vacation plans before they
talked with Bingham. Jack bowed to her better judgment. Calvin’s
response was to merely grunt that they could have given more notice.
As soon as Bingham arrived, Laurie and Jack went to his office. He
regarded them curiously over the tops of his wire-rimmed glasses. He was
clutching the morning mail, which he was in the process of going
through.
‘You want two weeks starting today?’ he questioned with disbelief.
‘What’s the rush? Is this some sort of an emergency?’
‘We’re planning on an adventure-type trip,’ Jack said. ‘We’d like to
leave this evening.’
Bingham’s watery eyes went back and forth between Laurie and Jack. ‘You
two aren’t planning on getting married, are you?’
‘Not that adventuresome,’ Jack said.
Laurie sputtered with laughter. ‘We’re sorry not to have given more
notice,’ she said. ‘The reason for the haste is because last night both
of us were threatened over the Franconi case.’
‘Threatened?’ Bingham questioned. ‘Does it have anything to do with that
shiner you’ve got?’
‘I’m afraid so,’ Laurie said. She’d tried to cover the bruise with
makeup but had only been partially successful.
‘Who was behind these threats?’ Bingham asked.
‘One of the New York crime families,’ Laurie said. ‘Lieutenant Louis
Soldano offered to fill you in on it as well as talk to you about a
possible mole for the crime family here in the medical examiner’s
office. We think we have figured out how Franconi’s body was taken from
here.’
‘I’m listening,’ Bingham said. He put the mail down and leaned back in
his chair.
Laurie explained the story, emphasizing that the Spoletto Funeral Home
had to have been given the accession number of the unidentified case.
‘Did Detective Soldano think it wise for you two to leave town?’ Bingham
asked.
‘Yes, he did,’ Laurie said.
‘Fine,’ Bingham said. ‘Then you’re out of here. Am I supposed to call
Soldano or is he calling me?’
‘It was our understanding that he was going to call you,’ Laurie said.
‘Good,’ Bingham said. Then he looked directly at Jack. ‘What about the
liver issue?’
‘That’s up in the air,’ Jack said. ‘I’m still waiting on some more
tests.’
Bingham nodded and commented: ‘This case is a goddamned pain in the ass.
Just make sure I’m informed cf any breaking news while you’re away. I
don’t want any surprises.’ He looked down at his desk and picked up the
mail. ‘You people have a good trip and send me a postcard.’
Laurie and Jack went out into the hall and smiled at each other.