EPILOGUE

MARCH 18, 1997

3:45 P.M.

NEW YORK CITY

LOU Soldano glanced at his watch as he flashed his police badge to get him into the Customs area of the international arrivals building at Kennedy Airport. He’d hit more traffic than he’d expected in the midtown tunnel, and hoped he was not too late to greet the returning world travelers.

Going up to one of the skycaps, he asked which carousel was Air France.

“Way down the end, brother,” the skycap said with a wave of his hand.

Just my luck, thought Lou as he broke into a slow jog. After a short distance he slowed, and for the one millionth time vowed to stop smoking.

As he got closer, it was easy to see which carousel he was looking for. Air France in block letters showed on a monitor. Around it, the people were four deep.

Lou made a half circuit before seeing the group. Even though they were facing away, he could recognize Laurie’s hair.

He insinuated himself between other passengers and gave Laurie’s arm a squeeze. She turned around indignantly but quickly recognized him. Then she gave him a hug so fierce, his face turned red.

“Okay, okay, I give up,” Lou managed. He laughed.

Laurie let him go so that he could give Jack and Warren a handshake. Lou gave Natalie a peck on the cheek.

“So, you guys have a good trip, or what?” Lou questioned. It was apparent he was all keyed up.

Jack shrugged and looked at Laurie. “It was okay,” he said noncommittally.

“Yeah, it was okay,” Laurie agreed. “The trouble was nothing happened.”

“Really?” Lou said. “I’m surprised. You know, being Africa and all. I haven’t been there, but I’ve heard.”

“What have you heard, man?” Warren asked.

“Well, there’s lots of animals,” Lou said.

“Is that it?” Natalie asked.

Lou shrugged embarrassingly. “I guess. Animals and the Ebola virus. But like I said, I’ve never been there.”

Jack laughed, and when he did, so did all the others.

“What’s going on here?” Lou said. “Are you guys pulling my leg?”

“I’m afraid so,” Laurie said. “We had a fabulous trip! The first part was a little harrowing, but we managed to survive that, and once we got to Gabon, we had a ball.”

“Did you see any animals?” Lou asked.

“More than you could imagine,” Laurie said.

“There, see, that’s what everybody says,” Lou remarked. “Maybe someday I’ll go over there myself.”

The luggage came, and they hoisted it onto their shoulders. They breezed through Customs and passed through the terminal. Lou’s unmarked car was at the curb.

“One of the few perks,” he explained.

They put the luggage in the trunk, and climbed in. Laurie sat next to Lou. Lou drove out of the airport, and they were immediately bogged down in traffic.

“How about you?” Laurie asked. “Have you been making any headway back here?”

“I was afraid you weren’t going to ask,” Lou said. “Things have been going down like you wouldn’t believe. It was that Spoletto Funeral Home that was the gold mine. Right now, everybody is lining up to plea-bargain. I even got an indictment on Vinnie Dominick.”

“That’s fantastic,” Laurie said. “What about that awful pig, Angelo Facciolo?”

“He’s still in the slammer,” Lou said. “We have him nailed on stealing Franconi’s body. I know it’s not much, but remember Al Capone was reeled in on tax evasion.”

“What about the mole in the medical examiner’s office?” Laurie said.

“Solved,” Lou said. “In fact, that’s how we have Angelo nailed. Vinnie Amendola has agreed to testify.”

“So, it was Vinnie!” Laurie said with a mixture of vindication and regret.

“No wonder he’s been acting so weird,” Jack said from the backseat.

“There was one unexpected twist,” Lou said. “There was someone else mixed up in all this who has taken us by surprise. He’s apparently out of the country at the moment. When he comes back into the country, he’s going to be arrested for murder of a teenager by the name of Cindy Carlson over in Jersey. We believe Franco Ponti and Angelo Facciolo did the actual killing, but it was at this guy’s behest. His name is Dr. Raymond Lyons. Do either of you guys know him?”

“Never heard of him,” Jack said.

“Nor I,” Laurie said.

“Well, he had something to do with that organ transplant stuff you people were so interested in,” Lou said. “But later for that. Right now I’d like to hear about the first part of your trip: the harrowing part.”

“For that you’ll have to buy us dinner,” Laurie said. “It’s kind of a long story.”

Glossary

bonobo: An anthropoid ape classified as a species in 1933. Related to chimpanzees, they occasionally walk upright and are found only in a localized area of Zaire. The estimated population is less than twenty thousand.

centromere: A specialized portion of a chromosome that plays an important role in the reduplication of the chromosome during cellular division.

chimera: A combination of a lion, a goat, and a serpent in Greek mythology. In literature, a chimera is a creation of the imagination: an impossible mixture. In biology, a chimera is an organism that contains genetically distinct cell types. In genetics, a chimera is an entity containing a mixture of DNA from different sources.

chromosome: An elongated structure in the nucleus of a cell that contains DNA. In humans and anthropoid apes, there are twenty-three pairs of chromosomes for a total of forty-six.

cicatrix: A scar.

crossing over: The exchange of parts of chromosomes between chromosome pairs during meiosis.

dna: The acronym for deoxyribonucleic acid, which encodes genetic information.

endothelialization: The healing of the inner surface of blood vessels by the cells that cover such surfaces.

forensic pathology: A branch of pathology that relates pathological science with civil and criminal law.

gene: A functional unit of heredity that is composed of a sequence of DNA located at a specific locus or place on the chromosome.

genome: The complete complement of genes of an organism. In humans, the genome contains approximately one hundred thousand genes.

granuloma: A growth of a mixture of specialized cells as a result of chronic inflammation.

histocompatibility: A state when two or more organisms can share organs or tissue (e.g., identical twins).

homologous chromosome: Chromosomes that are similar with respect to their genes and visible structure: e.g., each chromosome of a chromosome pair.

homologous transposition: The exchange of corresponding portions of DNA between homologous chromosomes.

lymphokine: An immunologically active hormone produced by certain immune cells called lymphocytes.

meiosis: A special type of cellular division that occurs during the creation of sex cells (eggs and sperm), resulting in each sex cell having half the usual number of chromosomes. In humans, each sex cell has twenty-three chromosomes.

mitochondria: Self-replicating entities in cells that produce energy.