"Fine by me," Dick said agreeably.

"Any other business?" Calvin asked. He scanned the group, then concluded the meeting. "See you all next Thursday."

As most of the medical examiners stood up, stretched, and recommenced their conversations that the meeting had cut short, Dick made his way over to Laurie. He had his cell phone pressed up against his ear and was describing the location of a folder in his desk. He motioned for Laurie to wait.

Glancing over at Jack, Laurie saw him immediately duck out of the conference room. She had hoped to talk with him, even if only briefly, and thank him for being ultimately supportive during her mini-presentation.

"Do you have something to write on?" Dick asked.

Laurie produced a pen and the back of an envelope. While Laurie kept her finger on the envelope to keep it steady on the writing surface of one of the chairs, Dick wrote down the names and the accession numbers. He thanked his secretary and rang off. "Well, there you have them," he said. "Let me know if I can be of assistance in any other way. I have to say, it does seem curious."

"I imagine I'll be able to access what I need from the data bank, but if I can't, I'll be in touch. Thanks, Dick! This is the second time you have helped me out. Do you remember those cocaine cases twelve years ago?"

"Now that you mention it, of course I remember, although it seems like it was in a different lifetime. At any rate, I'm glad to be of service."

"Dr. Montgomery!" Calvin called. "Can I speak to you for a moment?" Although his comment was presented as a request, it was more of a command.

Laurie gave Dick a parting wave and then stepped warily over to Calvin. "If these cases of Dick's turn out to resemble yours demographically, I want you to let me know. In the meantime, the proscription of talking about your supposed series with anyone outside of the OCME still holds. Am I clear on that? You and I have had disagreements about information leaks to the media in the past, and I don't want it to happen again."

"I understand," Laurie said nervously. "Don't worry! I learned my lesson, and I certainly would not go to the media. At the same time, I must admit I have been speaking with the chief of the medical staff over at the Manhattan General right from the beginning about the cases. He happens to be a friend."

"What's his name?"

"Dr. Roger Rousseau."

"Since he's on the staff, I suppose it's safe to assume he is aware of the sensitive nature of the issue."

"Most definitely."

"I suppose it's equally safe to assume he's not apt to go to the media."

"Hardly," Laurie said. She was feeling more confident. Calvin was definitely in a mild-mannered mood. "Yet Dr. Rousseau is rightfully concerned, and I believe he would want to hear if Dick's cases are indeed similar. It would give him the opportunity to talk with his counterpart at Saint Francis and make him feel he's not the only one with such a problem."

"Well, I don't see any harm in talking with him, provided you are clear the OCME officially does not currently agree with your assessment of the manner of death, and at the moment will back the Queens office's disposition."

"Certainly, and thank you," Laurie said. It was good to clear the air. She'd carried a twinge of guilt from having talked to Roger about the deaths when she'd first met him, despite Calvin's wishes.

Leaving the conference room, Laurie headed directly to the investigators' office. She was beginning to calm down from the anxiety of talking in front of the group and from having to confront Calvin. She felt even better when she found Cheryl Meyers at her desk, since her workday had officially ended an hour earlier. In Laurie's estimation, Cheryl was the most talented investigator at the OCME and just as hard a worker as Janice. Laurie had Cheryl copy the list of names and accession numbers Dick had provided, and Laurie asked her to put in a request for copies of the patients' charts from St. Francis Hospital.

"What about the autopsy folders and death certificates?" Cheryl asked.

As Laurie had told Dick, she said she'd first try to see what she could obtain from the computerized database. If she needed help for hard copies, Laurie said she'd get back to her.

Clutching her envelope and silently reading the names over and over, Laurie rode up in the elevator. Her intuition told her loudly and clearly that the demographics and details of this new list of victims was going to match her own. Her SADS series was now twelve people.

Once on the fifth floor, Laurie hesitated. It took her a moment to build up her confidence. She wanted to go down to Jack's office and talk to him, even if only briefly, about her disturbing, potential epiphany she had had in Rogers office. She thought it would assuage her anxieties to share them, but she didn't quite know what she wanted to say or even how to begin. Attempting to steel herself against all the uncertainties, she took a fortifying breath and started off.

The closer she got, the slower she walked. She hesitated again before stepping into view in the doorway, appalled at her indecision. She was becoming either a coward or hopelessly wishy-washy, or a mixture of both. Laurie looked back longingly over her shoulder at her own door some forty feet away and waffled.

Hearing a desk chair scrape back within the office in front of her, and sensing that Jack was coming out, Laurie almost fled in a panic. Fortunately, there wasn't enough time, and it wasn't even Jack. It was Chet who literally bumped into her in his haste.

"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry!" Chet offered as he grabbed Laurie by the shoulders to keep from bowling her over as the two stumbled back a step. He immediately let go of Laurie and bent down to pick up the jacket he'd dropped.

"It's quite all right," Laurie said. She recovered quickly, although her pulse was racing.

"I'm off to my body-sculpting class," Chet offered as an explanation. "Obviously, I'm late. And if you are looking for Jack, you missed him. He had some important basketball game at his neighborhood court and bolted out of here ten minutes ago."

"Oh, too bad," Laurie said. She was actually relieved. "No problem. I'll catch him in the morning."

Chet waved good-bye and ran down the corridor toward the elevator. Laurie walked toward her office. Suddenly, she was very tired. The day had taken its toll. She looked forward to getting back to her apartment and taking a hot bath.

As Laurie suspected, her office was empty. She sat down at her desk and typed in her password. For the next thirty minutes, she downloaded the records on the six cases from Queens. Although the forensic investigators' reports were not even close in quality to those done by Janice, there was enough information for Laurie to conclude that the cases were indeed similar to hers. The deaths were all in the early-morning hours between two and four, the ages ranged from twenty-six to forty-two, none of the patients had a history of cardiac problems, and all were within twenty-four hours of elective surgery.

When she was finished, Laurie reached for her phone and dialed Roger's number. She had promised to call, and this was as good a time as any, especially since she had something particular to say besides explaining her behavior in his office. As the call went through, she found herself hoping on this occasion to get his voice-mail to avoid having to resist being drawn into a conversation about things that she didn't want to discuss, but unfortunately, Roger answered on the second ring with his usual cheerful voice. When he realized it was Laurie, he became immediately solicitous.

"Are you all right?" he asked anxiously.

"I'm holding my own," Laurie answered. She wasn't going to lie. "I'm looking forward to getting back to my apartment. It hasn't been my idea of a great day. In the meantime, I've learned something within the hour that I think you will find interesting. During our Thursday-afternoon interdepartmental conference, it was brought to my attention that there had been six deaths at Saint Francis Hospital in Queens that so far sound strikingly similar to those at the Manhattan General."