Blindsight (40 page)

me."
"You know, generally speaking, that for organs to be transplanted the donor must be in a vegetative state. In other words, everything but the brain must still be physiologically alive." "Of course," Laurie said. "I'm well aware of that caveat. Yvonne Andre was not in a vegetative state before her death. Nevertheless, her status in your organization is something I need to know." "Just a moment," Gertrude said. She walked over to her desk and punched some information into her computer terminal. "Yes," she said. "Yvonne was registered. But that is all I can say." "I appreciate what you have told me," Laurie said. "I have one more question. Have there been any break-ins here at your offices in the last year?" Gertrude rolled her eyes. "I really don't know if I'm at liberty to divulge this kind of information, but I guess it's a matter of public record. You could always check with the police. Yes, we were broken into a couple of months ago. Luckily not too much was taken and there was no vandalism." Laurie rose from her chair. "Thank you very much. You've been generous with your time. I really appreciate it."
"Would you like to take some of our literature?" Gertrude asked. "I would," Laurie said. Gertrude opened a cabinet and pulled out a number of brochures which she handed to Laurie. Laurie put them in her briefcase. Then Gertrude saw her to the door. Emerging onto Fifty-fifth Street, Laurie walked over to Lexington Avenue to catch a cab downtown. She directed the taxi driver to take her to the medical examiner's office. With her suspicions strengthening and her confidence renewed, she wanted to talk with George Fontworth. There was something about that day's overdose cases that she wanted to ask about. Even though it was after six o'clock, she thought that he might still be at work. He usually worked late. But as Laurie approached the office, she began to worry about Bingham still being there. She knew that on a number of evenings he also stayed late. Consequently Laurie instructed the cab driver to turn from First Avenue onto Thirtieth Street. When they came abreast of the morgue loading dock, she had him turn in. It was good that she had. There was Bingham's official city car, one of the perks of being the chief medical examiner.
"I've changed my mind," Laurie called to the driver through the Plexiglas screen. She gave him her home address. With some cursing in a language Laurie had never heard, he pulled out of the morgue driveway and returned to First Avenue. Fifteen minutes later she was in front of her tenement building. It was still raining, so Laurie bolted for the door. She was surprised to find that the lock to the inner door was broken. She'd have to call the super about it in case no one else had reported it yet. Laurie headed straight for the elevator. She didn't bother collecting her mail. Just then she had one thing in mind: calling Lou.
As the elevator doors began to slide shut, Laurie saw a hand come around its edge to try to stop the doors from closing. Laurie tried to hit the open button but hit the close instead. The hand pulled back, the

doors closed, and the elevator ascended.
Laurie was just unlocking her locks when she heard Debra Engler's door open behind her. "There were two men at your door," Debra said. "I've never seen them before. They rang your bell twice."
Although Laurie didn't like having Debra meddle in her affairs, she wondered who the two men were and what they could have wanted. It was difficult not to think of "two men" in anything but the context relating to the overdose cases, and the thought sent a chill down her spine. She wondered how they'd gotten as far as her door, since she hadn't been there to buzz them in. Then she remembered the broken lock in the second door. She asked Debra what they looked like. "Didn't get a good look at their faces," Debra said. "But they seemed no good to me. And as I said, they rang your bell twice."
Laurie turned back to her door and unlocked the last lock. It occurred to her that if the two men had malicious intentions, they could have gone up the service stairs and broken in through her rear door in the kitchen.
Laurie pushed open her door. It creaked on its hinges, which had been coated with a hundred layers of paint. From her vantage point in the hall, her apartment appeared as she had left it. She didn't hear anything abnormal or see anything suspicious. Cautiously she stepped over the threshold, ready to flee at the slightest unexpected sound.
Out of the corner of her eye, Laurie saw something coming at her. Letting out a small involuntary cry that was more of a gasp than a scream, Laurie let go of her briefcase and raised her arms to defend herself. At the moment the briefcase hit the floor, the cat was on her, but only for a second. In the next instant it had leaped to the foyer table, and with its ears held flat against its skull, it scampered into the living room. For a second Laurie stood in her doorway, clutching her chest. Her heart was beating as fast as it did after several games of racquetball. Only after she'd caught her breath did she turn back to her door, close it, and secure the multitude of locks. Picking up her briefcase, Laurie went into the living room. The manic cat rushed from his hiding place and leaped to the top of the bookcase and from there to the top of the valance over the windows. From that vantage point it glared down at Laurie with playful anger. Laurie went directly to her phone. Her answering machine light was blinking, but she didn't listen to her messages. Instead she dialed Lou's work number. Unfortunately, he didn't pick up. Laurie hung up and started to dial his home number. But before she could finish dialing, her doorbell rang. Startled, she hung up.
At first she was afraid to go to the door, even to look out the peephole. The doorbell sounded a second time. She knew she had to act. She would see who it was, she told herself. She didn't have to open up. Laurie tiptoed to the door and peered out into the hall. Two men she didn't recognize were standing there, their faces distorted by the wide-angle lens into exaggerated corpulence. "Who is it?" Laurie asked.

"Police," a voice called.
A feeling of relief spread over her as she began to unlock her locks. Could Bingham have made good on his threat to have her picked up? But he hadn't said he'd do it, he'd only said he might. After undoing the chain lock, Laurie paused. She again put her eye to the peephole. "Do you have identification?" she asked. She knew enough not to let anyone in on their word alone as to who they were.
The two men quickly flashed police badges in front of the peephole. "We only want to talk with you for a moment," the same voice explained.
Laurie backed away from the door. Although she'd initially been relieved to learn that her visitors were police, now she was beginning to wonder. What if they were here to arrest her? That would mean they'd have to take her to the police station to be booked. She'd be questioned, held, maybe arraigned. Who knew how long that would take? She had to talk to Lou about much more important matters. Besides, he'd undoubtedly be able to help her if she were to be arrested. "Just a moment," Laurie called to them. "I have to put on some clothes." Laurie headed straight for her kitchen and the back door. Tony exchanged looks with Angelo. "Should we tell her not to bother dressing?" he asked. "Shut up!" Angelo whispered.
The click of old hardware sounded behind them. Tony turned around to see Debra Engler's door opening a crack. Tony lunged toward the door and clapped his hands loudly to give Debra a scare. The tactic worked. Debra's door slammed shut. About a dozen locks were audibly being secured. "For Chrissake!" Angelo whispered. "What's the matter with you? This is no time for screwing around." "I don't like that witch looking at us." "Get over here!" Angelo ordered. He looked away from Tony, shaking his head. That's when he caught a fleeting glimpse of a woman's silhouette dashing by the wire-embedded, smoked glass of a door to the fire stairs.
It took Angelo a second to appreciate what was happening. "Come on," he said as soon as it hit him. "She's going down the back stairs!"
Angelo ran over to the stairwell door and yanked it open. Tony sprinted through. They both halted momentarily at the banister and peered down a dirty stairwell that dropped in a series of short flights to the ground floor five stories below. They could see Laurie several floors lower and hear the echo of her heels on the bare concrete treads.
"Get her before she reaches the street," Angelo snarled. Tony took off like a rabbit, taking the stairs four at a time. He gained steadily on Laurie, but wasn't able to catch her before she went through a door on the ground floor leading to the backyard.

Tony reached the door before it had a chance to swing shut. He pushed through to the outside and
found himself in a rubble-strewn backyard overgrown with weeds. He could hear Laurie's running footsteps echo as she sprinted down a narrow passageway leading to the street. Leaping over a short handrail, Tony ran after her. Laurie was only twenty feet away. He'd have her in a moment.

Laurie had known that she'd not slipped out unnoticed and that the police were behind her. She'd heard them coming down the stairwell. As she fled, she'd questioned the advisability of having done so. But, having started, she couldn't stop. Now that she'd run, she was even more determined not to be caught. She knew that resisting arrest was a crime in and of itself. On top of that, the thought of whether they were bona fide police crossed her mind.
As she mounted the final steps to the street, Laurie knew that one of her pursuers was almost on her. At the lip of the steps, pushed against the wall of the building, was a collection of old, dented, metal garbage cans. In a fit of desperation Laurie grabbed the top edge of one and pulled it behind her, sending it clattering down the steps to the floor of the pass-through to the backyard. Seeing her pursuer stumble on the can and fall, Laurie quickly rolled the rest of the cans to the lip of the stairs and sent them crashing down. A few pedestrians passing on the street slowed their pace at this spectacle, but none stopped and no one said anything. Hoping that her pursuer was momentarily occupied, Laurie ran down to First Avenue. She praised her luck as the first cab she saw came over to her and stopped. Completely out of breath, Laurie jumped in and yelled that she wanted to go to Thirtieth Street. As the taxi accelerated into the traffic, Laurie was afraid to look back. She was also trembling, wondering what she had done now. As she thought about the consequences of resisting arrest, she changed her mind about her destination. She leaned forward and told the driver that she wanted to go to police headquarters instead of Thirtieth Street. The driver didn't say anything as he turned left to head over to Second Avenue. Laurie sat back and tried to relax. Her chest was still heaving. As they worked their way south on Second Avenue, Laurie had a change of heart again. Worrying that Lou might not be at police headquarters, Laurie decided her first destination was better. Scooting forward again, she told the driver. This time he cursed but turned left to go back to First Avenue. As she'd done with the previous cab, Laurie had this driver turn on Thirtieth and pull into the morgue loading area. She was relieved to see that Bingham's car had left. After paying the fare, she ran into the morgue.

Tony paid the driver and got out of the cab. Angelo's car was where they'd left it, with Angelo behind the wheel. Tony climbed in.
"Well?" Angelo asked.
"I missed her," Tony said.

"That much is clear," Angelo said. "Where is she?"
"She tried to lose me," Tony said. "She had her driver make a loop. But I stayed with her. She went back to the medical examiner's office."
Angelo leaned forward and started his car. "Cerino doesn't know how right he was when he said that this girl could be trouble. We'll have to nab her from the medical examiner's office." "Maybe it will be easier there," Tony suggested. "Shouldn't be many people there at this hour." "It better go more smoothly than it did here," Angelo said as he looked back before pulling out into the street.
They rode up First Avenue in silence. Angelo had to hand one thing to Tony: at least he was fast on his feet.
Angelo turned onto Thirtieth Street and killed the engine. He wasn't happy to be back at the medical examiner's office again. But what choice did they have? There could be no more screw-ups. "What's the plan?" Tony asked eagerly.
"I'm thinking," Angelo said. "Obviously she wasn't so impressed with our police badges."

Laurie felt relatively safe in the dark, deserted medical examiner's building. She got into her office and locked the door behind her. The first thing she did was dial Lou's home number. She was pleased when he picked up on the first ring.
"Am I glad to hear from you," Lou said the moment Laurie identified herself. "Not as glad as I am to get you."
"Where are you?" Lou asked. "I've been calling your apartment every five minutes. If I hear your answering machine message one more time, I'll scream." "I'm at my office," Laurie said. "There's been some trouble." "I heard," Lou said. "I'm sorry about your being fired. Is it final or will you get a hearing?" "It's final at the moment. But that's not why I called. Two men came to my apartment door a few minutes ago. They were policemen. I got scared and ran. I think I'm in big trouble." "Uniformed policemen?" Lou asked.
"No," Laurie said. "They were in street clothes. Suits." "That's strange," Lou said. "I can't imagine any of my boys going to your apartment. What were their names?"
"I haven't the slightest idea," Laurie said.

"Don't tell me you didn't ask them their names," Lou said. "That's ridiculous. You should have gotten
their names and badge numbers and called the police to check on them. I mean, how do you know they were really police?"
"I didn't think of getting their names," Laurie said. "I asked to see their badges." "Come on, Laurie," Lou complained. "You've lived in New York too long to act like that. You should know better."
"All right!" Laurie snapped. She was still overwrought. The last thing she needed from Lou was a lecture. "What should I do now?"
"Nothing," Lou said. "I'll check into it. Meanwhile, if anybody else shows up, get their names and badge numbers. Do you think you can remember that?" Laurie wondered if Lou was deliberately trying to provoke her. She tried to remain calm. This was no time to let him get to her. "Let's change the subject," she said. "There's something even more important we have to talk about. I think I've come up with an explanation about my cocaine overdose/toxicity cases, and it involves someone you know. I finally even have some evidence that I think you'll find convincing. Maybe you should come over here now. I want to show you some preliminary DNA matches. Obviously I can't meet you here in the daytime." "What a coincidence," Lou said. "Sounds like we've both made some progress. I think I've solved my gangland murder cases. I wanted to run it by you." "How did you manage to solve them?"
"I went by to see your boyfriend, Jordan," Lou said. "In fact I saw him a couple of times today. I think he's getting tired of me."
"Lou, are you deliberately trying to irritate me?" Laurie questioned. "If so, you are doing a wonderful job. For the tenth time, Jordan is not my boyfriend!" "Put it this way," Lou said. "I'm trying to get your attention. You see, the more time I spend with that guy, the more I think he's a creep and a sleazeball, and this is going beyond that jealousy crap I admitted to in a moment of weakness. I can't imagine what you see in him." "I didn't call you to get a lecture," Laurie said wearily. "I can't help it," Lou said. "You need some advice from someone who cares. I don't think you should see that guy anymore."
"OK, Dad, I'll keep it in mind." With that, she hung up the phone. She was tired of Lou's condescending paternalism, and for the moment she couldn't talk with him. She had to give herself some time to calm down. The man could be so infuriating, especially when she needed support, not criticism. Laurie's phone started ringing almost as soon as she'd hung up, but she ignored it. She'd let Lou stew for a little while. She unlocked her office door and walked down the silent hallway and took the elevator to the morgue. At that hour the morgue was desolate, with most of the skeleton evening staff on dinner break. Bruce Pomowski, however, was in the mortuary office. She hoped he hadn't heard about her