“That was yesterday, I read about that yesterday. You mean it happened again?”
“The bombing happened yesterday morning during rush hour. But I just found out about Mark. Our legal in London just notified me.”
“You’re sure? You’re absolutely sure?”
“Jesus, I’m sorry, Kay.”
“They’ve identified him with certainty?”
“With certainty.’
“You’re sure. I mean . . “
“Kay. I’m at home. I can be there in an hour.”
“No, no.”
“I was shivering all over but could not cry. I wandered through my house, moaning quietly and wringing my hands.
“But you did not know this Charles Hale prior to his being injured in the bombing, Dr. Scarpetta. Why would you give him ten thousand dollars?”
Patterson dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief.
“He and his wife have wanted children and could not have them.”
“And how would you know such an intimate detail about strangers?”
“Benton Wesley told me, and I responded by suggesting Bourne Hall, the leading research facility for in vitro fertilization. IVF is not covered by national health insurance.”
“Bur you said the bombing was way back in February. You just wrote the check in November.”
“I did not know about the Hales’ problem until this past fall, when the FBI had a photo spread for Mr. Hale to look at and somehow learned of his difficulties. I’d told Benton long ago to let me know if there was ever anything I could do for Mr. Hale.’
“Then you took it upon yourself to finance in vitro fertilization for strangers?” Patter asked as if I’d just told him that I believed in leprechauns.
“Yes.”
“Are you a saint, Dr. Scarpetta?”
“‘No.”
“Then. please explain Your motivation.”
“Charles Hale tried to help Mark.”
“Tried to help him?” Patterson was pacing. “Tried to help him buy a ticket or catch a train or find the men’s room? Just what is it that you mean?”
“Mark was conscious briefly, and Charles Hale was seriously injured on the ground next to him. He tried to move rubble off Mark. He talked to him, took off his jacket, and wrapped it around . . . He, uh, tried to stop the hemorrhaging. He did everything he could. There was nothing that would have saved him, but he wasn’t alone. I am so grateful for that. Now there will be a new life in the world, and I am thankful I could do something in return. It helps. There is at least some meaning. No. I’m not a saint. The need was mine, too. When I helped the Hales, I was helping me.”
The room was so quiet it was as if it were empty.
The woman wearing red lipstick leaned forward a little to get Patterson’s attention.
“I expect Charlie Hale is way over there in England. But I wonder if we could subpoena Benton Wesley?”
“It’s not necessary to subpoena either one of them,” I answered. “Both of them are here.”
When the foreman informed Patterson that the special grand jury had refused to indict, I was not there to see it. Nor was I present when Grueman was told. As soon as I had finished testifying, I had begun frantically looking for Marino.
“I saw him come out of the men’s room maybe a half hour ago,” said a uniformed officer I found smoking a by a water fountain. “Can you try him on your radio?” I asked.
Shrugging, he unfastened his radio from his belt and asked the dispatcher to raise Marino. Marino did not respond. I took the stairs and broke into a trot when I got outside. When I was in my car, I locked the doors and started the engine. I grabbed the phone and tried headquarters, which was directly across the street from the courthouse. While a detective in the squad room told me that Marino wasn’t in, I drove through the lot in back looking for his white Ford LTD. It. wasn’t there. Then I pulled into an empty reserved place and called Neils Vander.
“You remember the burglary on Franklin – the prints you recently ran that matched up with Waddell?”
“The burglary in which the eiderdown vest was-.”
“That’s the one.”