"They sound remarkably similar," Laurie agreed. She looked up. "Thanks for giving me a heads-up. Was there something in particular you wanted to tell me that's not in your summaries?"

"It's all there," Janice said. "But there is something I want to emphasize. Although most parameters with the Sobczyk woman are the same, there is one thing that is different. When she was found by the nurses, she was in extremis but still alive. Unfortunately, that quickly changed, despite strenuous intervention. Lewis, on the other hand, had no cardiac or respiratory activity when he was found by nurse's aides."

"Why do you think that's important?"

"Just because it's different," Janice said with a shrug. "I don't know, but last time you spoke with me, you asked me if I had sensed something intuitively about the Darlene Morgan case. I hadn't, but with Sobczyk, the fact that she was still alive jumped out."

"Then I'm glad you told me," Laurie said. "Anything else?"

"That's it. The rest is in the reports."

"Needless to say, I'll like copies of the hospital charts."

"They have already been requested."

"Great!" Laurie said. "I'm glad you told me this. If you think of anything else, you know where to find me."

Laurie gathered up her belongings and went out to the back elevator, eager to get to work. She couldn't remember being this excited in weeks. As the elevator rose, she thought about what Janice had told her. She wondered if it would be important.

Dashing into her office, Laurie hung up her coat and put her umbrella on top of the file cabinet. Sitting at her desk, she opened both folders and again took out Janice's reports. After rereading them more carefully, she leaned over, opened one of her desk drawers, then took out the matrix she had drawn from the original four cases. It was attached with a rubber band to the Morgan and McGillin folders, along with copies of the pertinent portions of the other two cases. Undoing the parcel, she held the McGillin folder for a second. She hadn't been able to give the definitive word to Dr. McGillin about his son's death as she had so confidently promised, and it made her feel guilty. She hadn't even spoken with the man in weeks, even though she'd promised to get back to him. As she put the folder down with the other, she made a mental note to call him. She wondered what the man would say if she told him she was entertaining the idea of a serial killer.

Feeling confident in Janice's assessment, Laurie went ahead and added Lewis and Sobczyk to the matrix, even though she had yet to do the posts. Since Janice anticipated Laurie's interest, she had done a very complete job on both cases. Even without the hospital charts, Laurie could fill in the boxes for the patients' ages, the times they had been pronounced dead, their MDs, the surgical procedures they'd undergone, and where in the hospital they'd had their rooms. While Laurie was busy doing this, Riva arrived.

"Adding to that matrix of yours?" Riva questioned, glancing over Laurie's shoulder.

"There are two more presumed cases. That's going to make six. Obviously, I haven't done the posts yet, but they sound exactly the same. Want to change your idea about the manner of death? I mean, this is going to be a fifty percent increase."

Riva laughed. "I don't think so, especially since the toxicology has been negative, and I for one happen to know how hard Peter has tried. By the way, how's your mother? I keep forgetting to ask."

"She's doing surprisingly well," Laurie said. "Of course, I don't hear much, since she's acting like the whole thing never happened."

"I'm glad she's doing well," Riva said. "Give her my best! Hey, how is that new beau of yours? You've been uncharacteristically silent about him."

"It's going well," Laurie said vaguely. Riva was right; Laurie had not shared much about Roger. Picking up her phone before Riva could ask any more questions, she called down to the mortuary office. She was pleased when Marvin answered. She told the tech about the two cases and said she wanted to do Sobczyk first. With his usual alacrity, he told Laurie he'd be waiting for her.

"See you in the pit," Laurie said to Riva as she scooped up Sobczyk and Lewis's folders. As she descended in the elevator she prepared herself mentally for the cases, which was easy, since she half assumed and half hoped she wasn't going to find much. By the time she had changed into scrubs, donned her moon suit, and pushed into the autopsy room, Marvin was almost ready. On the way to her table, she had to pass Jack's.

Recognizing Laurie, Jack glanced at the wall clock before straightening up from the opened body of a sizable elderly lady. A portion of her gray, stringy hair had been shaved to reveal a punched-out, depressed fracture of the skull on the top of her head. "Dr. Montgomery, it appears as if you are adopting banker's hours these days. Let me guess! I bet the explanation is that you were out painting the town red with your French boyfriend."

"Very funny," Laurie said. She fought against her irritation and the urge to walk on. "Actually, you are wrong on both counts. I was home last night, and Roger is as American as you or I."

"That's strange," Jack said. "Rousseau sounds so French to me. Wouldn't you agree, Vinnie?"

"Yeah, but my name's Italian, and it doesn't mean I'm not American."

"My gosh, you're right!" Jack said with false contrition. "I guess I'm jumping to conclusions here. Sorry!"

Laurie was embarrassed at Jack's behavior and the jealous anger he was doing a bad job of repressing. But under the circumstance of being in the autopsy room with Vinnie, she chose to change the subject. She pointed to the elderly woman's depressed skull fracture. "I see you have a rather obvious cause of death here."

"The cause maybe, but not the manner," Jack said. "Such cases are becoming my specialty."

"Would you care to explain?" Laurie questioned.

"Are you really interested?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I weren't."

"Well, the victim was hastily off-loaded from a cruise ship in the middle of the night. The cruise company claimed an inebriated elderly lady had a fatal fall in the bathroom of her stateroom. They reported there was no suspicious behavior and no violence involved. But I don't buy it, although she might have been drunk."

"Tell me why you don't buy it."

"First, the punched-out, depressed fracture is on the top of the head," Jack said, warming to the conversation. "That's hard to do if you're falling in a bathroom, unless you're a contortionist. Second of all, look at these patterns of bruises on the inside of her upper arms!" Jack pointed to linear groupings of petechiae, which Laurie could see when she looked closer.

"Next, notice the tan lines on her wrist and ring finger. She'd spent some serious time in the sun on the cruise, with what looks like quite a rock on her finger and a wristwatch. And guess what? No ring and no watch in the stateroom. I have to hand it to the tour doctor. Despite the hour, he was thinking in high gear. They had cleaned up the stateroom and the bathroom, but he still asked the right questions."

"So you think it was homicide."

"No question, despite the cruise company's comments to the contrary. Of course, I'll just be reporting the findings, but if anybody asked my opinion, I'd tell them that this woman was viciously knocked on the head with some kind of hammer, rudely dragged by her arms into her stateroom while still alive, robbed, and left to die."

"Sounds like a good case to emphasize that deaths among the elderly are in some respects similar to deaths involving child abuse."

"That's exactly right," Jack said. "Since the elderly are expected to die, there is less suspicion of foul play than with a younger person."

"It's a good teaching case," Laurie said, trying to put on a good face before moving on to her table. Although she was leaving the exchange on a reasonable note, its overall character was more evidence of how difficult it was going to be to have any kind of serious discussion with Jack about their relationship even if he was so inclined. But she put the thought out of her mind as she looked down on the body of Rowena Sobczyk.