Genesis

Chapter 28

May 10th

7:52 A.M.

Similar to Laurie’s assessment, Jack found Aria to be a talented prosector. She handled the scalpel with confidence and precision. Although he was prepared to offer criticism or suggestions about her technique, he didn’t feel it was necessary. Best of all from his perspective, she became totally engrossed and worked silently, so his ears had a break from the vulgar language. In short order she had the body open with the breastbone, ribs, and intestines in view. Taking bone shears from Vinnie, she quickly cut through the ribs, exactly as Jack would have done, and reflected the breastbone cephalad. Jack generally removed the breastbone, but it wasn’t necessary, and he didn’t interfere. Next Aria reflected the thymic fat pad to expose the pericardium of the heart.

“It all looks normal to me,” she said to no one in particular as she proceeded to run the balls of her fingers over the heart still covered by its pericardium. Without looking up at Jack, she asked him if he wanted to feel it as well.

“It’s not necessary,” Jack said. “I trust your judgment, and it looks normal to me, too.”

Wasting no time, Aria took a couple of clamps and dissecting scissors from Vinnie and opened the pericardium to expose the heart itself. Using her right hand, she palpated the softball-size organ and commented that it, too, seemed entirely normal. After she pulled her hand away, Jack reached in and did the same, with the same conclusion. Taking a large syringe outfitted with a fourteen-gauge needle, Aria lifted the base of the heart high enough to get a look at the posterior aspect of the left atrium. After inserting the needle through the atrial wall, she took a sizable blood sample for Toxicology.

With that job out of the way, she double-clamped all the major cardiac veins and arteries and cut them, freeing up the heart. While she did this, she used the opportunity to look for any large clots, particularly in the veins. “So far no emboli,” she announced. She then lifted the heart out of its bed, where it had been nestled between the two lungs. She weighed it and then put it on a cutting board that Vinnie had brought over along with a standard butcher knife. During the next fifteen minutes Aria carefully opened the heart to peer at the various heart valves. Then using fine dissecting scissors, she began painstakingly tracing out each coronary artery.

Around 8:15 other medical examiners and mortuary techs started to appear in the autopsy room to begin their cases. A number of them detoured to take a peek at the subway case because of its morbid appeal. Those who did asked a few questions, and some even indulged in a bit of dark humor. But each interaction was short-lived as Jack made it plain that he was intent on watching Aria. That was the case until Chet showed up when she was busy with the coronary arteries. Sensing it was an opportune moment, Jack pulled Chet to the side, out of her earshot.

“My God,” Jack said under his breath. “She is a trip!”

“I told you so,” Chet said with apparent satisfaction.

“I almost lost it when we first started,” Jack said. “In retrospect, I’m embarrassed my reaction was so over the top. I came close to literally throwing her out of the pit. Her language would make the proverbial sailor blush.”

“Tell me about it.” Chet chuckled behind his hand.

“You won’t believe this, but she knew the patient personally,” Jack said. “That was what keyed off her orgy of profanity. She was mad the person got hit by a train and died because she was supposed to help her. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a worse case of self-centered lack of empathy in my life.”

“I can tell you that she’s not been concerned about my feelings,” Chet said. “I’ve been victimized by her profanity, too. I mean, I’m not as bothered by profanity as you are, but in my case it was specifically directed at me.”

“Did you really ask her to have a drink sometime?” Jack said. “You should have your head examined. Especially in this day and age and you essentially being her boss. What were you thinking?”

“Hey, I wasn’t thinking,” Chet confessed. “I’d just met her, she said she was single, and there was something vaguely appealing about her before she opened her foul mouth.”

“You must be more desperate than I realized,” Jack said. “She’s the last person you should have a drink with, so in some ways maybe she did you a favor. Anyway, Laurie asked me to help you with her, God knows why, with my short fuse. So how can I help?”

“You’re already helping, bro,” Chet said. “You’ve kept her entertained two days in a row. I owe you.” Chet glanced around Jack and watched Aria for a beat as she was examining the heart. “Are you letting her do the case like Laurie did?”

“I am,” Jack said. “I hadn’t necessarily planned it, but after what Laurie said yesterday, I thought it might be best for everyone. She’s got good hands, and she’s definitely savvy.”

“I’m running out of people to ask to let her assist,” Chet said. “She pretty much turns everybody off.”

“I’ve got another case that I know of after this one,” Jack said. “Why don’t you let her stay with me. I’ll offer her that case, too. At least that will let you get through today. And who knows, if she continues to act like she has during this case, I can tolerate her.”

“You got her,” Chet said. “Have fun!”

“Yeah, sure,” Jack said. He turned away and walked back to where she was working on the heart. He could tell she was nearly finished.

“I’m surprised, but this is a normal heart,” Aria said when she became aware of Jack’s presence. She stepped to the side so Jack could take a look at the opened organ. “There are absolutely no signs of any heart disease or congenital abnormalities like I expected. Of course, we can’t rule out a channelopathy, but if she had a channelopathy, chances are there would have been a history of cardiac rhythm problems. The MLI report says there was none, so we’re back to square one.”

“I’m surprised, too,” Jack said as he picked up the heart and quickly glanced at its interior and at the coronary vessels. A moment later he put the organ back on the cutting board. “I agree. The heart’s clean. I would have put money on some anatomical cardiac abnormality. I guess we’ll have to wait for Toxicology to provide us with some answers, or Molecular Biology concerning the possibility of a channelopathy. We are certainly going to need to get her entire hospital record for this latest Bellevue admission and any other hospitalization she’s had while growing up in Missouri. Meanwhile, why don’t you go ahead and finish this case?”

The rest of the autopsy proceeded rapidly as there was no pathology to speak of except for the skull portion, where it was important to expose the fracture lines. As soon as Aria was finished, she stripped off her double-layered gloves, tossed them onto the cadaver, and started for the door. Jack, who was finishing a diagram of Madison’s external injuries, had been planning on making sure that she didn’t do a repeat of her disappearing act like she’d done the previous day, but she again took him by surprise.

“Hey!” Jack called out. “Dr. Nichols! Hold up.”

Still holding the diagram and the pencil he was using, Jack caught up with Aria, who had gotten halfway to the exit. “This is not how we MEs end autopsies here at the OCME,” he said. “It’s customary to help get the body off the table as well as organize the specimen jars, decontaminate them, and make sure they are all labeled properly.”

She went up on her tiptoes to see over Jack’s shoulder. She could see that Vinnie was guiding one of the gurneys next to the autopsy table. She looked at Jack. They were both still wearing plastic facial shields, and neither could really see the other’s expression. “I’m not an ME nor am I a mortuary technician,” Aria declared as if the issue wasn’t up for discussion. “And I’ve got something more important to do. I have to check my phone about getting information on the case I did with Dr. Montgomery.”

“You’re scheduled to be with me for the next autopsy,” Jack said. “I’m going to suggest you do that one, too, but I expect you to carry your own weight, which means helping out.”

“I’ll be back,” Aria said. “I appreciate you letting me actually do the case rather than having me just standing around sucking my thumb. And it is damn appropriate, considering in a month I’ll be in my last year as a pathology resident. But I’m not a mortuary technician, nor a janitor.”

“This isn’t an argument,” Jack said. “Vinnie needs some help because all the other mortuary technicians are busy, which you could see if you just looked around. And I have to go upstairs to see the chief in between cases.” Jack was dying to find out if Laurie had heard from her surgeon about when her surgery was to take place. He was afraid it was going to be as soon as tomorrow.

“That’s their problem, not mine,” Aria said dismissively. “I became a doctor so I didn’t have to do that kind of shit.” She turned around and recommenced heading for the door.

Once again Jack was dumbfounded, and before he gave any thought to the propriety of what he was about to do, he quickly caught up to her and grabbed her left arm just above the elbow, yanking her to a stop. Aria reacted with even more speed by twirling around and using a karate-like blow to free her arm. “Don’t you dare touch me,” she snarled, loud enough for most people in the pit to hear.

The background conversation and activity in the autopsy room suddenly stopped, and for the briefest moment there was a pregnant silence as people either turned their heads or raised their eyes to stare at the two people glaring at each other. But then Aria broke off and continued to the door, which she shoved open with an outstretched hand, like a football player stiff-arming an opponent.

In the next instant all the conversations and activities in the room resumed as if nothing had happened. Jack took a deep breath, realizing that he had his fists balled despite still holding the pencil and the now crumpled trauma diagram. With a twinge of embarrassment, he glanced around to see if anyone was still looking at him, but no one seemed to until he locked eyes with Chet, who immediately came over.

“What on earth was that about?” he asked in a forced whisper.

“I almost lost it again,” Jack said with a shake of his head. “She certainly knows how to push buttons. I was just trying to get her to help clean up and prepare for the next case.”

“Did she tell you to fuck off like she told me?” Chet questioned with a smirk.

Jack shot his former roommate a sharp glance. They had shared an office at the OCME for several years, back when they’d been first employed. “Don’t you start,” Jack warned, but then added a laugh. He knew that Chet was teasing him, and he knew he deserved it.

“Do you want to renege on having to put up with her for another case?” Chet asked. “I’m sure I could find someone. Maybe you deserve a rest.”

“No, I’ll do it,” Jack said. “I told Laurie I’d help with her, and I’ll see it through. It’s my cross to bear.”

“What about tomorrow, if I’m not being too bold to ask?”

“Sure, why not?” Jack said. “By then I should be immune.”

Aria couldn’t quite believe it. The moment she had started to think that her rotation through Forensic Pathology wasn’t that bad and wasn’t a total waste of time, someone tried to shame her into acting like a maidservant. She’d found the mortuary technicians hard to bear, as they all had gigantic chips on their shoulders. There was no way she was about to let them shame her into doing their job.

Pushing into the locker room, Aria first used the toilet. Then she went to get her phone. As soon as she opened it, she was encouraged. Vijay Srinivasan had sent her a text a little after eight. It wasn’t a newsy message because all it said was for her to call him. Although the phone signal wasn’t all that great in the locker room, she placed the call. It went through okay, but then she had to wait for Vijay to be found. Since the office was essentially one big room, she wondered why it took so long.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Vijay said when he finally came on the line and before even saying hello. “I was on the other phone, but I was working on your leukemia project, so I deserve a bit of leeway.”

“Are you making any headway?” Aria asked, eschewing small talk as usual.

“We are indeed,” Vijay said. “That was the reason I asked you to call. The kits were completed for the mother and the child overnight by keeping our lab open instead of closing by five, which is our usual time. By the way, we have given them the names Hansel and Gretel with the child being Hansel, of course, and the mother being Gretel, and the witch being leukemia. Don’t ask me how the names came about because it should be mother and son and not brother and sister, but I wasn’t consulted. It was a team decision. If I had to guess, I’d say it was the product of one of our best programmers having been a literature major.”

“I’d much rather hear about your progress,” Aria said impatiently.

“As soon as the kits were available the team went to work,” Vijay said. “We created phased kits, including an evil twin, and uploaded all of it into our system. Our software automatically created a Lazarus kit for the missing father by phasing the child and the evil twin against the mother, but that’s probably more detailed than you want to hear. The long and short of it is that we got a match right off the bat that has proven to be one better in terms of a generation than what the people got with the first match associated with the Golden State Killer’s DNA. We have been able to find a paternal great-great-grandfather of Hansel with a family name of Thompson using Y-DNA testing, which, as you know, is inherited through the paternal line. And of particular significance it has already been confirmed as IBD, or identical-by-descent. Next we are going to upload the kits into GEDmatch, as well as check and see if Family Tree DNA has a Thompson surname project.”

“That’s encouraging,” she said. “At this stage do you have any guesstimate how long it might take to find the father?”

“No, and I don’t want to mislead you into the trap of that kind of thinking,” Vijay said. “Just because we’ve made significant progress, there is no guarantee of ultimate success. It all depends on how many of Hansel’s paternal relatives have joined the genetic genealogical craze, sent in the DNA sample, and constructed a genetic family tree.”

“But you are optimistic?” Aria questioned.

“Of course I’m optimistic,” Vijay said. “I wouldn’t be pushing my team as hard as I am if I wasn’t optimistic. We will be actively searching for more matches by using the databases of other genealogical companies through GEDmatch. And if we can find a close relative, I’ll start getting progressively more optimistic.”

“How close is close?” Aria asked.

“Anything closer than a third cousin of Hansel would be great,” Vijay said. “And if we come across first cousins or aunts and uncles then it is almost a given that we’ll be successful, provided there are some family trees available. Even if we get that close and there are no family trees, we can start constructing one for Hansel, but that would take time. Let’s hope there are some trees already in existence that Hansel can be added to.”

She remembered what Madison had told her in Nobu, and it was pretty close to what Vijay was saying now. “What if you find half-siblings of Hansel?” Aria asked. She thought that the existence of half-siblings was a definite possibility because of her belief that Lover Boy was married. If that was true, and children were involved, they would all be Hansel’s half-siblings.

“If half-siblings were found, the case would be solved as their father would be the person we are seeking. But I personally think the chances of that happening are statistically negligible. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Presently I’m hoping that GEDmatch will give us a number of new matches that we can use for triangulation.”

“I’ll be waiting for any news,” she said.

“I’m sure we’ll have information in the next few hours,” Vijay said. “Perhaps it would be best if you came by and we can show you what we have been able to do.”

“Why not?” Aria said. She was beginning to share Vijay’s optimism.

With Jack helping, Vinnie was able to get Madison Bryant’s cadaver back in the walk-in freezer, the table cleaned, specimens taken care of, and Jonathan Jefferson on the table. He also got all new specimen jars and clean instruments, while Jack quickly read the investigative report done by one of the evening shift’s MLIs, Steve Mariott. It was the story of a sixteen-year-old who’d been in Central Park playing baseball and hit in the chest by a pitch. CPR had been administered immediately by the coaches. When paramedics had arrived, ventricular fibrillation had been determined and defibrillation attempted without success. CPR was continued during the ambulance ride to the hospital, where defibrillation was attempted another eight times along with the administration of standard cardiac resuscitation drugs, all to no avail.

Taking a deep breath, Jack put the investigative report back in the autopsy folder. As a medical examiner he was accustomed to death to the point that for him it had become just another part of the cycle of life. But there were exceptions, and this case was one of them. Of course, it had a lot to do with the age of the victim. Jack always found dealing with children emotionally stressful, and the younger the child, the harder it was, like with the scalded infant two days ago. But this current victim, a mere teenager, likewise pulled hard on his heartstrings. It seemed so unreasonably cruel and senseless that such a child’s life could be so easily extinguished while in apparent good health, playing athletics. Thinking about the unfairness of it all made him feel embarrassed about his reaction earlier with Aria. In such a context it seemed so trivial that he cared about her use of vulgar language, lack of empathy, or refusal to lend a hand cleaning up after an autopsy. Certainly, it was his responsibility to act as the adult and control himself, especially since he had told Chet and Laurie he’d help out. After all, the only actual negative was that he hadn’t had the opportunity to go upstairs and find out about Laurie’s surgery.

“The X-ray is up on the view box,” Vinnie called out, interrupting Jack’s mild epiphany.

Jack walked over to it. As he imagined, the X-ray was completely normal, including the sternum, where he assumed the boy had been hit by the baseball. Sudden death, mostly involving completely healthy young boys playing sports, was not unheard of. It mostly involved baseball, although softball, hockey, karate, and lacrosse were adding to the toll of about ten kids a year in the US alone. It came from being struck in the chest at a very specific, short interval of time during the normal heartbeat to throw the entire cardiac conduction system out of whack, resulting in ventricular fibrillation.

As Jack was still struggling with his emotions, he became aware of a presence next to him, and when he turned to look, he was surprised that Aria had joined him in looking at the child’s X-ray. While he stared at her profile, she continued to study the film.

“What happened to the kid?” Aria asked. “I don’t see any broken bones.”

“My guess is that it is a case of commotio cordis,” Jack said. “He was hit with a baseball and went into ventricular fibrillation. Is commotio cordis something you are familiar with?”

“Only through reading,” Aria said. “And you?”

“Likewise,” Jack said. “Luckily, I’ve never personally had a case, but I know Dr. Montgomery had one her first year here. Emotionally she found it difficult to handle.” Jack felt a little silly calling his wife Dr. Montgomery, yet he thought it was appropriate under the circumstances.

“Will I find anything at autopsy?” she asked, finally breaking off looking at the X-ray to glance at Jack.

“Probably not,” Jack said. “But it is a diagnosis of exclusion. In that sense it will be like Madison Bryant.”

“Well, let’s get it over with,” Aria said. “I’ve got things to do. Am I still going to be the prosector?”

Jack continued to stare at Aria for a beat while she stared back with a slight smirk. Even though he’d promised himself he’d be the adult, she had already ruffled his feathers by suggesting she had more important things to do than the autopsy on a child who’d died before his life could really begin. It was she who broke off and walked back to the table with a spring to her step. There wasn’t the slightest hint she found the case emotionally upsetting.

Although Aria looked closely at the child’s chest and even palpated the boy’s breastbone, she could not find any evidence of the child’s being hit by a baseball. There was no bruising or abrasion whatsoever. Nor did she find anything on the rest of the external exam. Like with Madison Bryant, Aria was standing on the patient’s right side while Jack and Vinnie were on the opposite side.

“Scalpel,” she said, extending her hand toward Vinnie. Vinnie had the instrument tray next to him.

“What about examining the inside of the mouth just in case the boy choked on something?” Jack said, making an effort to make it sound like a suggestion and not a criticism.

Without responding verbally, Aria did search the mouth and palpate the throat. When she was finished, she then took the knife to start the case with the usual Y incision.

Like with Madison Bryant, Aria worked rapidly but skillfully. Jack helped when he could, especially when she was using the bone shears. When the heart was fully exposed yet still covered by the pericardium, Aria bent down to look closely.

“I don’t see any signs of trauma whatsoever,” she said as she straightened up.

“Nor do I,” Jack said, responding to the first words Aria had said since the case began. He had learned his lesson to stay quiet and not lecture.

“Okay,” she said more to herself than to Jack or Vinnie. Just as she’d done with Madison, she carefully opened the pericardium and then finally removed the heart entirely. Jack watched intently and was convinced that the heart was entirely normal, at least from the outside. Specifically, there were no signs of bruising. As Aria began opening the heart, Jack caught sight of Laurie coming into the autopsy room for her morning autopsy rounds. Jack was eager to talk with her but was hesitant to leave Aria with the most important part of the autopsy under way. Laurie started at table #8, which was closest to the door to the hallway.

“The interior of the heart is normal,” Aria announced to no one in particular. Jack had been watching over her shoulder. “That leaves coronary vascular abnormalities as the only other possibility.”

“I agree,” Jack said. “The coronary arteries have to be exposed.”

Aria put down the butcher knife she’d been using and picked up more delicate dissecting instruments and began tracing out the coronary system. Jack watched for ten minutes or so to make sure there wasn’t obvious pathology, which there wasn’t, and to make sure she was following the normal protocol. When he was sure things were copacetic, he elected to leave her under Vinnie’s capable supervision and have a few words with Laurie. A moment later he caught up with her as she was moving from table #4 to #3.

“I was on my way down to check in on you two,” Laurie said, practically bumping into him. They stepped back to be out of everyone’s way. “I couldn’t help but notice that things seemed to be going well between you and Dr. Nichols.”

“That’s a bit deceptive. It’s more like the calm after the storm,” Jack said, trying to make light of the situation.

“Was there a problem?” she asked with concern.

“I had to struggle to keep myself under control,” Jack said. “In retrospect, I’m a little embarrassed at my behavior since I was fully warned by you what she was like, and I promised you not to make things worse.”

“What happened?” Laurie asked anxiously. She looked around him to see Aria calmly working at a cutting board.

“Nothing happened,” Jack assured her. “Ultimately, I was able to restrain myself, but it required about as much self-control as I can muster. What was it that Carl Henderson said about her, that she’s not a team player? Well, I can assure you he was correct. And she is definitely antisocial. Whether she has an antisocial personality disorder, I seriously doubt, as she wouldn’t have gotten into or through medical school, but she certainly has zero empathy. To give you a glowing example, it turns out that she knew the first case on a personal basis. Instead of being concerned about the person and the tragedy she suffered, she was irritated the woman had gone and allowed herself to get run over by a train and then die in the Bellevue ICU.”

“She actually was friends with the person you guys autopsied?” Laurie asked with astonishment.

“Well, I don’t know if they were friends,” Jack said. “I’m not sure she’s capable of having what we call friends. I’d say they were acquaintances. She was mad because the victim was supposed to help her with the case that you and she did together the other day.”

“You mean the Kera Jacobsen case?”

“Yes!”

“Then it is a double coincidence,” she said. “What’s the name of the patient?”

“Madison Bryant,” he said.

“That is extraordinary. I remember Dr. Nichols talking about her. She was supposedly Kera’s best friend. Regardless, the point that you’re trying to make is that Dr. Nichols didn’t express any appropriate grief or sadness at all?”

“None, zero, nada. Just irritation, and the language she used to express it was certainly colorful.”

“I experienced a bit of her bad language as well,” Laurie said. “And I know it irks you even more than it does me. I’m proud of you for keeping yourself calm. And thank you.”

“Thank you for thanking me,” Jack said. “Part of the reason I was able to hold myself in check was because I’d promised you I wouldn’t make things worse, even though I almost did.”

“I’m glad she’s a pathology resident and not a forensic fellow,” Laurie said. “In a matter of weeks we’re going to be able to kick the can down the road and send her back to the Pathology Department. She’s really their problem, not ours.”

“Amen to that,” Jack said. “One of the reasons I wanted her to help Vinnie in between cases was so I could pop up to your office.”

“Oh,” she said. “And why was that?”

“Oh, please!” he commented with a short, forced laugh. “As if you couldn’t guess. I wanted to ask if you’d heard from Dr. Cartier about your surgery.”

“Oh, yes! My surgery,” Laurie said. “I’m sorry, I should have told you right away. You know, I find it mildly interesting that now that I’ve made up my mind about what to do, and it has been scheduled, I can put it aside and deal with the other things that need my attention. Before those decisions were made, I could hardly think of anything else.”

“It’s just the opposite for me,” Jack complained. “I liked it better when things were up in the air. Anyway, are you going to continue torturing me or are you going to tell me the schedule?”

“Dr. Cartier has made arrangements for the operation to be tomorrow afternoon. She has a couple of cases in the morning, and I’ll be a ‘to follow.’ I’m supposed to show up at Admitting at noon and not have had anything to drink or eat besides water.”

“Okay,” Jack said, trying to adjust to the finality of this news. “As I said yesterday, I wish it were me having the surgery, not you.”

“I’m glad it’s me,” Laurie said.

“Did she give you any idea as to how long it’s going to take?”

“We talked about that, but she said it all depends on what ends up being done. If the suspicious lump is positive for cancer, she’ll be doing more surgery. How much will depend on a number of variables, including whether any cancer is found in any lymph nodes. You know the process. I don’t have to tell you.”

“And if the lump is benign, you’ll have simple mastectomies and reconstruction,” he said.

“And the oophorectomy,” she said. Then she bent over to look up into Jack’s face as he had tilted his head down. “Hey, let’s not make this more than it is. Everything is going to be fine.”

“All right, I’m sorry,” Jack said. “Of course everything is going to be fine. I just worry...”

“Worry about what?” Laurie said when he didn’t finish his sentence.

“You know. It’s my old worry that I am a risk to everyone I love,” he said.

“Stop it!” Laurie said with finality bordering on anger. “I don’t want to hear any more of that kind of nonsense. We’ve had this conversation before, and we talked it out. You were not responsible for the tragedy of your first family or our kids’ medical issues. You know that, and I know that. So, buck up!”

“Okay, okay,” Jack said. “Let’s change the subject! What about your responsibilities here at the OCME? How is that going to be handled now that your surgery is scheduled?”

“There will be a formal announcement this afternoon that George Fontworth will be taking over the helm while I have a minor surgical procedure.”

“God! I hope it is minor,” Jack said.

“More important, I’ve been on the phone with Caitlin and my parents,” she said. “They will be helping with the kids. That is really my main concern. I trust that you will also step up to the plate as far as the kids are concerned.”

“Absolutely,” he said. “That’s a given.”

“It means no basketball,” Laurie said. “That would be all we’d need if you got injured at the same time I’m in the hospital. Promise me you’ll forgo the basketball while I deal with my problem.”

“Scout’s honor,” Jack said as he held up three fingers.

“I’m serious,” Laurie said.

“I am, too,” Jack said. “In my state I’d be a detriment to any team. What I need to do is get busy. I’ve got a stack of cases on my desk upstairs that need to be finished. I’ll jump into that. Meanwhile, I better get back to my challenging charge, and the current case. By the way, what probably saved the day is I’ve let her do both cases, which kept her busy and interested. I think you were right yesterday when you said that the NYU residents should be given more autopsy responsibility to get them to be more involved.”

“She definitely needs more involvement, so I think it was great for you to let her do the cases,” she said.

“So, you are okay?” he said, staring directly into her eyes.

“I’m okay,” Laurie said. “I think I am calmer than you are about all this.”

“Maybe so,” Jack said. “Listen, I better get back to Miss Congeniality before she and Vinnie come to blows. It could be an understatement to say that she’s not all that popular with the mortuary techs.”

“As high and mighty as she acts, it’s no wonder,” Laurie said. “But there’s one thing that I can say about her: She’s honest about her emotions. She says what she thinks and doesn’t care what others think. In that way she reminds me of someone else that I know and have grown to love.”

“Touché,” Jack said. “At the same time, I’m not antisocial, just choosy, and I don’t lack empathy. And I’ve never lied to Chet. LOL.”

“Go! I’ll see you later. But to give you a heads-up, tonight we have to talk some more about JJ because I got some recommendations of potential psychological evaluators from the Brooks School this morning.”

“Oh, great,” he moaned. “Okay.” He turned away and headed back toward table #1 thinking that if it wasn’t one thing, it was another. But he recognized he couldn’t think about JJ. At the moment Laurie’s surgery was totally dominating his mind.