Blindsight (41 page)

being fired.
"Excuse me!" Laurie called from the doorway. Bruce looked up from his newspaper.
"Is the Fletcher body still here?" she asked. Bruce consulted the log book. "Nope," he said. "Went out this afternoon." "How about Andre or Haberlin?" Laurie asked. Bruce referred to the book again. "Andre went out this afternoon, but Haberlin is still here. The body is going out to Long Island someplace any minute. It's in the walk-in." "Thanks," Laurie said. She turned to leave. Obviously Bruce hadn't heard she'd been taken off the payroll.
"Dr. Montgomery," Bruce called. "Peter Letterman was looking for you earlier and I'm supposed to tell you to be sure to go up and see him if I run into you. He said it was important and that he was going to be around for a while tonight."
Laurie felt torn. She wanted to view the Haberlin body, thinking that a brief examination could very well substantiate her suspicions. At the same time she didn't want to miss Peter if he had something to tell her. "Listen," Laurie said to Bruce. "I'm going to run up and see if Peter is still here. Don't let that Haberlin body go until I see it."
"You got it," Bruce said with a wave.
Laurie went to the fourth floor and the toxicology lab. When she saw a light coming from Peter's door, she breathed a sigh of relief: Peter was still there. "Knock, knock," Laurie called out, pausing at the door. She didn't want to give Peter a scare. Peter looked up from a long computer printout he was studying. "Laurie! Am I glad to see you! I have something I want to show you."
Laurie followed Peter to the gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry unit. Peter picked up another computer printout and handed it to Laurie. She studied it with little comprehension. "It's from Robert Evans," Peter said proudly. "Just as you suggested." "What am I looking at?" Laurie asked.
Peter pointed with his pencil. "There," he said. "That's a positive for ethylene, and it's a lot more evident than it had been in Randall Thatcher's case. It is no laboratory error or false positive. It's real." "That's weird," Laurie said. She'd really come to think the ethylene reading in the Thatcher case had been an error.

"It might be weird," Peter said, "but it's real. No doubt about it."
"I need another favor," Laurie said. "Can you open the DNA lab for me?" "Sure," Peter said. "You want me to open it now?" "If you don't mind."
Peter got his keys and led Laurie down a flight of stairs to the lab on the third floor. As they went in, Laurie explained what she was up to. "I was shown a Polaroid of a match but it was just a preliminary. It concerns the Julia Myerholtz case. You probably recognize the name." "Certainly," Peter said. "I've run lots of samples on her." "I want to find that Polaroid," Laurie said. "I need a copy of it. I don't need a duplicate photograph; a copy from the copy machine will be fine." "No problem," Peter said. He knew exactly where to look. Once he had the Polaroid in hand, he went to the copy machine. Laurie followed.
While the copy machine warmed up, Peter looked at the photo. "It's pretty obvious they don't match," he said. "Is that what you expected?"
"No," Laurie said. "It was a shot in the dark." "Interesting," Peter said. "Do you think it is significant?" "Absolutely," Laurie said. "I think it means Julia was fighting for her life."

"You think she's still in there?" Tony asked. He was more antsy than usual. "She could have left while I was going back to get you. And if she's not in there, then we're wasting our time sitting here like a couple of chumps."
"You've got a good point," Angelo said. "But before we move in I wish we could make sure she didn't call the cops. I still don't understand why she split unless she didn't think we were real cops. I mean, isn't she the solid-citizen type? What does she have to hide from cops? It doesn't make sense, and when something doesn't make sense, it means I'm missing something. And when I'm missing something, it scares me."
"God, you're always worrying," Tony said. "Let's just go in there, get her, and be done with it." "All right," Angelo said. "But take it easy. And bring the bag. We're going to have to play this one by ear."
"I'm with you all the way," Tony said eagerly. Due to the unconsummated chase after Laurie, Tony's appetite for action had been honed to a razor's edge. He was a bundle of nervous energy. "I think we'd better put the silencers on our guns," Angelo said. "No telling what we're going to meet.

And we're going to have to work fast."
"Great!" Tony exclaimed. With obvious excitement he pulled out his Bantam and attached the silencer. It took him a moment because his hand trembled with pleasurable anticipation. Angelo gave him a hard look, then shook his head in exasperation. "Try to stay calm. Let's go!" They got out of the car and ran across the street and between the two mortuary vans. They ran hunched over, trying to avoid the drizzle as much as possible. They entered the same way they had that afternoon, through the morgue loading dock. Angelo was in the lead. Tony followed with the black doctor's bag in one hand and his gun in the other. In an attempt to conceal the gun, he had it partially under his jacket. Angelo was almost past the open door to the security office when someone inside yelled, "Hey! You can't go in there."
Tony collided with Angelo when his partner stopped abruptly. A guard in a blue uniform was sitting at his desk. In front of him was a game of solitaire. "Where you guys think you're going?" he asked. Before Angelo could respond, Tony raised his Bantam and aimed it at the surprised guard's forehead. He pulled the trigger without a moment's hesitation. The slug hit the guard in his head, just above his left eye, so that he fell over onto his desk, his head landing with a solid thump on his card game. Except for the pool of blood forming on the desk top, a passerby might have thought the man was simply asleep on the job.
"What the hell did you shoot him for?" Angelo snarled. "You could have given me a chance to talk with him."
"He was going to give us trouble," Tony said. "You said we had to be fast." "What if he has a partner?" Angelo said. "What if the partner comes back? Where will we be then?" Tony frowned.
"Come on!" Angelo said.
They peered into the mortuary office. There was cigarette smoke in the air and a live butt in an ashtray by the desk, but no one was in sight. Leaving the office and advancing cautiously into the morgue proper, Angelo glanced into the small auxiliary autopsy room used for decomposed bodies. The dissecting table was barely visible in the half-light.
"This place gives me the creeps," he admitted. "Me too," Tony said. "It's nothing like the funeral home I worked at. Look at the floor. This place is disgusting."
"Why are so many lights off?" Angelo asked. "Saving money?" Tony suggested.

They came to the huge U-shaped mass of refrigerator compartments stacked four-high, each with its
own heavily hinged door. "You think all the bodies are in here?" Angelo asked, pointing toward the bank of cooler doors.
"I guess so," Tony said. "This is just like in those old movies when they have to identify somebody." "It doesn't smell like this in the movies," Angelo said. "What the hell are all those simple coffins for? They expecting the bubonic plague?"
"Beats me," Tony said.
They wandered past the large walk-in cooler, heading for the light that was coming through the windows of the double doors that led into the main autopsy room. Just before they got there, the doors burst open and out walked Bruce Pomowski.
Everyone recoiled in surprise. Tony hid his gun behind his back. "You guys scared me," Bruce admitted with a nervous laugh. "The feeling's mutual," Angelo said.
"You must be here for the Haberlin body," Bruce said. "Well, I got good news and bad news. The good news is that it's ready. The bad news is you have to wait until one of the doctors examines it." "That's too bad," Angelo said. "But as long as we're waiting around, have you seen Dr. Laurie Montgomery?"
"Yeah," Bruce said. "I just saw her a few minutes ago." "Can you tell us where she went?" Angelo asked. "She went up to Toxicology," Bruce said. He was becoming curious and even a little suspicious about these two men.
"And where might Toxicology be?" Angelo asked. "Fourth floor." Bruce tried to remember if he'd ever seen these two on a body pickup before. "Thanks," Angelo said. He turned, motioning for Tony to follow him. "Hey, you can't go up there," said Bruce. "And what funeral home are you from?" "Spoletto," Angelo said.
"That's not the one I've been expecting," Bruce said. "I think I'd better make a call. What are your names?"
"We're not looking for any trouble," Angelo said. "We'd just like to talk with Laurie Montgomery." Bruce took a step backward and eyed Angelo and Tony. "I think I'll give Security a call."

Tony's gun appeared and pointed at the mortuary tech. Bruce froze in place, looking cross-eyed at the
barrel. Tony pulled the trigger before Angelo could say anything. Similar to the security man, the slug hit Bruce in the forehead, and he swayed for a second, then crumbled to the floor.
"Damn!" Angelo said. "You can't shoot everybody." "Hell!" Tony said. "He was about to call Security." "A lot of good that would have done him," Angelo said. "You already took care of Security. You have to learn to restrain yourself."
"So I overreacted," Tony said. "At least we know the chick's still here. We even know where to find her."
"But first we have to hide this body," Angelo said. "What if somebody comes along." Angelo glanced around. His eyes settled on the cooler compartments. "Let's stick him in one of the refrigerators," Angelo said.
Quickly Angelo and Tony began checking compartments, searching for an empty one. In every one the first thing they spotted was a pair of bare feet with a manila tag around the big toe. "This is disgusting," Angelo said.
"Here's an empty one," Tony said. He pulled out the drawer. They went back to Bruce's limp body. Tony discovered the man was still alive and making weird noises when he breathed. "Should I give him another slug?" he asked. "No!" Angelo snapped. He didn't want any more shooting. "It's not necessary. He won't be making much noise in the refrigerator."
Together they dragged the body to the open refrigerator compartment and managed to lift him onto the drawer.
"Sleep tight," Tony said as he slid the drawer into the wall and closed the door. "Now put your goddamned gun away," Angelo commanded. "All right," Tony said. He stuck his Bantam into his shoulder holster. With the silencer in place, the butt of the gun showed at Tony's lapel.
"Let's get up to the fourth floor," Angelo said nervously. "This isn't going very well. We have to get the woman and get out of here. All hell is going to break loose if someone comes across this trail of corpses you've been leaving."
Tony picked up his doctor's bag and hurried after Angelo, who'd already headed for the stairs. Angelo did not want to chance running into anyone in the elevator. Emerging on the fourth floor, they saw only one room was lit. Assuming that had to be the toxicology

lab, they headed straight for it. They entered cautiously, only to find Peter cleaning some equipment.
"Excuse me," Angelo said, "we're looking for Dr. Laurie Montgomery." Peter turned around. "You just missed her," he said. "She went down to the morgue to look at a body in the walk-in cooler."
"Thanks," Angelo said.
"Not at all," Peter said.
Angelo took Tony by the arm and quickly led him out into the hall. "Nice of you not to shoot him," Angelo said sarcastically.
The two retraced their steps, heading back downstairs to the morgue.

After looking in the mortuary office and the main autopsy room, Laurie gave up on finding Bruce. He'd probably gone on break. She had it in her mind to ask him for help, but she decided to check the walk-in for the Haberlin body herself.
Laurie put on rubber gloves before entering the large refrigerator. Straining against the door's weight, she pulled it open, reached in, and switched on the light. The walk-in looked much as it had when she'd gone in in search of Julia Myerholtz. Most of the bodies on the wooden shelves had not been disturbed since her last visit. Those on gurneys represented a new batch. Unfortunately, there were more bodies than there had been before. In an attempt to be methodical, she began by checking the bodies closest to the door. As usual, all the bodies had been tagged for identification. Laurie had to lift the sheets shrouding the feet to check the names. After checking each gurney, she moved it aside to allow her to work deeper into the cooler. Finally, near the back of the walk-in, and after checking a dozen bodies, she found the tag with Stephanie Haberlin written on it. It was none too soon; Laurie was shivering. Covering the feet back up, Laurie jockeyed the gurney around to get to its head. Then she pulled back the sheet.
Laurie winced at the sight. Seeing a young person's pale corpse was never a pleasant sight. No matter how long she stuck with forensics, Laurie didn't think she'd ever get used to this part of the job. With uncharacteristic reluctance, Laurie reached over and placed her thumb and index finger on Stephanie's upper eyelids.
For a moment Laurie hesitated, wondering what she wished for more: to be wrong or right. Taking a deep breath, she lifted the lids.
Laurie winced for the second time. She even felt her legs go weak. In a split second her suspicions had been validated. She'd been correct. It could no longer be considered a coincidence. The dead woman's eyes were gone!
"You awful, awful man," Laurie said aloud through chattering teeth. How could any human being

perpetrate such a heinous crime? This scheme was truly diabolical.
The resonant click of the cooler's latch shocked Laurie from her musing. Anticipating Bruce, she was surprised to see two strangers enter, one carrying an old-fashioned doctor's bag. "Dr. Montgomery?" the tall one called out. "Yes," Laurie answered. She was afraid she recognized these two as the same men who'd come to her door.
"We want to talk with you downtown," Angelo said. "Would you mind coming with us?" "Who are you?" she demanded. She began to tremble. "I don't think that really matters," the shorter one said as he started pushing gurneys to the side with his free hand. He was cutting a path to Laurie. Angelo started to move toward her, too. "What do you want with me?" Laurie asked, her terror mounting. "We just want to talk," Tony said.
Laurie was trapped. She had no place to run. She was snared in a virtual sea of corpse-laden gurneys. Tony was already pushing aside the last two of the remaining gurneys that lay between them. With no other recourse, Laurie stripped her shoulder purse from her arm and let it drop to the floor. She then stepped to the head of Stephanie Haberlin's gurney and grasped the sides. Screaming to bolster her courage, Laurie started wheeling Stephanie's gurney, desperately trying to build up speed in the confined space. She aimed the gurney directly at the surprised Tony. At first Tony suggested he would stand his ground. But as Laurie's efforts accelerated, he tried to get out of the way. Laurie crashed the gurney into Tony with enough force to knock him off balance as well as to cause Stephanie's corpse to topple off. Haphazardly a stiff dead arm draped itself around Tony's neck as he fought to regain his footing.
Not allowing the man to recover, Laurie grabbed another gurney and ran it into Stephanie's. Grabbing still another, she ran it at Angelo, who slipped on the tile floor trying to avoid being struck, and totally disappeared from view.
Tony struggled from Stephanie's embrace, pushing the corpse away from him. He was wedged between the gurneys, which he attempted to push away as he pulled out his gun. He tried to take aim, but Laurie crashed another gurney into the others, throwing him off balance once again. Angelo struggled to his feet and tried to make a space for himself to stand upright, pushing more gurneys in Tony's direction. Tony fired as Laurie crashed one last gurney. The sound, even with the silencer, was deafening within the insulated cooler. The bullet passed over Laurie's shoulder as she scrambled for the door. She was out of the cooler in an instant, slamming the heavy door behind her. Frantically she searched for a lock to secure the walk-in refrigerator, but there wasn't one. She had no other choice but to make a run for it. She hadn't gotten far when she heard the cooler door open behind her. Running as fast as she could, she rounded the corner of the mortuary office. Seeing no one, she