McCaleb wrote it down.
“Okay,” Fox said. “You were on to the lungs.”
“Uh, yes, lungs. No takers without the heart. Your patient got the heart.”
“Right. What about bone marrow transfer?”
“You want everything, I guess. The marrow… uh, the marrow we did not do well with. We missed the window. The tissue was flown to San Francisco but by the time MedicAir got up there, they had a weather delay. They were redirected to San Jose but with the delay and the ground traffic and everything, it took too long getting up to St. Joseph ’s. We missed the chance. From what I understand, the patient later expired. As you know, this blood group is tough. That was probably our one chance on that one.”
That brought another measure of silence. McCaleb looked at Graciela. Her eyes were downcast and he couldn’t read her. For the first time he considered what she was going through. They were talking about her sister and the people she had helped save. But it was all said in such a clinical manner. Graciela was a nurse and was used to such discussions about patients. But not her sister.
McCaleb wrote “bone marrow” on the page and then drew a line through the words. He then made the
“What about kidneys?” she asked.
“The kidneys… The kidneys were split. Let’s see what we’ve got on the kidneys…”
Over the next four minutes Leopold went down the list of items mined from the body of Gloria Torres and redistributed to living patients. McCaleb wrote it all down, now keeping his eyes on the legal pad and not wanting to look at Graciela again to see how she was handling having to listen to such a grim inventory.
“That’s it,” Leopold finally said.
McCaleb, energized by getting the names but exhausted by the cliff walk it took in getting them, blew his breath out loudly. Too loudly.
“Bonnie?” Leopold said quietly. “Are you alone? You didn’t tell me you were with-”
“No, it’s just me, Glenn. I’m alone.”
Silence. Fox threw an angry look at McCaleb, then closed her eyes tightly and waited.
“Well, okay,” Leopold finally said. “I thought I heard someone else there, that’s all, and I have to reiterate that this information is highly confidential in-”
“I know that, Glenn.”
“-nature. I’ve broken my own rules by giving it to you.”
“I understand.” Fox opened her eyes. “I will make my inquiries discreetly, Glenn, and… I’ll let you know what I find.”
“Perfect.”
After a few more exchanges of small talk, the call was ended. Fox pushed the phone’s disconnect button and brought her head back down on her folded arms.
“God… I can’t believe what I just did. I… lied to this man.
She didn’t finish. She just shook her head on the cradle of her arms.
“Doctor,” McCaleb tried. “You did the right thing. There is no harm to him and he’ll probably never know what was done with the information. Tomorrow you can call him and say you isolated the CMV problem and it wasn’t from the donor. Tell him you destroyed the notes on the other recipients.”
Fox brought her head up and looked at him.
“It doesn’t matter. I was deceitful. I hate having to be deceitful. If he finds out, he’ll never trust me again.”
McCaleb just looked at her. He had no answer to that.
“You have to promise me one thing,” Fox said. “That if your theory proves out, that if you are right, then you get whoever did this. That will be the only way I’ll be able to accept this. It will be my only defense.”
McCaleb nodded. He came around the desk and leaned down and hugged Fox.
“Thank you,” Graciela said softly. “You did good.”
Fox smiled weakly at her and nodded.
“One last thing,” McCaleb said. “Do you have a copying machine?”
As they stepped out, McCaleb pointed Graciela in the direction of the doors leading to the tramway that would take her to the parking garage.
“You go that way.”
“Why? Where are you going?”
“I’m just going to take a cab back to the boat.”
“Well, what are you going to do? I want to go with you.”
He pulled her to the side of the busy elevator lobby.
“You’ve got to go back home to Raymond and your job. In fact, Raymond, he’s your job. This is my job. This is what you asked me to do.”
“I know but I want to help.”
“You did help. You are helping. But you’ve got to go to Raymond. I’m going out through the emergency room. There are always cabs down there.”
She frowned. He could tell by her expression that she knew he was right but it didn’t sit well. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the photocopy of the list he had made in Fox’s office.
“Here, take this. If something happens to me, you have a copy. Give it to Jaye Winston at the sheriff’s office.”
“What do you mean if something happens?”
Her voice was almost shrill and McCaleb immediately regretted his choice of words. He moved her into a little alcove where there were pay phones. No one was using the phones and they had a small measure of privacy. He put the bag on the floor between his feet and leaned forward so his eyes were close to hers.
“Don’t worry, nothing is going to happen,” he said. “It’s just that all this work I’ve done, ever since you came to the boat that day, it all has led to this. The names on this paper. I just think it’s better if we both have a copy of it, that’s all.”
“Do you really think the killer’s name is on there?”
“I don’t know. That’s what I’m going to think about and work on when I get to the boat.”
“I can help you.”
“I know you can, Graciela. You already have. But right now you have to pull back a little bit and be with Raymond. You don’t have to worry. I am going to be on the phone telling you everything that happens. Remember, I’m working for you.”
She tried a half smile.
“No, you’re not. All I had to do was tell you about Glory and after that you were doing what your heart told you.”
“Maybe.”
“How about if I take you and just drop you off at the boat?”
“No way. That will take you into rush hour and you’ll be driving for two hours. Go now, while you can. Go be with Raymond.”
She finally nodded. Still leaning down into her face, McCaleb brought his hands up to her shoulders and gently pulled her into a kiss.
“Graciela?”
“What?”
“There’s something else, too.”
