'Then deadoc has had medical training,' Janet said. 'And it sounds like he's alluding to whatever this disease is.'

'He couldn't know about it,' I said as I began to entertain a terrible new fear. 'I don't see how he possibly could.'

'There was something in the news,' she said.

I felt a rush of anger. 'Who opened his mouth this time? Don't tell me Ring knows about this, too.'

'The paper simply said your office was investigating an unusual death on Tangier

Island, a strange disease that resulted in the body being airlifted out by the military.'

'Damn.'

'Point is, if deadoc has access to Virginia news, he could have known about it before he sent the e-mail messages.'

'I hope that's what happened,' I said.

'Why wouldn't it be?'

'I don't know, I don't know.' I was worn out and my stomach was upset.

'Dr Scarpetta.' She leaned closer to the glass. 'He wants to talk to you. That's why he keeps sending you mail.'

I was feeling chills again.

'Here's the idea.' Janet tucked the printouts back inside the file. 'I could get you in a private chat room with him. If we can keep you online long enough, we can trace him from telephone trunk to telephone trunk, until we get a town, then a location.'

'I don't believe for a moment that this person is going to participate,' I said. 'He's too smart for that.'

'Benton Wesley thinks he might.' I was silent.

'He thinks deadoc is sufficiently fixated on you that he might get into a chat room. It's more than his wanting to know what you think. He wants you to know what he thinks, or at least this is Wesley's theory. I've got a laptop here, everything you need.'

'No.' I shook my head. 'I don't want to get into this, Janet.'

'You've got nothing else to do for the next few days.'

It irritated me when anyone ever accused me of not having enough to do. 'I don't want to communicate with the monster. It's far too risky. I could say the wrong thing and more people die.'

Janet's eyes were intense on mine. 'They're dying, anyway. Maybe others are, too, even as we speak, that we don't know about yet.'

I thought of Lila Pruitt alone in her house, wandering, demented with disease. I saw her in her mirror, shrieking.

'All you need to do is get him talking, a little bit at a time,' Janet went on. 'You know, act reluctant, as if he's caught you unaware, otherwise he'll get suspicious. Build it up for a few days, while we try to find out where he is. Get on AOL. Go into the chat rooms and find one called M.E., okay? Just hang out in there.'

'Then what?' I wanted to know.

'The hope is he'll come looking for you, thinking this is where you do consultations with other doctors, scientists. He won't be able to resist. That's Wesley's theory and I agree with it.'

'Does he know I'm here?'

The question was ambiguous but she knew who I meant.

'Yes,' she said. 'Marino asked me to call him.'

'What did he say?' I asked into the phone.

'He wanted to know if you were okay.' She was getting evasive. 'He has this old case in Georgia. Something about two people stabbed to death in a liquor store, and organized crime is involved. In a little town near St Simons Island.'

'Oh, so he's on the road.'

'I guess so.'

'Where will you be?'

'With the squad. I'll actually be staying in Baltimore, on the harbor.'

'And Lucy?' I asked again, this time in a way she couldn't evade. 'Do you want to tell me what's really going on, Janet?'

I breathed my filtered air, looking through glass at someone I knew could never lie to me.

'Everything okay?' I pressed harder.

'Dr Scarpetta, I'm here by myself for two reasons,' she finally said. 'First, Lucy and I got into a huge fight about your going online with this guy. So everyone involved thought it would be better if she wasn't the one to talk to you about it.'

'I can understand that,' I said. 'And I agree.'

'My second reason is a far more unpleasant one,' she went on. 'It's about Carrie

Grethen.'

I was astonished and enraged at the mere mention of her name. Years ago, when Lucy was developing CAIN, she had worked with Carrie. Then ERF had been broken into, and Carrie had seen to it that my niece was blamed. There were murders, too, sadistic and terrible, that Carrie had been accomplice to with a psychopathic man.

'She's still in prison,' I said.

'I know. But her trial is scheduled for the spring,' Janet said.

'I'm well aware of that.' I didn't understand what she was getting at.

'You're the key witness. Without you, the Commonwealth doesn't have much of a case. At least not when you're talking about a jury trial.'

'Janet, I am most confused,' I said, and my headache was back with fury.

She took a deep breath. 'I'm sure you must be aware that there was a time when Lucy and Carrie were close.' She hesitated. 'Very close.'

'Of course,' I impatiently said. 'Lucy was a teenager and Carrie seduced her. Yes, yes, I know all about it.'

'So does Percy Ring.'

I looked at her, shocked.

'It seems that yesterday, Ring went to see the C.A. who's prosecuting the case, uh, Rob Schurmer. Ring tells him, one buddy to another, that he's got a major problem since the star witness's niece had an affair with the defendant.'

'My God in heaven.' I could not believe this. 'That fucking bastard.'

I was a lawyer. I knew what this meant. Lucy would have to take the stand and be questioned about her affair with another woman. The only way to avoid this was for me to be struck as a witness, allowing Carrie to get away with murder.

'What she did has nothing to do with Carrie's crimes,' I said, so angry with Ring I felt capable of violence.

Janet switched the phone to her other ear, trying to be smooth. But I could see her fear.

'I don't need to tell you how it is out there,' she said. 'Don't ask, don't tell. It's not tolerated, no matter what anybody says. Lucy and I are so careful. People may suspect, but they don't really know, and it's not like we walk around in leather and chains.'

'Not hardly.'

'I think this would ruin her,' she matter-of-factly stated. 'The publicity, and I can't imagine HRT when she shows up after that. All those big guys. Ring's just doing this to do her in, and maybe you, too. And maybe me. This won't exactly help my career, either.'

She didn't need to go on. I understood.

'Does anyone know what Schurmer's response was when Ring told him?'

'He freaked, called Marino and said he didn't know what he was going to do, that when the defense found out, he was cooked. Then Marino called me.'

'Marino has said nothing to me.'

'He didn't want to upset you right now,' she said. 'And he didn't think it was his place.'

'I see,' I said. 'Does Lucy know?'

'I told her.'

'And?'

'She kicked a hole in the bedroom wall,' Janet answered. 'Then she said if she had to, she'd take the stand.'

Janet pressed her palm against the glass, spreading her fingers, waiting for me to do the same. It was as close as we could get to touching, and my eyes teared up.

'I feel as if I've committed a crime,' I said, clearing my throat.