He’d vaguely remembered snatches of the conversation in the middle of the night when he’d first awakened, but he’d thought it all had been a nightmare.
Jack had not seen Laurie so motivated since she and her mom had teamed up for planning their wedding. A little later Jack learned that Laurie had stayed up and essentially made all the travel and lodging arrangements, pending Calvin’s permission for the two of them to take a week off. They were to leave that evening, change planes in Paris, and arrive in New Delhi late the following night. As far as the hotel was concerned, they were booked in the same place Jennifer Hernandez was staying.
By seven a.m. Jack found himself staring into the lens of a digital camera in a shop on Columbus Avenue. When the flash went off, he jumped. A few minutes later he and Laurie were back on the street.
“Let me see your photo!” Laurie said, and giggled when she looked at it. Jack grabbed it back, miffed that she was making fun of it. “Want to see mine?” Laurie asked, but she extended it to Jack before he had a chance to respond. As he’d expected, hers looked better than his, with the flash catching the auburn highlights in her brunette hair as if the clerk was a professional photographer. The biggest difference was the eyes. Whereas Jack’s light brown, deeply set eyes looked like he was hungover, Laurie’s blue-green eyes were bright and sparkly.
When they got to the OCME at seven-thirty, Laurie thought things looked auspicious. She imagined that if it had been a particularly busy day, Calvin would be less inclined psychologically to let them both take a week. But it was not busy, at least not yet. When she and Jack walked into the ID office, where the day began for all the medical examiners, the medical examiner in charge of reviewing the cases that had come in during the night, Dr. Paul Plodget, was sitting at the ID desk reading
“A light day today?” Laurie questioned to be certain.
“One of the lightest,” Paul said, without appearing from behind his newspaper.
“Any interesting cases?” Jack asked as he started rummaging through the short stack.
“Depends on who’s asking,” Paul said. “There’s one suicide that’s going to be a problem. Maybe you saw the parents. They were parked out in the ID room earlier. They are part of a prominent, well-connected Jewish family. To put it bluntly, they don’t want an autopsy, and they are pretty adamant.” Paul glanced around the edge of his paper at Jack to make sure he’d heard.
“Does the case really need an autopsy?” Jack asked. By law, suicides demanded autopsies, but the OCME tried to be sensitive to families, especially when religion was involved.
Paul shrugged. “I’d say yes, so there needs to be some finesse involved.”
“That leaves out Dr. Stapleton,” Vinnie commented.
Jack roughly flicked the back of Vinnie’s paper with his fingernails, causing the man to jump. “With that kind of recommendation, mind if I take the case?” Jack asked Paul.
“Be my guest,” Paul said.
“Has Calvin arrived yet?” Laurie asked.
Paul lowered his paper so he could look at Laurie with an exaggerated questioning expression that said,
“Jack and I are possibly having to take some emergency leave starting later today,” Laurie said to Paul. “If it’s not a problem, which it doesn’t look like it will be, I’d like to take a paper day to sign out any and all cases I can.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Paul agreed.
“I’m heading out to talk with these parents,” Jack said to anybody and everybody while holding the case file aloft.
Laurie grabbed his arm. “I’m going to wait for Calvin. I want a yes or a no as early as possible. If it’s yes, I’ll pop down to the pit before heading out to get our visas.”
“Okay,” Jack said, but it was apparent he was already preoccupied by the purported case.
After a quick detour out to Marlene at reception to ask to be informed the minute Calvin arrived, Laurie took the elevator up to her fifth-floor office. Sitting down, she dove into the stack of cases she had pending. But she didn’t get far. It was only twenty-two minutes later that Marlene informed her that Calvin had just come in through the front door, much earlier than usual.
The deputy chief medical examiner’s office was sited next to the chief’s much larger one near the building’s front entrance. At that time, prior to eight, the secretaries had yet to arrive, and Laurie had to announce herself.
“Come on in!” Calvin said when he saw Laurie at his door. “Whatever is on your mind, make it fast. I’m due down at City Hall.” Calvin was an enormous African-American who could have played in the NFL had he not been quite so interested in studying medicine when he graduated from college. With his ability to intimidate combined with a stormy temperament and streak of perfectionism, he was a very effective administrator. Despite the OCME being a city agency, things got done and got done efficiently under Calvin Washington, M.D.
“Sorry to bother you so early in the day,” Laurie began, “but I’m afraid Jack and I have a kind of emergency.”
“Uh-oh,” Calvin intoned, as he gathered the material he needed to take to the mayor’s office. “Why do I get the feeling I might have to do without my two most productive pathologists. Okay, give me the short version of the problem!”
Laurie cleared her throat. “Do you remember that young girl, Jennifer Hernandez, whom I invited here fourteen years ago?”
“How can I forget. I was totally against it, and somehow I let you talk me into it. Then it turned out to be one of the best things this office has ever done. Has it been fourteen years? Good lord!”
“It has been that long. In fact, Jennifer is graduating this coming spring from UCLA Medical School.”
“That’s terrific. I loved that kid.”
“She sends her regards.”
“Likewise,” Calvin said. “Laurie, you have to pick up the pace. I’ve got to be out that door five minutes ago.”
Laurie told the story of Maria Hernandez’s death and Jennifer’s difficulty trying to deal with the body. She also told Calvin how Maria had been like a mother, not only to Jennifer but to herself as well from infancy to early teens, and concluded by saying that she and Jack wanted to go to India and needed a week to do so.
“My condolences,” Calvin said. “I certainly can understand your wish to show your respects, but I’m not sure I understand why Jack has to go. To lose both of you at the same time puts us under a degree of strain unless we have significant warning.”
“The reason Jack has to go is actually unrelated to the Hernandez death,” Laurie explained. “Jack and I have been undergoing infertility treatment for about eight months. Currently, I’m in a cycle where I have been injecting myself with high levels of hormones, and within days I’ll be giving myself the follicle-releasing shot. At that point —”
“Okay, okay!” Calvin exclaimed, stopping Laurie in midsentence. “I get it. Fine! You guys take your week. We’ll manage.” Calvin picked up his briefcase.
“Thank you, Dr. Washington,” Laurie said. She felt a shiver of excitement. The trip was really going to happen. She followed the deputy chief out of his office.
“Give me a call when you’ll be returning to work,” Calvin called over his shoulder on his way to the front door.
“Will do,” Laurie called back, as she headed for the elevators.
“One more thing,” Calvin called, halfway out the door, keeping it open with his butt. “Give me a souvenir; get pregnant.” With that he left, and the door swung shut.
Like the arrival of a sudden summer storm, a cloud swept over Laurie’s nascent excitement. Calvin’s last comment infuriated her. Turning back to the elevator, she let loose a barrage of expletives. With all the pressure she’d been putting on herself to get pregnant and the despondency it engendered, she didn’t need more. For her, Calvin’s weighing in on the issue was akin to sexual discrimination. After all, he wasn’t about to put equivalent pressures on Jack.
