“Yeah, of course,” Mike said. “They’d called beforehand just like always.”

“So you had everything ready for them?”

“Sure,” Mike said. “I had the paperwork all done. They just had to sign off.”

“And the bodies?” Laurie asked.

“They were in the walk-in cooler as usual,” Mike said. “Right in the front on gurneys.”

Laurie looked at Jack. “Can you think of anything else to ask?”

Jack shrugged. “I think you’ve pretty well covered the bases except when Mike was off the floor.”

“Good point!” Laurie said. Turning back to Mike she said: “Carl told us that when he left for the men’s room twice last night, he contacted you. Do you contact Carl whenever you need to leave your post?”

“Always,” Mike said. “We’re often the only ones down here. We have to have someone guarding the door.”

“Were you away from the office very long last night?” Laurie asked.

“Nope,” Mike said. “No more than usual. Couple of times to the head and a half hour for lunch up on the second floor. I’m telling you, it was a normal night.”

“What about the janitors?” Laurie asked. “Were they around?”

“Not during my shift,” Mike said. “Generally they clean down here evenings. The night shift is upstairs unless there is something out of the ordinary going on.”

Laurie tried to think of additional questions but couldn’t. “Thanks, Mike,” she said.

“No problem,” Mike said.

Laurie started for the door but stopped. Turning around she asked: “By any chance did you happen to see Franconi’s body?”

Mike hesitated a second before admitting that he had.

“What was the circumstance?” Laurie asked.

“When I get to work Marvin, the evening tech, usually briefs me about what’s going on. He was kind of psyched about the Franconi situation because of all the police and the way the family carried on. Anyway, he showed me the body.”

“When you saw it, was it in compartment one eleven?”

“Yup.”

“Tell me, Mike,” Laurie said. “If you had to guess, how do you think the body disappeared?”

“I don’t have the foggiest idea,” Mike said. “Unless he walked out of here.” He laughed, then seemed embarrassed. “I don’t mean to joke around. I’m as confused as everybody else. All I know is only two bodies went out of here last night, and they were the two I checked out.”

“And you never looked at Franconi again after Marvin showed him to you?”

“Of course not,” Mike said. “Why would I?”

“No reason,” Laurie said. “Do you happen to know where the van drivers are?”

“Upstairs in the lunchroom,” Mike said. “That’s where they always are.”

Laurie and Jack took the elevator. As they were riding up, Laurie noticed Jack’s eyelids were drooping.

“You look tired,” Laurie commented.

“No surprise. I am,” Jack said.

“Why don’t you go home?” Laurie said.

“I’ve stuck it out this far,” Jack said. “I think I’ll see it to the bitter end.”

The bright fluorescent lighting of the lunchroom made both Laurie and Jack squint. They found Jeff and Pete at a table next to the vending machines, poring over newspapers while snacking on potato chips. They were dressed in rumpled blue coveralls with Health and Hospital Corporation patches on their upper arms. Both had ponytails.

Laurie introduced herself, explained about her interest in the missing body, and asked if there was anything unique about the previous night, particularly about the two bodies they’d brought in.

Jeff and Pete exchanged a look, then Pete responded.

“Mine was a mess,” Pete said.

“I don’t mean the bodies themselves,” Laurie said. “I’m wondering if there was anything unusual about the process. Did you see anyone in the morgue you didn’t recognize? Did anything out of the ordinary happen?”

Pete glanced again at Jeff then shook his head. “Nope. It was just like usual.”

“Do you remember what compartment you put your body into?” Laurie asked.

Pete scratched the top of his head. “Not really,” he said.

“Was it near to one eleven?” Laurie asked.

Pete shook his head. “No, it was around the other side. Something like fifty-five. I don’t remember exactly. But it’s written downstairs.”

Laurie turned to Jeff.

“My body went into twenty-eight,” Jeff said. “I remembered because that’s how old I am.”

“Did either of you see Franconi’s body?” Laurie asked.

The two drivers again exchanged glances. Jeff spoke: “Yeah, we did.”

“What time?”

“Around now,” Jeff said.

“What was the circumstance?” Laurie said. “You guys don’t normally see bodies that you don’t transport.”

“After Mike told us about it, we wanted to look because of all the excitement. But we didn’t touch anything.”

“It was only for a second,” Pete added. “We just opened the door and looked in.”

“Were you with Mike?” Laurie asked.

“No,” Pete said. “He just told us which compartment.”

“Has Dr. Washington talked to you about last night?” Laurie asked.

“Yeah, and Mr. Harper, too,” Jeff said.

“Did you tell Dr. Washington about looking at the body?” Laurie asked.

“No,” Jeff said.

“Why not?” Laurie asked.

“He didn’t ask,” Jeff said. “I guess we know we’re really not supposed to do it. I mean we don’t usually. But, as I said, with all the commotion, we were curious.”

“Maybe you should tell Dr. Washington,” Laurie suggested. “Just so he has all the facts.”

Laurie turned around and headed back to the elevator. Jack dutifully followed.

“What do you think?” Laurie asked.

“It’s getting harder and harder for me to think the closer it gets to midnight,” Jack said. “But I wouldn’t make anything of those two peeking at the body.”

“But Mike didn’t mention it,” Laurie said.

“True,” Jack said. “But they all know they were bending the rules. It’s human nature in such a situation not to be completely forthcoming.”

“Maybe so,” Laurie said with a sigh.

“Where to now?” Jack asked as they boarded the elevator.

“I’m running out of ideas,” Laurie said.

“Thank God,” Jack said.

“Don’t you think I should ask Mike why he didn’t tell us about the van drivers looking at Franconi?” Laurie asked.

“You could, but I think you’re just spinning your wheels,” Jack said. “Truly, I can’t imagine it was anything but harmless curiosity.”

“Then let’s call it a night,” Laurie said. “Bed is sounding good to me, too.”

CHAPTER 5

MARCH 5, 1997

10:15 A.M.

COGO, EQUATORIAL GUINEA

KEVIN replaced the tissue culture flasks in the incubator and closed the door. He’d been working since before dawn. His current quest was to find a transponase to handle a minor histocompatibility gene on the Y chromosome. It had been eluding him for over a month despite his use of the technique that had resulted in his finding and isolating the transponases associated with the short arm of chromosome 6.

Kevin’s usual schedule was to arrive at the lab around eight-thirty, but that morning he’d awakened at four a.m. and had not been able to fall back to sleep. After tossing and turning for three-quarters of an hour, he’d decided he might as well use the time for good purpose. He’d arrived at his lab at five a.m. while it was still pitch dark.

What was troubling Kevin’s sleep was his conscience. The nagging notion that he’d made a Promethean mistake resurfaced with a vengeance. Although Dr. Lyons’s mention of building his own lab had assuaged him at the time, it didn’t last. Lab of his dreams or no, he couldn’t deny the horror he feared was evolving on Isla Francesca.

Kevin’s feelings had nothing to do with seeing more smoke. He hadn’t, but as dawn broke, he’d also consciously avoided looking out the window much less in the direction of the island.

Kevin realized he couldn’t go on like this. He decided that the most rational course of action would be to find out if his fears were justified. The best way to do it, he surmised, was to approach someone close to the situation who might be able to shed some light on Kevin’s area of concern. But Kevin didn’t feel comfortable talking with many people in the Zone. He’d never been very social, especially in Cogo, where he was the sole academician. But there was one working in the Zone with whom he felt slightly more comfortable, mainly because he admired his work: Bertram Edwards, the chief veterinarian.