“She actually was friends with the person you guys autopsied?” Laurie asked with astonishment.
“Well, I don’t know if they were friends,” Jack said. “I’m not sure she’s capable of having what we call friends. I’d say they were acquaintances. She was mad because the victim was supposed to help her with the case that you and she did together the other day.”
“You mean the Kera Jacobsen case?”
“Yes!”
“Then it is a double coincidence,” she said. “What’s the name of the patient?”
“Madison Bryant,” he said.
“That is extraordinary. I remember Dr. Nichols talking about her. She was supposedly Kera’s best friend. Regardless, the point that you’re trying to make is that Dr. Nichols didn’t express any appropriate grief or sadness at all?”
“None, zero, nada. Just irritation, and the language she used to express it was certainly colorful.”
“I experienced a bit of her bad language as well,” Laurie said. “And I know it irks you even more than it does me. I’m proud of you for keeping yourself calm. And thank you.”
“Thank you for thanking me,” Jack said. “Part of the reason I was able to hold myself in check was because I’d promised you I wouldn’t make things worse, even though I almost did.”
“I’m glad she’s a pathology resident and not a forensic fellow,” Laurie said. “In a matter of weeks we’re going to be able to kick the can down the road and send her back to the Pathology Department. She’s really their problem, not ours.”
“Amen to that,” Jack said. “One of the reasons I wanted her to help Vinnie in between cases was so I could pop up to your office.”
“Oh,” she said. “And why was that?”
“Oh, please!” he commented with a short, forced laugh. “As if you couldn’t guess. I wanted to ask if you’d heard from Dr. Cartier about your surgery.”
“Oh, yes! My surgery,” Laurie said. “I’m sorry, I should have told you right away. You know, I find it mildly interesting that now that I’ve made up my mind about what to do, and it has been scheduled, I can put it aside and deal with the other things that need my attention. Before those decisions were made, I could hardly think of anything else.”
“It’s just the opposite for me,” Jack complained. “I liked it better when things were up in the air. Anyway, are you going to continue torturing me or are you going to tell me the schedule?”
“Dr. Cartier has made arrangements for the operation to be tomorrow afternoon. She has a couple of cases in the morning, and I’ll be a ‘to follow.’ I’m supposed to show up at Admitting at noon and not have had anything to drink or eat besides water.”
“Okay,” Jack said, trying to adjust to the finality of this news. “As I said yesterday, I wish it were me having the surgery, not you.”
“I’m glad it’s me,” Laurie said.
“Did she give you any idea as to how long it’s going to take?”
“We talked about that, but she said it all depends on what ends up being done. If the suspicious lump is positive for cancer, she’ll be doing more surgery. How much will depend on a number of variables, including whether any cancer is found in any lymph nodes. You know the process. I don’t have to tell you.”
“And if the lump is benign, you’ll have simple mastectomies and reconstruction,” he said.
“And the oophorectomy,” she said. Then she bent over to look up into Jack’s face as he had tilted his head down. “Hey, let’s not make this more than it is. Everything is going to be fine.”
“All right, I’m sorry,” Jack said. “Of course everything is going to be fine. I just worry...”
“Worry about what?” Laurie said when he didn’t finish his sentence.
“You know. It’s my old worry that I am a risk to everyone I love,” he said.
“Stop it!” Laurie said with finality bordering on anger. “I don’t want to hear any more of that kind of nonsense. We’ve had this conversation before, and we talked it out. You were not responsible for the tragedy of your first family or our kids’ medical issues. You know that, and I know that. So, buck up!”
“Okay, okay,” Jack said. “Let’s change the subject! What about your responsibilities here at the OCME? How is that going to be handled now that your surgery is scheduled?”
“There will be a formal announcement this afternoon that George Fontworth will be taking over the helm while I have a minor surgical procedure.”
“God! I hope it is minor,” Jack said.
“More important, I’ve been on the phone with Caitlin and my parents,” she said. “They will be helping with the kids. That is really my main concern. I trust that you will also step up to the plate as far as the kids are concerned.”
“Absolutely,” he said. “That’s a given.”
“It means no basketball,” Laurie said. “That would be all we’d need if you got injured at the same time I’m in the hospital. Promise me you’ll forgo the basketball while I deal with my problem.”
“Scout’s honor,” Jack said as he held up three fingers.
“I’m serious,” Laurie said.
“I am, too,” Jack said. “In my state I’d be a detriment to any team. What I need to do is get busy. I’ve got a stack of cases on my desk upstairs that need to be finished. I’ll jump into that. Meanwhile, I better get back to my challenging charge, and the current case. By the way, what probably saved the day is I’ve let her do both cases, which kept her busy and interested. I think you were right yesterday when you said that the NYU residents should be given more autopsy responsibility to get them to be more involved.”
“She definitely needs more involvement, so I think it was great for you to let her do the cases,” she said.
“So, you are okay?” he said, staring directly into her eyes.
“I’m okay,” Laurie said. “I think I am calmer than you are about all this.”
“Maybe so,” Jack said. “Listen, I better get back to Miss Congeniality before she and Vinnie come to blows. It could be an understatement to say that she’s not all that popular with the mortuary techs.”
“As high and mighty as she acts, it’s no wonder,” Laurie said. “But there’s one thing that I can say about her: She’s honest about her emotions. She says what she thinks and doesn’t care what others think. In that way she reminds me of someone else that I know and have grown to love.”
“Touché,” Jack said. “At the same time, I’m not antisocial, just choosy, and I don’t lack empathy. And I’ve never lied to Chet. LOL.”
“Go! I’ll see you later. But to give you a heads-up, tonight we have to talk some more about JJ because I got some recommendations of potential psychological evaluators from the Brooks School this morning.”
“Oh, great,” he moaned. “Okay.” He turned away and headed back toward table #1 thinking that if it wasn’t one thing, it was another. But he recognized he couldn’t think about JJ. At the moment Laurie’s surgery was totally dominating his mind.
Chapter 29
May 10th
10:20 A.M.
Aria straight-armed the door into the locker room with such force that its inside handle smashed hard enough against the wall to crack one of the tiles. She didn’t care but rather derived a bit of pleasure from the damage. Although she’d enjoyed doing the two autopsies, it irked her to death that at the end of each, she had to get in the same damn argument about being asked, or, worse still, commanded, to play mortuary tech or, worse, janitor. She had rebelled about that kind of hazing when she’d been a medical student and a first-year pathology resident, and she certainly wasn’t going to stand for it now.