thing they’d want to do was call attention to it, as it would undoubtedly solidify her interest in investigating it more intensely.
As soon as Laurie realized who was responsible for the note, she started to think how she could turn the tables—namely, get back at Jack, as it was inappropriate at best. Rather than overreact, she thought she’d play it cool. It would be more fun to ignore it and see how long Jack could tolerate her lack of response and not knowing whether she’d found it or not. Laurie slipped the refolded note back into its envelope and placed it in her center desk drawer. She was confident her total lack of response to this childish prank was going to drive Jack bananas.
She turned to her case file, a yellow pocket-like affair made of heavy, stiff paper. It contained all the paperwork associated with the case: a case worksheet, a partially filled-out death certificate, an inventory of medicolegal case records, two sheets for autopsy notes that she’d already filled out, a telephone notice of death as received by communications, an identification sheet, an investigative report by the MLI, a sheet for the autopsy report, and a sheet to show the body had been x-rayed, fingerprinted, and photographed. The photographs were also in the files, and these Laurie removed. There was a full frontal photo, and ones of the back and profile of the body. Laurie put them in her bag, as she planned to refer to them that evening when she got around to watching at least some of the subway disks. Then she had another idea. Since Jack was right about how long it would take to watch the whole thing, she thought she’d narrow down the footage, if possible. Also in the case file were the phone numbers for the 911 operator and the 911 caller, Robert Delacroix. Laurie dialed Delacroix’s number, and this time the man answered. Laurie identified herself and apologized for bothering him again.
“No bother whatsoever,” Robert responded. “Anything I can do that makes me feel less guilty is good.”
“Can you tell me where you were on the platform when you saw the Asian man get into trouble?”
“Gosh,” Robert said, pausing to think. “It was so crowded, I never got too far from the staircase.”
“Could you see the end of the platform in either direction?”
“Not that I can remember.”
“So you were somewhere in the middle? I guess that would be the only choice.”
“I’d say that’s a safe assumption.”
She thanked Delacroix and hung up, then decided to wait for Jack to finish writing up the autopsy on the hair dryer in his office. It was her thought that lingering around him would spur him to wrap it up more quickly. Now that she was ready to leave, she wanted to get home as soon as possible.
14
MARCH 25, 2010
THURSDAY, 5:30 p.m.
Are you busy?” Carl Harris asked, poking his head in Ben Corey’s open doorway.
Ben looked up from the biomedical journal he was scanning. His desk was stacked with others that arrived daily. It was important for iPS USA to be aware of all advances in stem cell science to make sure their expanding control of intellectual property was up-to-date. Scanning all the appropriate biomedical literature was almost a full- time job.
“Never too busy for you,” Ben said. “What’s up? Come on in and have a seat.”
“I wanted to know how your meeting with Michael went this morning.”
“I guess I’d have to say it was mixed.”
“How so?”
“Our meeting this morning was fine, but as a result he went out to talk to Vinnie Dominick and the Yamaguchi-gumi head, Saboru Fukuda. Michael just called me a few minutes ago. He said that he discussed with them first about iPS RAPID, and that went well. Michael said that the two actually seemed happy to come up with more cash to increase their equity, especially after hearing about yesterday’s signing with Satoshi. Moneywise, everything was very positive, so we just have to decide how we are going to proceed: purchase or license? Have you made any progress on that?”
“I’ve started due diligence. They haven’t been in business long enough to have much of a track record, but I believe I will be advising purchase over licensing. If they get the patent they’ve applied for, it’s going to be a big deal and lead us to litigation of their patent impinging on ours. I ran this by counsel, and Pauline agrees. I’m glad our two angels are standing with us.”
“Me, too,” Ben said. “But they’re not too happy about changing our relationship with them.”
“Well, we wouldn’t be changing it in the short run if we’re going back to them for a major second round.”
“No, but it doesn’t portend well for stepping away from them in the future.”
“I think we can wait until we’re ready for the IPO.”
“That’s a good point,” Ben said. “At that juncture, we’ll be able to show them how much they might profit from the IPO when we have the expected figures. We’ll make sure they understand we can’t do the IPO unless they step back.”
“I think that sounds like a plan,” Carl said, getting to his feet. “Are you going to stay much later? It’s already after five.”
Ben tapped the stack of journals. “I’ll stay an hour or so longer. I’ve got to make this pile smaller. Besides, if I left now I’d hit so much traffic it would hardly be worth it.”
“See you in the morning,” Carl said, heading for the door.
“Wait!” Ben called out.
Carl stopped and turned around.
“Have you seen Satoshi or heard from him today? I got him the lab space up at Columbia and have these legal papers to be signed, but I don’t think he’s been in at all today.”
Carl shook his head. “I haven’t seen him. Did you call his cell?”
“Yeah, a half-dozen times. I think he has it switched off, because it goes directly to voicemail.”
“Maybe he went on the trip he was going to take.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He asked me a couple of days ago where to stay in Washington, D.C. He said he wanted to take his family there.”
“Shit!” Ben groaned, shaking his head.
“What’s the matter?”
“He did this once before to me. He disappeared for a week with his family on a visit to Niagara Falls.”
“Well, you can’t blame him. He’s finally free for the first time in his life.”
“Yeah, wonderful,” Ben said sarcastically. “Now I have to worry about him like a wayward son.”
“Let’s think positively. Maybe he’ll come in in the morning.”
“That would be nice. Why do I have this feeling it’s not going to happen?”
15
MARCH 25, 2010
THURSDAY, 6:22 p.m.
Sitting in the back of what looked to her like a brand-new yellow cab, Laurie found herself silently counting off the street numbers as she and Jack sped northward on Central Park West. Passing the Museum of Natural History and then 86th Street, her excitement took another quantum leap. She could feel her pulse quickening; she was that excited. Though Jack sat next to her, carrying on about how he and Lou had confirmed the findings of the autopsy on their gunshot victim, she couldn’t concentrate on what he was saying; she was too
