'Okay, go on.'
'After the suicide, Rick Collins visited Dr. Freida Schneider, his father's geneticist. There are several phone calls to her office too. I took the liberty of calling Dr. Schneider's office. She is rather busy, but she'll give us fifteen minutes during her lunch break today. Twelve thirty sharp.'
'How did you wrangle that?'
'MB Reps is making a large donation to Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center.'
'Fair enough.'
'It's coming out of your bonus.'
'Fine, what else?'
'Rick Collins called the CryoHope Center near New York- Presbyterian. They do a lot with cord blood and embryonic storage and stem cells. Five doctors from a variety of specialties run it, so it's impossible to know which one he was dealing with. He also called the Save the Angels charity several times. So here is the chronology: First he speaks to Dr. Schneider, four times over the course of two weeks. Then he speaks to CryoHope. That somehow leads to Save the Angels.'
'Okay,' I said. 'Can we get an appointment with CryoHope?'
'With whom?'
'One of the doctors.'
'There's an ob-gyn,' Esperanza said. 'Should I tell him you need a pap smear?'
'I'm serious.'
'I know you are, but I'm not sure who to try. I'm trying to figure out which doctor he called.'
' Maybe Dr. Schneider can help.'
'Could be.'
'Oh, did you come up with anything on that opal to-do note?'
'No. I Googled all the letters. Opal of course had a million hits. When I Googled 'HHK,' the first thing that came up is a publicly traded health-care company. They deal with cancer investments.'
'Cancer?'
'Yep.'
'I don't see how that fits.'
Esperanza frowned.
'What?'
'I don't see how any of this fits,' she said. 'This seems, in fact, like a colossal waste of time.'
'How so?'
'What exactly do you hope to find here? The doctor treated an old man for Huntington's disease. What could it possibly have to do with terrorists murdering people in Paris and London?'
'I have no idea.'
'Not a clue?'
'None.'
'Probably no connection at all,' she said.
'Probably.'
'But we have nothing better to do?'
'This is what we do. We flail until something gives. This whole thing started with a car crash a decade ago. Then we have nothing until Rick Collins found out his father has Huntington 's. I don't know what the connection is, so the only thing I can think to do is go back and follow his path.'
Esperanza crossed her legs, started twirling a free lock of hair. Esperanza had very dark hair, black-blue, that always had that just-mussed thing going on. When she twirled a hair, it meant something was bugging her.
'What?'
'I never called Ali while you were missing,' she said.
I nodded. 'And she never called me, right?'
'So you two are done?' Esperanza asked.
'Apparently.'
'Did you use my favorite dumping line?'
'I forget it.'
Esperanza sighed. 'Welcome to Dumpsville. Population: you.'
'Uh, no. Might be more apt to say, 'Population: me.''
'Oh.' We sat there. 'Sorry,' she said.
'It's okay.'
'Win said you did the sheet mambo with Terese.'
I almost said, Win did the sheet mambo with Mee, but I worried that Esperanza might misinterpret.
'I don't see the relevance,' I said.
'You wouldn't do the mambo-sheet thing, especially when you're ending with someone else, unless you really care about Terese. A lot.'
I sat back. 'So?'
'So we need to go full blast, if that will help. But we also need to understand the truth.'
'Which is?'
'Terese is probably dead.'
I said nothing.
'I've been there when you've lost loved ones,' Esperanza said. 'You don't take it well.'
'Who does?'
'Good point. But you're also dealing with whatever else happened to you. It's a lot.'
'I'll be fine. Anything else?'
'Yes,' she said. 'Those two guys you and Win beat up.'
Coach Bobby and Assistant Coach Pat. 'What about them?'
'The Kasselton police have been by a few times. You're supposed to call when you get back. You know that the guy Win popped belongs to the force, right?'
'Win told me.'
'He had knee surgery and is recuperating. The other guy, the one who started it, used to own a small chain of appliance stores. He got knocked out of business by the big boys and now works as floor manager at Best Buy in Paramus.'
I stood. 'Okay.'
'Okay, what?'
'We have time before we meet up with Dr. Schneider. Let's head out to Best Buy.'
27
THE Best Buy employee blue polo shirt stretched across the beer belly of Coach Bobby. He was leaning on a TV, talking to an Asian couple. I looked for remnants of the beating and saw none.
Esperanza was with me. As we crossed the store a man wearing a logger flannel shirt ran over to her. 'Excuse me,' he said, his face alight like a child's on Christmas morn. 'But, oh my God, aren't you Little Pocahontas?'
I stifled a smile. It never fails to shock me how many people still remember her. She shot me a glare and turned to her fan.
'I am.'
'Wow. Oh, I can't believe this. I mean, double wow. It's such a pleasure to meet you.'
'Thanks.'
'I used to have your poster in my bedroom. When I was like sixteen.'
'I'm flattered-' she began.
'Got some stains on that poster too,' he said with a wink, 'if you know what I mean.'
