“How’s he been irritating everyone?” Lou asked.
“He has it in his mind that a series of infectious diseases that have appeared over at the General have been spread intentionally.”
“You mean like by a terrorist or something?” Lou asked.
“I suppose,” Laurie said.
“You know this is sounding familiar,” Lou said.
Laurie nodded. “I remember how I felt about that series of overdoses five years ago and the fact that no one believed me.”
“What do you think of your friend’s theory?” Lou said. “By the way, what’s his name?”
“Jack Stapleton,” Laurie said. “As to his theory, I don’t really have all the facts.”
“Come on, Laurie,” Lou said. “I know you better than that. Tell me your opinion.”
“I think he’s seeing conspiracy because he wants to see conspiracy,” Laurie said. “His officemate told me he has a long-standing grudge against the health-care giant AmeriCare, which owns the General.”
“But even so, that doesn’t explain the gang connection or the fact that he might have knowledge of the woman’s murder. What’re the names of the homicide victims?”
“Elizabeth Holderness and Reginald Winthrope,” Laurie said.
Lou wrote down the names in the small black notebook he carried.
“There wasn’t much criminologist work done on either case,” Laurie said.
“You of all people know how limited our personnel is,” Lou said. “Did they have a preliminary motive for the woman?”
“Robbery,” Laurie said. “Rape?”
“How about the man?” Lou asked.
“He was a member of a gang,” Laurie said. “He was shot in the head at relatively close range.”
“Unfortunately, that’s all too common,” Lou said. “We don’t spend a lot of time investigating those. Did the autopsies show anything?”
“Nothing unusual,” Laurie said.
“Do you think your friend Dr. Stapleton comprehends how dangerous these gangs can be?” Lou asked. “I have a feeling that he’s walking on the edge.”
“I don’t know much about him,” Laurie said. “But he’s not a New Yorker. He’s from the Midwest.”
“Uh-oh,” Lou said. “I think I’d better have a talk with him about the realities of city life, and I’d better do it sooner rather than later. He might not be around long.”
“Don’t say that,” Laurie said.
“Is your interest in him more than professional?” Lou asked.
“Now let’s not get into that kind of discussion,” Laurie said. “But the answer is no.”
“Don’t get steamed up,” Lou said. “I just like to know the lay of the land.” He stood up. “Anyway, I’ll help the guy, and it sounds like he needs help.”
“Thank you, Lou,” Laurie said. She got up herself and gave the detective another hug. “I’ll have him call you.”
“Do that,” Lou said.
Leaving Laurie’s office, Lou took the elevator down to the first floor. Walking through the communications area, he stopped in to see Sergeant Murphy, who was permanently assigned to the medical examiner’s office. After they talked for a while about the prospects of the Yankees and the Mets in the upcoming baseball season, Lou sat down and put his feet up on the corner of the sergeant’s desk.
“Tell me something, Murph,” Lou said. “What’s your honest take on this new doctor by the name of Jack Stapleton?”
After having fled from the drugstore, Jack had run the length of the alley and then another four blocks before stopping. When he had, he was winded from the exertion. In between breaths he heard the undulating wails of converging police sirens. He assumed the police were on their way to the store. He hoped that Slam had fared as well as he.
Jack walked until both his breathing and his pulse were back to a semblance of normal. He was still shaking. The experience in the store had unnerved him as much as the ordeal in the park, even though the store episode had taken only seconds. The knowledge that once again he’d been stalked in an attempt to kill him was mind numbing.
Additional sirens now competed with the normal clatter of the city, and Jack wondered if he should go back to the scene to talk to the police and perhaps help if anyone had been struck with a bullet. But Warren’s admonitions about talking to the police about gang affairs came to mind. After all, Warren had been right about Jack needing his protection. If it had not been for Slam, Jack sensed he would have been killed.