Halfway up the rock face was the opening of a cave that appeared to be accessible only by a series of extremely steeply tiered ledges. At the lip of the cave were a dozen more bonobos. Most were female. They were striking their chests with the flat of their hands and yelling “bada” over and over again.
The bonobos with Kevin, Melanie, and Candace did the same and then held up the dead colobus monkeys. That resulted in hooting from the females that Melanie said reminded her of chimps.
Then the group of bonobos at the base of the cliff parted. Kevin, Melanie, and Candace were pulled forward. At the sight of them, the females above fell silent.
“Why do I have the feeling the females aren’t so happy to see us?” Melanie whispered.
“I’d rather think they were just confused,” Kevin whispered back. “They hadn’t expected company.”
Finally bonobo number one said “zit” and pointed up with his thumb. The group surged forward pulling Kevin, Melanie, and Candace along.
CHAPTER 18
MARCH 7, 1997
6:15 A.M.
NEW YORK CITY
JACK’S lids blinked open, and he was instantly awake. He sat up and rubbed his gritty eyes. He was still tired from the poor night’s sleep the night before last and from having stayed up later than he planned the previous evening, but he was too keyed up to fall back asleep.
Getting up off the couch, Jack wrapped himself in his blanket against the morning chill and went to the bedroom door. He listened for a moment. Convinced that Laurie was still sound asleep, he cracked the door. As he’d expected, Laurie was on her side under a mound of covers, breathing deeply.
As quietly as possible, Jack tiptoed across the bedroom and entered the bathroom. Once the door was closed, he quickly shaved and showered. When he reappeared, he was pleased to see that Laurie had not budged.
Getting fresh clothes from his closet and bureau, Jack carried them out into the living room and got dressed. A few minutes later, he emerged from his building into the predawn light. It was raw and cold with a few snowflakes dancing in the gusts of wind.
Across the street was a squad car with two uniformed policemen drinking coffee and reading the morning papers with the help of the interior light. They recognized Jack and waved. Jack waved back. Lou had kept his word.
Jack jogged down the street to the local deli on Columbus Avenue. One of the policemen dutifully followed. Jack thought about buying him a donut but decided against it; he didn’t want the cop to take it the wrong way.
With an armload of juice, coffee, fruit, and fresh bagels, he returned to the apartment. Laurie was up and was in the shower. Jack knocked on the door to announce that breakfast was served whenever she was ready.
Laurie appeared a few minutes later clad in Jack’s robe. Her hair was still wet. The sequelae from the previous night’s run-in with Angelo did not look bad. All that was apparent was a mild black eye.
“Now that you’ve had a night’s sleep to think about this trip, do you still feel the same?” Laurie asked.
“Absolutely,” Jack said. “I’m psyched.”
“Are you really going to pay for everyone’s ticket?” she asked. “This could get expensive.”
“What else do I have to spend my money on?” Jack said. He glanced around his apartment. “Certainly not my lifestyle, and the bike is all paid for.”
“Seriously,” Laurie said. “I can understand Esteban to some extent, but Warren and Natalie?”
The previous night when the proposal had been presented to Teodora, she had reminded her husband that one of them had to stay in the city to mind the market and be there for their teenage son. The decision that Esteban would go instead of Teodora had been decided by the flip of a coin.
“I was serious about making it fun,” Jack said. “Even if we don’t learn anything, which is a possibility, it will at least be a great trip. I could see in Warren’s eyes his interest to visit that part of Africa. And on the way back, we’ll spend a night or two in Paris.”
“You don’t have to convince me,” Laurie said. “I was against your going at first, but now I’m excited myself.”
“Now all we have to do is convince Bingham,” Jack said.
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Laurie said. “Neither of us has taken the vacation time they’ve wanted us to. And Lou said he’d put in his two cents about the threats. He’d like to get us out of town.”
“I never trust bureaucracy,” Jack said. “But I’ll be optimistic. And assuming we’re going, let’s divvy up the errands. I’ll go ahead and get the tickets while you, Warren, and Natalie take care of the visa situation. Also, we’ve got to arrange for some shots and start malaria prophylaxis. We really should have more time for immunizations, but we’ll do the best we can, and we’ll take a lot of insect repellant.”
“Sounds good,” Laurie said.
Because of Laurie, Jack left his beloved mountain bike in his apartment. Together, they cabbed down to the medical examiner’s office. When they walked into the ID room Vinnie lowered his newspaper and looked at them as if they were ghosts.
“What are you guys doing here?” he asked with a voice that broke. He cleared his throat.
“What kind of question is that?” Jack asked. “We work here, Vinnie. Have you forgotten?”
“I just didn’t think you two were on call,” Vinnie said. He hastily took a drink from his coffee cup before coughing again.
Jack and Laurie went to the coffee urn. “He’s been in a weird mood for the last couple of days,” Jack whispered.
Laurie glanced back at Vinnie over her shoulder. Vinnie had gone back behind his newspaper.
“That was a strange reaction,” she agreed. “I noticed he was nervous around me yesterday.”
Jack and Laurie’s eyes met. They regarded each other for a moment.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Laurie asked.
“Maybe,” Jack said. “It kind of fits. He certainly has access.”
“I think we should say something to Lou,” Laurie said. “I’d hate it to be Vinnie, but we have to find out who’s been giving out confidential information around here.”
Conveniently for Laurie, her week-long rotation as the day chief was over, and Paul Plodgett’s was starting. Paul was already at the desk, going over the cases that had come in the previous night. Laurie and Jack told him they were planning on taking vacation time and wanted to skip doing any autopsies that day unless there was a glut. Paul assured them that the case load was light.
Laurie was more politically minded than Jack, and it was her opinion that they should approach Calvin about their vacation plans before they talked with Bingham. Jack bowed to her better judgment. Calvin’s response was to merely grunt that they could have given more notice.
As soon as Bingham arrived, Laurie and Jack went to his office. He regarded them curiously over the tops of his wire-rimmed glasses. He was clutching the morning mail, which he was in the process of going through.
“You want two weeks starting today?” he questioned with disbelief. “What’s the rush? Is this some sort of an emergency?”
“We’re planning on an adventure-type trip,” Jack said. “We’d like to leave this evening.”
Bingham’s watery eyes went back and forth between Laurie and Jack. “You two aren’t planning on getting married, are you?”
“Not that adventuresome,” Jack said.
Laurie sputtered with laughter. “We’re sorry not to have given more notice,” she said. “The reason for the haste is because last night both of us were threatened over the Franconi case.”
“Threatened?” Bingham questioned. “Does it have anything to do with that shiner you’ve got?”
“I’m afraid so,” Laurie said. She’d tried to cover the bruise with makeup but had only been partially successful.