"I don't care what you say, I think they are related."

"Maybe so," Lou said. "Did Rousseau leave any other name besides Dr. Najah?"

"No, that was the only one."

"But you suspect he had more."

"There's no doubt he had more. He said as much."

"Do you think he might have written the names down?"

"I do. He mentioned he had lists."

"Well, thank the good Lord for small favors."

They arrived at Laurie's floor. Lou hurried after Laurie, who bolted out of the elevator and headed down to her office. When Laurie sat down at her desk and picked up her phone, Lou did the same at Riva's desk. With some hesitation, Laurie dialed Jack's number. She prayed he'd be in his apartment and not out playing basketball. To her relief, he picked up on the second ring.

"I hate to bother you," Laurie began.

"Bother? It's no bother. It's good to hear from you."

"I know I said I'd wait for your call, but something has come up. Jack, I need you here at the OCME."

"Are the cases so uninteresting that you need comic relief?" Jack suggested. He started to say more, but Laurie cut him off.

"Please, hold the sarcastic humor! Roger Rousseau was brought in this morning as an unidentified homicide victim. He was shot last night at the Manhattan General Hospital."

"I'll be right there," Jack said and hung up.

After slowly replacing the receiver, Laurie put her elbows on her desk, cradled her head with her hands, and rubbed her eyes. Ever since that fateful night in Jack's apartment when she couldn't sleep, it was as if her life had spun out of control. She seemed to be hurled from one upheaval to another. Behind her, she could hear Lou talking with some of his men over at the Manhattan General. He was telling them to seal Dr. Roger Rousseau's office until he got over there and to run a background check on a doctor named Najah.

An involuntary moan escaped Laurie's lips as she straightened herself up and took her hands away from her face. She would need to grieve for Roger, but it would have to be later. She picked up the phone and dialed Calvin's number. After she spoke briefly with his wife, Calvin came on the line.

"What's up?" Calvin asked in an impatient tone. He did not like to be bothered at home without good reason.

"I'm afraid a number of things. First things first, but I'm not sure how to say this."

"I'm not in the mood for games, Laurie. Just tell me what you have to tell me."

"All right. I'm ninety-nine percent sure that the chief of the medical staff at the Manhattan General, the doctor friend with whom I have been confiding about my series, is at this moment lying on a table in the autopsy room, waiting to be posted. He'd been shot last night in the hospital and found this morning in the anatomy cooler."

For a moment, Calvin didn't say anything. Laurie might have thought they'd been disconnected if she couldn't hear his breathing.

"Why aren't you one hundred percent sure?" Calvin finally asked.

"The corpse is headless and handless. Whoever did this to him didn't want him identified."

"So he was brought in as a John Doe?"

"That's correct."

"And how did you make the ninety-nine percent identification?"

"I recognized a rather unique tattoo."

"So, I suppose it's safe to say this individual was more than a friend."

"He was a friend," Laurie persisted. "A good friend."

"Okay," Calvin said, willing to change the subject. "Knowing you as I do, I assume you take this episode as further support to your serial-killer idea in regard to your series."

"It stands to reason. It was just yesterday morning that I told the victim about the Queens cases and suggested he look into employees who had transferred from Saint Francis to the General. He left me a voice message during the night, saying that he'd come up with some potential suspects, whom he was going to approach."

"Are the police actively involved?"

"Most definitely. Detective Lou Soldano is here right at this moment, talking to his people over at the hospital."

"I think it would be inappropriate for you to do the post."

"It never crossed my mind. Jack is on his way in."

"Jack's not on second call."

"I know. I thought that not only could he do the autopsy, but he could lend me some needed moral support."

"Okay, that's fine," Calvin said. "Are you sure you want to stay? I could have someone take your place for the weekend. I imagine this is rather a shock."

"It's a shock, but I prefer to stay."

"That's your call, Laurie, and I won't force the issue. At the same time, I have to be clear about the stand of the OCME in regard to your series. As I said before, we are not in the speculation business. There's no proof any of these patients of yours are homicides. Are we on the same page, Laurie? I have to be sure, because I don't want you going to the media. There's too much at stake here."

"There was another case for my series this morning," Laurie said. "A healthy thirty-seven-year-old woman. That makes eight at the Manhattan General alone."

"Numbers are not going to sway me, Laurie, and they shouldn't sway you. What would sway me is if John came up with something toxicological. I'll see if I can put some pressure on him on Monday to redouble his efforts."

A lot of good that is going to do, Laurie thought dejectedly, knowing how much effort had already been expended.

"What else is going on?" Calvin asked. "You implied there was something more."

"There is," Laurie admitted. "I wouldn't have bothered you about it, but since I have you on the line, I might as well inform you." Laurie went on to tell the story about the two teenage boys. When she got to the end, she mentioned the media people in the lobby and then added, "I would like permission to inform them about my findings on these two cases. I believe it is in the public interest for this information to get out sooner rather than later, in hopes of discouraging kids from doing it again in the future."

"Are the media people aware of the headless corpse?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"If you talk with them, will you be able to restrain yourself from talking about the headless corpse or your series? They'll undoubtedly ask you."

"I believe so."

"Laurie, it's either yes or no."

"Okay, yes!" Laurie voiced with some impatience.

"Don't get testy with me, Laurie, or I'm not going to allow you to talk with any media."

"Sorry! I'm a little stressed."

"You can talk to the media about the subway incident, provided you emphasize your findings are a preliminary impression pending further study. I want you to say that specifically."

"Yes, fine, okay," Laurie said, eager to get off the line. Suddenly, she was tired of talking with Calvin, as he was a constant reminder of the political side of being a medical examiner.

When Laurie finally hung up, she turned around to face Lou, who'd also completed his calls. She inwardly winced with a sudden sharp pain in her lower right abdomen. Luckily, it was a far cry from what she had experienced in the taxi the evening before, but it got her attention nonetheless.

"Jack's coming in," Laurie said. She changed her position to relieve the pain. It did to some degree, but not completely. "He'll do the post on the headless corpse."

Lou nodded. "I overheard. It's a good call, because there's no way you should do it. I also overheard about your plan to talk to the newsmen downstairs. I can help you out by talking to them about the headless corpse while you stick to the subway accident. That way, you'll stay out of trouble with Calvin."

"Sounds like a good plan," Laurie said. She stood up, and the pain lessened.

"And I have to tell you that I already found out something very interesting. This Dr. Najah has a sheet. He was arrested four years ago trying to board a plane to Florida with a pistol in his briefcase. Of course, he claimed it was an accident and that he had forgotten it was in there, and he did have a license for it."