patient? Two? A heartbeat? How long could Macken spend with one person?
I dressed. Brushed my teeth. Tied back my hair. Let it down. Checked the phone to be sure the line was working. Ran through some e-mail. Checked again.
At eight forty the damn thing finally rang.
I snatched up the receiver.
“This is Patricia Macken.” Though firm, the voice was clearly that of an older person. One born in Dixie. “I have a message to call this number. My nurse indicated it might be a medical emergency.”
“Not exactly. But thanks for getting back to me. I’m Dr. Temperance Brennan. I work for the medical examiner in Charlotte.” KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. And local. If needed, I’d elaborate, add detail. “I’m calling about a woman named Harriet Lowery.”
“Yes.” Suspicious.
“I believe you treated Mrs. Lowery for kidney disease until her death five years ago.”
“Who did you say you are?”
I repeated my name and affiliation.
“Why is the Charlotte ME interested in a patient who died under a physician’s care in a hospital in Lumberton?”
“Actually, it’s the coroner in Montreal, Canada, who is interested. I consult to that office as well.”
“I’m confused. What does this have to do with Harriet Lowery?”
“In fact, the interest is in her son, John.”
“Spider?”
“Yes.”
“Spider died in Vietnam.”
“Perhaps not.”
An intake of breath told me Macken hadn’t seen that coming.
“Please explain.”
I gave her the basics. The Hemmingford floater, Jean Laurier, identified by fingerprints as John Lowery. JPAC. The Huey crash in Vietnam in 1968. The exhumation in Lumberton. The suspected mix-up of John Lowery and Luis Alvarez.
“My colleagues and I thought we had the confusion sorted out, then DNA sequencing excluded Harriet Lowery as the mother of the Quebec victim.”
Macken said nothing, so I continued.
“Harriet’s DNA was obtained from pathology slides stored at Southeastern Regional Medical Center. As you can imagine, the material was somewhat degraded. We’d like to run another comparison using a sample from Spider Lowery’s father. Plato refuses to submit a swab.”
I paused, allowing Macken the chance to speak. She offered nothing.
“We’re wondering why, Dr. Macken.”
“Perhaps Mr. Lowery knows you are wrong.”
“Everything else indicates that the man who died in Quebec is Spider Lowery. If we’re wrong, DNA from Mr. Lowery could establish that.”
“Why are you calling me?”
Why was I?
“If I could understand Plato’s opposition, I might have a chance at changing his mind.”
“I doubt that.”
“It’s a question of paternity, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Neither Spider nor Tom was a suitable donor for Harriet. We both know that happens all the time in families. It means nothing. But in the course of testing for tissue compatibility, I suspect something unexpected turned up. Something devastating for Plato.”
“Meaning?”
“I suspect tests showed Plato was not the father of Harriet’s children.”
Macken took a very long time to answer.
“You’re right, Dr. Brennan. And wrong. The experience almost destroyed Mr. Lowery. But the issue wasn’t paternity.”
“If the—”
“It was maternity.”
“What? Wait. I don’t understand. Harriet wasn’t the mother?”
“Could you hold, please?”
