She knew from that moment that she didn’t love him. In fact she hated him…
1
* * *
WEDNESDAY, 7:15 A.M., MARCH 20, 1996
NEW YORK CITY
“Excuse me,” Jack Stapleton said with false civility to the darkly complected Pakistani cabdriver. “Would you care to step out of your car so we can discuss this matter fully?”
Jack was referring to the fact that the cabdriver had cut him off at the intersection of Forty-sixth Street and Second Avenue. In retaliation Jack had kicked the cab’s driver-side door when they had both stopped at a red light at Forty-fourth Street. Jack was on his Cannondale mountain bike that he used to commute to work.
This morning’s confrontation was not unusual. Jack’s daily route included a hair-raising slalom down Second Avenue from Fifty-ninth Street to Thirtieth Street at breakneck speed. There were frequent close calls with trucks and taxicabs and the inevitable arguments. Anyone else would have found the trip nerve-racking. Jack loved it. As he explained to his colleagues, it got his blood circulating.
Choosing to ignore Jack until the light turned green, the Pakistani cabdriver then cursed him soundly before speeding off.
“And to you too!” Jack yelled back. He accelerated standing up until he reached a speed equal to the traffic. Then he settled onto the seat while his legs pumped furiously.
Eventually he caught up with the offending cabdriver, but Jack ignored him. In fact, he whisked past him, squeezing between the taxi and a delivery van.
At Thirtieth Street Jack turned east, crossed First Avenue, and abruptly turned into the loading bay of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the City of New York. Jack had been working there for five months, having been offered a position as an associate medical examiner after finishing his pathology residency and a year’s fellowship in forensics.
Jack wheeled his bike past the security office and waved at the uniformed guard. Turning left, he passed the mortuary office and entered the morgue itself. Turning left again, he passed a bank of the refrigerated compartments used to store bodies prior to autopsy. In a corner where simple pine coffins were stored for unclaimed bodies heading for Hart Island, Jack parked his bike and secured it with several Kryptonite locks.
The elevator took Jack up to the first floor. It was well before eight in the morning and few of the daytime employees had arrived. Even Sergeant Murphy wasn’t in the office assigned to the police.
Passing through the communications room, Jack entered the ID area. He said hello to Vinnie Amendola, who returned the greeting without looking up from his newspaper. Vinnie was one of the mortuary techs who worked with Jack frequently.
Jack also said hello to Laurie Montgomery, one of the board-certified forensic pathologists. It was her turn in the rotation to be in charge of assigning the cases that had come in during the night. She’d been at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for four and a half years. Like Jack, she was usually one of the first to arrive in the morning.
“I see you made t into the office once again without having to come in feet first,” Laurie said teasingly. She was referring to Jack’s dangerous bike ride. “Coming in feet first” was office vernacular for arriving dead.
“Only one brush with a taxi,” Jack said. “I’m accustomed to three or four. It was like a ride in the country this morning.”
“I’m sure,” Laurie said without belief. “Personally I think you are foolhardy to ride your bike in this city. I’ve autopsied several of those daredevil bicycle messengers. Every time I see one in traffic I wonder when I’ll be seeing him in the pit.” The “pit” was office vernacular for the autopsy room.
Jack helped himself to coffee, then wandered over to the desk where Laurie was working.
“Anything particularly interesting?” Jack asked, looking over her shoulder.
“The usual gunshot wounds,” Laurie said. “Also a drug overdose.”
“Ugh,” Jack said.
“You don’t like overdoses?”
“Nah,” Jack said. “They’re all the same. I like surprises and a challenge.”
“I had a few overdoses that fit into that category during my first year,” Laurie said.