Longevity

Tuesday morning Livvy, comu in hand, once again navigated the complex series of underground conveyances that took her from her hotel to LLE headquarters. After leaving her room, she subsisted without glimpsing the sun anywhere along her route on the subterranean fasttracks. Not being a vampire, she had already developed a dislike for it. Just asking her comu for the fastest route wasn’t going to cut it. Tomorrow she’d start earlier so she could beat her partner to work and still get a nice walk in the morning sunshine somewhere scenic along the way.

When she got to the office, Louie was there, lying next to Chris’ desk on a nice plaid blanket, but Chris was nowhere to be seen. She had a sinking feeling. He’d already come in and gone out on assignment, leaving her behind. She was going to waste a day of the week she’d been granted for proving herself. She’d either spend all day trying to catch up to him or languishing in the office – if finding him proved impossible – reading Enhancement Law Updates.

After their encounter with Marcy Caster yesterday, they’d spent the afternoon at their desks, Chris filing his report on Marcy and some overdue reports on old cases – that was the same, LLE or not – and Livvy struggling through ELU. She’d started a decade back and was working her way to the current ones, reaching May 2098 without falling asleep more than twice. After two nights in D.C. her internal clock was still on west coast time and sleep was elusive. Melatonin enhancements were illegal but she was going to ask someone – someone other than her partner – where to find some pills.

“Hutchins, in here,” the Chief called, gifting her with a small boost of adrenaline.

“Sit.” She did, and he spent a few moments regarding her thoughtfully. It seemed to be a habit with him. A technique. Maybe he’d learned it from McGregor, she thought sardonically, determined not to squirm.

“McGregor isn’t a training officer. Never has been.”

She sat up even straighter. “So he said. I remember.”

“Well, I’m afraid that’s not just your problem now, it’s mine as well. LLE handles a lot of things differently, and the differences are important.”

“I’ll pick it up,” Livvy said.

“You’re going to have to. McGregor knows LLE better than anyone, except maybe Dalton. Remember that. Follow his lead, and don’t hesitate to ask questions.”

Feeling just a little foolish, Livvy cleared her throat softly. “Got it. It’s why I’m here. Uh, where is he?”

The Chief snorted. “He didn’t tell you. Well, he’s not used to having a partner. He has a reset appointment this morning.

“I’m giving you a new assignment. You’ll get a head start if you want to impress him. There’s a physician, Dr. Milo Josephson, whose clinic staff called in. He missed an appointment this morning. Get ready to check it out with McGregor when gets back. I’ve asked Dalton to fill you in on some background when she has a chance.

“That’s all.”

Livvy spent the next hour locating and calling Josephson’s clinic to get the details of Josephson’s schedule and the missed appointment, then arranging an interview with Josephson’s girlfriend. Interestingly enough, the clinic staff not only happily supplied the girlfriend’s address; they seemed to relish the idea of LLE paying her a visit. She was apparently a regular at the clinic.

It was a heady experience, having people so willing to talk to her, and not one she had been expecting. As an LLE detective, her right to requisition an individual’s reset and enhancement records, and everything related to practitioners’ and researchers’ work, was unassailable. The clinic license and their jobs were at her disposal. The people at Josephson’s clinic, though, were not just talking to her to fulfill their legal obligation, they seemed glad to be doing so. A few minutes in, she realized it was the prospect that Josephson was in trouble that was pleasing them, not any unlikely desire to make her life easier.

After checking Archives for any past Enforcement history on Josephson, Professional Licensing for the status of his licenses, and the professional associations, AAMP and AAMB, for any ethics issues, Livvy went back to her study of ELU.

“If you’re determined to actually read those things in their original language, Manglese, you’re going to need some more of this,” Meg Dalton said, setting a mug of black coffee by Livvy’s left hand.

Meg had brought another coffee for herself, and made it clear by dragging Chris’ chair around that she was planning on staying awhile.

“Well, I was, but if you offer some excuse to tear me away for a while all I can say is, ‘thank you, thank you.’”

“I think I should be able to beat that for keeping you awake,” Meg said, nodding at the ELU. “With some help from the LLE coffee, that is.”

“That obvious, huh? Has everyone noticed me nodding off?” Livvy asked.

“We’re detectives. We notice things,” Meg said. She cocked her head and nodded at ELU again. “But unfortunately, a lot of our work is following through on violations involving that stuff you’ve been trying to study. Some of it is a moving target.

“You came here from Homicide?”

“Yes. Ten years. In San Francisco.”

“And Tactical before that, I understand. So I’d guess you’ve seen your share of the more exciting side of life,” Meg said.

“I’m behind on sleep,” Livvy said, “but not, I can assure you, because I’m worried about missing any action.”

“And the Chief has given you a missing doctor to find. McGregor’ll be back soon and you’ll get to go out on your first real LLE case,” Meg said, her eyes glinting in a way that reminded Livvy uneasily of Mike’s wicked smile. “The Chief asked me to give you some background.”

“On the missing doctor? So he said. But it’s a new case and not much of one. It turns out that the doctor called the clinic on Friday to cancel his appointments for the day. He’s barely missing. A few more calls and we’ll probably find out that it’s just a family emergency or something else that he got wrapped up in and absent-mindedly forgot to call the clinic about Monday and Tuesday. A non-starter, in fact.”

“And you’re already wondering about the black hole you’ve hitched your star to,” Meg said. Her eyes were still glinting, but then she hesitated and seemed to gather her thoughts. “LLE handles things differently. We try to be proactive. Any time it’s a missing physician or molebiologist who does Longevity or enhancement clinical or research work, detectives go out if anything is called in. And we require the clinics to call in any schedule irregularities or unexpected absences. It’s possible, for example, that Josephson was under duress when he called in to cancel on Friday.

“As for this being a new case,” she added slowly. “It may be and it may not be. Josephson has a history of considerable significance to LLE.”

“I couldn’t find anything in Archives or in the ethics cases in AAMP or AAMB,” Livvy said, a little chagrined. “What did I miss?”

“There wouldn’t be anything in the official records. For what this sorry son-of-a-bitch did, you have to get the story from the few of us who were around when he did it. McGregor and I were here. The Chief wasn’t, but he keeps a cross-indexed file of these kinds of cases so he can assign repeat offenders to the original detectives.”

“But if it was an old LLE case, wouldn’t there at least be a record of an Incident Alert in Archives?”

“Not necessarily,” Meg said. “A lot of the calls LLE went out on in those early days were on things that weren’t yet illegal. It was a molebiol wilderness and we were on the frontier. LLE has been proactive throughout its history. McGregor pioneered the way LLE handles things.”

Meg looked around the office at the other LLE detectives. About half were at their desks, the rest were out of the office or elsewhere in Enforcement or City Central, Livvy supposed.

“Back to Josephson and why there are no records of his involvement. One reason is that he’s a physician. The Chief has asked me to give you some deep background. The kind you’re not likely to get from McGregor, who’s…

“Rusty on dealing with a partner. Yes, I know,” Livvy said.

Meg smiled and took a sip of coffee. “In Homicide did you ever come across a case of medical malpractice that resulted in a death?”

“A few.”

“So maybe you have some idea of the power of the AMA. Nowadays LLE deals more with the AAMP, because