Cutting Edge

“There were no animals in the main area of the lab?”

“No.” She looked down, frowning. “South wall? There was a long worktable, several file cabinets, a mini- refrigerator. Empty cages and carriers because we didn’t have any more room in storage, but we don’t keep animals in the main lab unless we need them. They always go back in their room. How can you tell that a cage is missing? You said there was a fire.”

“The fire investigator is analyzing the entire scene and she knows how fire spreads, how it’s extinguished, and whether something is out of place. It’s not an exact science-”

“Don’t tell Quin that,” Pete interjected with quiet humor.

“It’s based on educated guesses,” Nora continued. “In her opinion, something seemed missing. But it could be nothing-it could be a large file box that was moved to storage. It would help, though, for you to walk through the scene and see if something is missing, or something is there that shouldn’t be.”

“I can do that. Yes, of course, anything.” Duncan sat back down, her head in her hands. “I know this is going to sound callous, but Jonah would want us to continue. This was everything to him.” She looked up. This time the tears had escaped. “I need to recover any remains. They might be worthless, but if I can get the bodies of the birds, our vet and I can analyze their genes on a cellular level. There should be something-and it could help. All our hard-copy documents are gone-I assume they are-but we have copies of everything in the computer. Not the logs- oh, God, those are going to be impossible to re-create. But at least we don’t have to go back to square one. For Jonah, I need to complete this. Jim will agree.”

Whether she added that last thought to make it true, or because she believed it, Nora didn’t know.

“I don’t think there’s anything left,” she said, but she pictured Jonah Payne’s body. Second- and third-degree burns … birds were smaller, they’d disintegrate much faster. But Quin would have said something. In fact, she thought Quin was certain they’d been released-or taken in the missing cage. She pulled out her BlackBerry. “I’ll ask the investigator to specifically pull aside the birds. How many were there? What kind?”

“Twelve mallard ducks, six male and six female. They were in the room to the left of my office. It’s a double room, with an entry and decontamination area, then the chamber where the birds lived, with a small built-in pool.”

“How many birds can one of your standard cages hold?”

She looked at Nora as if it was an odd question. “They’re mallard ducks. We put one in per cage, sometimes two if they’re a mating pair. More than two would be inhumane, but I suppose you could fit four.”

Nora was fairly certain they weren’t in the lab and in fact had been taken or released.

She sent Quin a text message:

Payne’s assistant said there were twelve mallard ducks in a room to the left of Payne’s office. Are there any remains? If so, can you preserve them? And ask Chief Nobel to debrief his crew and ask if they recall which doors off the main lab were open and which were closed when they went in. Thanks, N.

“When do you want me to go down?”

Nora glanced at Pete. “When did Jim Butcher say he would arrive?”

“He took a seven-fifteen flight out of LAX, but I didn’t get confirmation he was on it.”

She looked at her watch. About seventy minutes, then another thirty from the airport. He’d be arriving within the next half hour.

“I’ll call him,” Pete said.

Nora wanted to talk to Butcher without Payne’s loyal research assistant around. She also needed to follow up with the Lake Tahoe office about Jonah Payne’s house, have her team pull his credit card records and bank information to determine if he ever arrived and if so, when he left.

And she had to ask Duke Rogan to explain the security system. There could even be hidden data that would identify the culprits. Nora dreaded the thought of spending time with Duke, knowing it could weaken her resolve to stay far away from him.

“How about ten-thirty?” Nora asked Duncan. “Does that give you enough time to pull yourself together?”

“I can do it now.”

“Ten-thirty is better. The arson investigator isn’t going to let anyone walk the scene until she’s done with her preliminary walk-through, which takes several hours.”

“Was there anything left?”

“It’s hard to say. There’s of course fire and smoke damage, as well as water damage.”

“When can I get in and see what we have left?”

“You mean go through everything? It’ll be at least two days, maybe longer. It’s a crime scene, we need to keep it intact until the investigators are done with evidence collection.”

Pete touched her arm and Nora looked over. He held up his BlackBerry. It was a message from their ASAC, Dean Hooper.

BLF posted a letter online about the Butcher-Payne arson. When can you be at HQ?

She shook her head. She didn’t want to talk in front of Duncan, so said cryptically, “There’re a half-dozen things we need to check on before memories fade.”

“If you want to drop me off at headquarters,” Pete said, “I can take care of that situation.”

“Thanks. I need some background work done, so I’ll go with you for a few minutes.”

They stood and thanked Melanie Duncan for her time. Nora’s phone vibrated and she glanced down at the message. It was from Quin.

No birds, no ducks, no furry, finned, or feathered creatures at all. The room was empty. The fire did not reach that area of the lab, only smoke and water damage, so if they were there, they’d be slow-roasted, not extra crispy.

Only Quin could make Nora smile at the macabre. She squeezed her lips closed, because this wasn’t the time or place. She said to Duncan, “There were no animals at all in the lab.”

Melanie shook her head. “All our work. Years. Years. Turned to ash. I don’t know enough about DNA to see if we can get something from the ash, I really wanted blood, but maybe-”

“I should have clarified. There are no remains. The room you described wasn’t damaged by fire. There were no birds, dead or alive.”

Melanie paled.

Nora knew exactly what happened to them. “Animal-rights groups usually release captive animals into the wild or take them to sympathetic rescue facilities.”

“Oh no. No. Oh, God, we have to find them.”

Nora froze. “Why?”

“The avian flu! Half the birds were infected. We were using gene therapy on them to find a genetic cure to prevent virus carriers. But we’re still in the testing phase. They’ll infect any bird they come in contact with.

“Worse,” she continued, “there’s no vaccine, no cure. The virus they have has been genetically altered to be particularly virulent. We were so successful with the weaker viruses, we needed to find a therapy that could attack any mutation of the virus.”

“What are the chances the virus will spread to human populations?”

“I don’t know. Whenever you’re dealing with viruses there is always the risk of mutation. There would need to be prolonged physical contact with the ducks, but the far greater risk is spreading the disease to other waterfowl. It’s the end of September. They’ll begin to migrate. We have to find them now.”

CHAPTER FIVE

At his desk, Duke Rogan stared at the computer logs. What the hell was this? He examined the logs every which way he could, including evidence of earlier hacking attempts, but again and again he came to the same conclusion: Jonah had disabled the security system.

It didn’t make sense. There were strict protocols set up in the security plan. The system was set 24/7 to record the exterior of the building, the lobby, the elevators, and inside every entrance, except when in test mode.