"Well, glory be!" Jack quipped. "Is this really Dr. Montgomery already in full regalia, and it is not even eight o'clock? To what do we owe this great honor?"

"I just want to find out if this case truly fits into my series." Laurie said as lightly as she could while bracing herself for Jack's probable continued sarcasm. She advanced to the foot of the table. Jack was on her left and Vinnie on her right. "Please! Go back to work! I don't mean to interrupt."

"I don't want you to think I took this case away from you. Do you know why I'm doing it?"

"I do. Chet told me."

"Have you seen Calvin yet? I couldn't read him this morning. He was acting weird. Is everything hunky-dory between you two?"

"Everything is fine. I was worried myself when Chet told me I was to have an official paper day and that Calvin wanted to see me ASAP. It turned out that all he wants is for me to sign out the earlier cases in my series. I'm supposed to say they were natural."

"Are you going to do it? I'm thinking there's no way they were natural."

"I don't have a lot of choice," Laurie admitted. "He laid it on the line. I hate the political pressures of this job, of which this situation is becoming a prime example. But, be that as it may, what's your take on Mulhausen. Does this case belong in my series?"

Jack looked down into the corpse's open thorax. He'd already removed the lungs and was in the process of opening the great vessels. The heart was in full view. "So far, I'd have to say yes. The demographics are the same, and I don't see any suggestion of pathology of any note. I'll know for sure in a half hour or so when I finish with the heart, but I'll be very surprised if we find anything."

"Do you mind if I look at the investigator's report in the folder?"

"Mind? Why would I mind? But I can save you the trouble by giving you the facts. The patient was a healthy thirty-six-year-old stockbroker who'd had an uncomplicated hernia repair yesterday morning and was doing fine. Four-thirty this morning, he was discovered dead in his bed. The nurses' notes said he was practically room temperature when he was found, but they tried to resuscitate him anyway. Obviously, they got nothing. So, do I think he fits your series? I do. What's more, I think you are genuinely onto something with this series idea. Obviously, I didn't at first, but I do now, especially now that you've got seven cases."

Laurie tried to see the nuances of Jack's expression, but she couldn't through his plastic screen. Still, she was encouraged. Somewhat like Calvin, he was acting more affable than expected, and it made her feel optimistic on a number of fronts.

"What about those cases Dick Katzenburg mentioned yesterday?" Jack asked. "Have they panned out so far?"

"Yes. At least from the investigators' reports. I'm waiting for the hospital charts to be certain."

"It was a good pickup," Jack said. "Yesterday, when you got up to go to the microphone to give your little presentation, I was pissed, since it meant that the Thursday-afternoon torture session was going to be extended, but now I have to give you credit. If Dick's cases do turn out to match yours, your series doubles, which kind of casts a pall over AmeriCare, wouldn't you say?"

"I don't know what it says about AmeriCare," Laurie said. She was surprised at Jack's talkativeness. Even that seemed encouraging.

"Well, as the saying goes, something's rotten in Denmark: At thirteen cases, it's gone way beyond coincidence. But it's interesting there's no smoking-gun commonality, which is why I hesitate to support your homicide idea, although I'm warming to it. Tell me, have any of the cases occurred in the intensive care unit or the postanesthesia care unit?"

"None of mine. I don't know about Dick's. Mine have all been in regular hospital rooms. Why do you ask? Was Mulhausen in either?"

"No! He was in a normal room. I'm not sure why I'm asking. Maybe because drugs are handled differently in either the ICU or the PACU than they are on a regular hospital floor. Actually I'm trying to think of some sort of systems error, like they are all getting a drug that they are not supposed to get. It's just something else to consider."

"Thanks for the suggestion," Laurie said without a lot of conviction. "I'll keep it in mind."

"I also think you should continue to press toxicology. I still think that ultimately, it's going to be toxicology that solves this conundrum."

"That's easy to say, but I don't know what else I can do. Peter Letterman has really gone out of his way, trying to the point of thinking about minutiae. Yesterday, he was talking about checking into some kind of unbelievablely potent toxin from a South-American frog."

"Whoa! That's a bit far afield. That calls to mind the adage, 'When you hear hoof beats, think of horses, not zebras.' Something is interrupting these people's cardiac conduction system. I can't help but believe it's got to be a garden-variety arrhythmia drug. How they are getting it is another story."

"But that certainly would have shown up in toxicology."

"That's true," Jack agreed. "What about a contaminant in their IV fluid? Have they all had IVs running?"

Laurie thought for a minute. "Now that you mention it, they have. But it's not unusual, since most people who've had surgery keep an IV for at least twenty-four hours. As far as a contaminant in the IV fluid is concerned, it passed through my mind, but it is extremely unlikely. If a contaminant were involved, we'd have more cases than we have, and it certainly wouldn't favor the relatively young and healthy, nor just patients having had elective surgery."

"I don't think you should eliminate anything out of hand," Jack said. "Which reminds me of the question about electrolytes the fellow from Staten Island asked you yesterday after you made your presentation. You told him the levels all tested normal. Is that true?"

"Absolutely. I made it a point to ask Peter to check into that specifically, and he reported back that they were all normal."

"Well, it certainly sounds as if you are covering all the bases," Jack said. "I'll finish up with Mulhausen just to be sure there's no emboli or cardiac pathology." He repositioned the scalpel in his hand and bent over the corpse.

"I'm trying to think of all the possibilities," Laurie said. Then, after a moment's hesitation, she added, "Jack, could I speak to you for a moment on a personal note?"

"Oh, for Christ's sake!" Vinnie said suddenly. He'd been impatiently shifting his weight from one foot to the other during Laurie and Jack's extended conversation. "Can't we get this freaking autopsy done?"

Jack straightened back up and looked at Laurie. "What is it you want to talk about?"

Laurie glanced at Vinnie. She felt awkward in his presence, especially considering his impatience.

Jack noticed Laurie's reaction. "Don't mind Vinnie. With as much help as he is as an assistant, you can just pretend he's not here. I do it all the time."

"Very funny," Vinnie responded. "How come I'm not laughing?"

"Actually," Laurie said, "I don't want to talk with you now. What I'd like to do is arrange for us to get together. There are some important things I need to share with you."

Jack didn't answer right away but rather stared at Laurie through the plastic face masks. "Let me guess," he said finally. "You're getting married, and you want me to be a bridesmaid."

Vinnie laughed so hard it sounded as if he was choking.

"Hey, it wasn't that funny," Jack protested, although he was now laughing along with Vinnie.

"Jack," Laurie said, maintaining a calm voice with some difficulty. "I'm trying to be serious."

"I am, too," Jack managed. "And since you haven't denied the nuptials, I'll consider myself informed, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline the bridesmaid offer. Was there anything else?"