"You're just going to sit around and wait to see who's missing?" he said, his voice as cold as the empty feeling in his gut.
"No. You and I are going to get some toothbrushes and a gallon of isopropyl, then give this place a proper cleaning so not even the cops could find a trace of whoever's blood it is."
Her bossing him around like this no longer felt good. "You think so, Francesca? You should read more of the lab journals. Cops have chemicals that can make even the slightest amounts of blood fluoresce. And you know as well as I that once they find it, it takes little more than a few cells to do DNA testing. If they ever do find a body, tracing it to this office will be a snap."
She went completely still, the way a snake poises before it strikes, and studied him. "Then you better shut up and get busy."
He wanted to walk out on her, but the rage he sensed was smoldering beneath her smirk made him wary. "Okay, Francesca," he said, deciding it best to acquiesce for the moment. He was about to go fetch what they'd need when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps, followed by a sharp knock at the door. "Yes!" she replied.
"Francesca, it's Richard Steele. I'm here with Homicide Detective George McKnight, and we need to talk with you."
Norris's heart kicked in to triple digit beats. If there was another way out, even a window, he would have bolted. Feeling as trapped as he ever had in his life, he looked to Downs.
She stood stark still. He saw her lower her hands to her sides, take several deep breaths, and swallow once. He'd seen her steady herself in their OR this way, whenever the shit hit the fan and only raw nerve could see her through. "Yes," she replied, her voice instantly coated with several layers of cool civility despite her wildly gesturing at him to keep his mouth shut before unlocking the door.
Steele and the large detective he'd seen around the hospital these last few days stood at the entrance like grim reapers, their faces as drawn as Downs's. He dared not think what his own expression must look like.
"Come in, and be careful of the glass on the floor. Someone broke in here last night and pried open a few of my filing cabinets," she said, managing a smile with a smoothness that took his breath away. "Luckily whoever it was must have been scared off. Nothing's missing, thank God. "The two men entered the modest office making it feel instantly overcrowded. "Well, if you're finished with me, I'll be going, Francesca," he managed to say, knowing he couldn't come close to matching her outer calm. "I'll get maintenance to do the repairs, and have security check how anyone could have gotten in here—"
"Actually, this involves you, too, Jimmy," Richard said, moving to bar his way. "Have you both met Detective McKnight?"
"Involves me?" he croaked, instantly unsure how even to greet the policeman. He held out his hand, but the big man kept his pocketed in an overcoat the size of a circus tent.
"I'm sorry I don't have enough chairs," Downs said. She sounded as if she had a pair of unexpected guests for tea.
"I'll stand," McKnight said, leaning against the broken filing cabinets and eyeing the bent metal around the locks. "I'm just here to provide Dr. Steele with police protection. As you probably know, there already have been two attempts on his life. Why don't the rest of you sit down?"
Nobody took a chair.
"Yes, Richard, I heard. Let me say how shocked—""Listen, Francesca, after the attacks on Kathleen and my son, I'm in no mood to be delicate, so I'll get right to the point. I think I've discovered the reason Hamlin and Lockman were murdered, and I think you know it, too. They were playing around with stem cells, weren't they? Infusing them into stroke patients illegally."
Norris thought he would faint. He glanced over at Downs and saw her standing with her mouth open, not uttering a sound. The seconds seemed to slow and elongate. He slumped backward, letting one of the bookcases support his weight.
The movement caught Richard's attention, and like a tiger drawn to the weakest in a herd he swung his headlamp gaze to him. "You must have been supplying them, Jimmy," he said. "I can't imagine anyone else around here with the smarts to culture up the quantities they'd need for two years' worth of work."
Norris felt his face grow flushed. "I . . . I . . . I ... swear I don't know what you're talking about."
"Then why so flustered, Jimmy?"
"Dr. Steele!" Downs broke in. "We're both 'flustered' because what you claim is just so ... so . . . unbelievable. And even if your accusations about poor Tony and Matt are true, which I'm sure you have your reasons to believe they are, what evidence is there of Jimmy being involved? Or for that matter, why come to me about it at all?"
"Because I think you've been doing exactly the same sort of thing with your heart patients, Francesca. And your buddy, Jimmy here, has been helping you as well, along with Paul Edwards and Adele Blaine."
This time Norris actually felt the room spin.
"What!" she shrieked. "Why, I'll have you up before the ethics council, charged with uttering malicious slander—"
"Good, because that's exactly where you can explain all those unwarranted caths you performed on patients with no symptoms of increasing angina—"
"You question my competence, Richard, after working with me in ER all these years?" She didn't miss a beat. "Why, I've got the best record in the hospital with my Ml patients, and you know it," she continued. "In the country even. And so what if a few extra angios are the price of that excellence. For your information, I received no fees—"
"Spare me, Francesca. I think the lot of you set this nut from the Legion of the Lord on Hamlin, Lockman, Dr. Sullivan, and myself to cover your tracks. So don't waste your time trying to bullshit me."
"No!" Norris heard himself say, the word sounding strangled and far off.
Downs seemed to stop breathing altogether. "Oh, my God, you're not serious?" A look of horror crossed her face. Her incredulity appeared so profound that Norris had no difficulty telling himself it had to be authentic. "Richard, please, you can't think that I'd have anything to do with killing anyone. I've spent my whole career saving lives. I could never be part of that, not for anything."
"Not for anything? Why not to save your career? Or to be among the first to tap the miracle of regenerative medicine? Whatever the reason, you and your buddies have brought a maniac down on me and my own, so you'll forgive me if I don't exactly sympathize."
She grabbed his hands. "Richard, you have to believe me. If I could do anything to stop that murderer, to keep you, Chet, and Dr. Sullivan from harm, I would."
"Then tell me who he is."
"I don't know."
"Damn it, Francesca, stop playing games! The only way you can help yourself out of the mess you're in is to tell me what you know about this killer. "She looked up at him, still clasping his hands, her eyes glistening on the verge of tears and her cheeks flushed. Then the expression on her face slowly vanished, replaced by a blank mask. "I've had enough," she said, "and insist you leave my office immediately."
Norris found the neutrality in her voice chilling.
Richard ignored her and turned on him again. "How about you, Jimmy? Feel like fessing up, now, while you've got the chance to help yourself?" He leaned in until there was less than six inches separating their noses. "After all, it doesn't look good for you. There's a record of your visiting all these patients of hers who, a few months later, seemed to outgrow their heart failure. A lot of nurses noted your comings and goings. Just dropping in for social chats, were you?"
"You'll be hearing from my lawyer," Norris said, trying to mimic the same show of outrage his lover had mustered. He knew as soon as the words were out of his mouth that he'd failed and only managed to make himself sound all the more scared.
"Oh, good, a court of law this time," Richard said. "Maybe we can talk about medical assault, negligent homicide, conspiracy. Let's see, how did it probably work? Edwards supplied the embryos. Jimmy, you harvested and grew the cells for Hamlin and your girlfriend here, then you lured Lockman into the game because you required an angiograph
er willing to go along with doing the infusions. And, of course, Adele Blaine provided the ideal setting with her institute for you to hustle your subjects away to. That got them far from prying eyes at NYCH. At her institute you could follow them in private and cover up any nasty surprises, no? Except Hamlin's DOAs started coming into ER. What were his reasons for doing Kathleen? Save her life, then out of gratitude I was supposed to go along with hiding his mistakes?"
"Richard, you're out of your mind," Downs said quietly, shaking her head in a perfect show of sadness and sympathy.
Richard studied her. "Oh, am I?" he said after a few seconds. Her sudden calm appeared to unsettle him.
"Yes, you are. And given all that's happened to your son and Dr. Sullivan, I suppose you can be forgiven. But it's affected your judgment and you've read this all wrong."
"Like hell I have!"
He's defensive, Norris thought. And all at once Francesca was smooth as silk again. Clearly she had found a way out.
"I have no idea what Hamlin and Lockman were up to," she continued, "but you were right about Jimmy and me doing stem cell research."
Norris felt his throat tighten again.
Richard went very still.
The cop shifted his weight off the cabinet and leaned forward, his eyes widening with interest.
"Except our work is with stromal cells." She paused, and seemed to savor the look of astonishment on Steele's face for a few seconds. "Last summer a Scandinavian team of scientists succeeded in isolating them from a subject's femoral marrow, and successfully implanted them back into that person's heart. They weren't treating anything, just doing a trial to prove the procedure could be done safely. Since that development, we've been harvesting them from the femurs of an adult mouse, successfully inserting them back into the scar tissue of myocardial infarcts experimentally induced on the same animal, and restoring much of the lost function. In fact, we've been so successful, we're now ready for human trials. All those visits of Jimmy to my patients? We were looking for a suitable candidate. And, recently, we've finally found one who's willing to proceed and try the technique. In fact we were just discussing holding a press conference to announce the news." Her voice held exactly the right blend of enthusiasm and pride. It was Richard's turn to flush. "Your numbers already show fantastic results for two years, Francesca. And I'll bet if we questioned your patients from the last twelve months, we'd find they've all undergone samplings of their femoral marrows."
"Of course, some have. In addition to our work with mice, we had to be sure we could isolate and culture human stromal cells for when the time came for human trials. All these subjects signed releases showing informed consent, each one stating that he or she was fully aware we were extracting tissue for research purposes that might one day help people like themselves. They also signed a confidentiality agreement."
Richard opened his mouth, but McKnight interrupted.
"Could someone explain that in English?"
"I'm sure Richard can," she said sweetly, "but if you'll excuse me, I really must get to work. With a media event of this magnitude, there's a lot of phone calls to make."
She walked over to Richard and placed a hand on his shoulder.
He watched her fingers the way someone might look at a tarantula.
"Richard, Jimmy and I are as upset as you about this psychotic who's running around. One thing our work might accomplish is a way around such malicious assholes."
Richard glared at her hard enough to bore through diamond. "I'm not through with this, Francesca," he finally muttered, and left the room.
Norris watched him go, and felt himself exhale as if he'd been holding his breath the whole time.
McKnight, who'd gone back to leaning against the cabinet, pushed off it and said, "You should report this break-in to us." He gestured toward the twisted metal around the locks on the files. "We could check for prints, question your staff—"
"But I'm sure it's nothing to do with the murders," she said, offering the man her hand.
He took it, enveloping it in his huge ebony fist, and flashed her a startlingly disarming smile. "Well, now, how could you know that?"
"What happened back there?" Mc Knight demanded as they walked upstairs. "She stood her ground. I couldn't touch her."
"What's all this stromal cell stuff."
"I'll tell you over coffee. No matter what she says, I know I'm right about them all being in cahoots with each other. But if she's using stromal cells, then she's bypassed the wrath of the antiabortionists."
"Is that what they call adult stem cells— what all the right-wing conservatives keep calling on scientists to use instead of embryonic tissue?"
"That's right."
"So she wouldn't be a target for the Legion of the Lord."
"If they've done their homework, they should be leaving her alone, but who knows with fanatics like that?"
"Was Hamlin using these adult stem cells as well?"
"I doubt it. His cases would be emergencies. There wouldn't be time to harvest and cultivate the necessary tissue from the patient's own marrow. Norris had to keep lines of embryonic cells at the ready. Otherwise why continue to involve Paul Edwards at all? In fact, even Downs was probably using them up until she learned what the Scandinavians were doing a year ago and switched. Pretty slick, overtly recruiting her patients to donate the marrow she and Norris needed for preparation of the infusions. It makes her story bulletproof."
McKnight whistled. "I see what you mean about our not being able to touch her. But if Francesca Downs is considered a good citizen by those Legion of the Lord creeps, wouldn't that make it easier for her to set them onto Hamlin and Lockman without endangering herself than for Norris, Edwards, or Blaine to do it?"
"I suppose so. What are you getting at?"
"She might even have manipulated the Legion of the Lord's fanaticism to her own ends, convincing them it was in their interest to remove you and Dr. Sullivan as well, so as to keep her secret safe. That way she'd remain free to champion the use of nonembryonic stem cells. The argument should have appealed to at least some of the 'soldiers.' "
"I guess. She also could have simply fed them a story making me part of the stem cell scheme, saying I agreed to cover up Hamlin's DOAs in ER in exchange for his treating Kathleen. But I still don't see your point."
"She's the only one of the bunch who could mobilize the LOTL and have a hope they wouldn't also kill her. Norris, Edwards, Blaine— their risk of becoming targets themselves is too great."
"So?"
"Downs could be acting alone in involving our killer, and she may be sending him after more people than you and Dr. Sullivan."
Richard slowed his pace. "Now that's an interesting way to look at it."
"Nothing special for a cop. Just a matter of trying to hook together opportunity and means as well as motive. I'd say the lady has a big edge over the others on those two counts."
"So what do we do?"
"Her former partners might be getting pretty nervous. What say we talk with them as well."
"You mean maybe they're scared enough to have a chat."
McKnight grinned. "It crossed my mind. You could meet with them in private and—""Come on!" Richard turned and started for the elevators.
"Hey, the coffee shop's this way."
"First I want to drop in on Edwards. See how he reacts to a surprise visit."
McKnight hurried to catch up with him. "Okay, but you can't come on the way you did back there with Downs and Norris. That almost verged on police harassment—"
"You didn't say anything."
"I was in the room. One of them could lodge a complaint."
"I'll swear you never said a word. Besides, with Edwards, I won't be leaning on him, just suggesting that not only has Downs unleashed a pack of mad dogs on his buddies, but he might be next. You can go on record again that you're only with me as my police protection."
"That's wafer thin and you know it. My being there scares the shit out
of the person you're badgering. Hell, I thought that Norris guy was going to crap himself."
"So, he's got diarrhea, or a guilty conscience. How can any cop-complaints department fault you for that? Ah, here we are." He led the way up a side corridor. "Speaking of Norris," continued McKnight, "he seems pretty weak. I'd like to question him alone."
"He may be scared, but I doubt he'd betray Downs, even to save his own hide. They've been lovers for over a year, and he's pretty besotted by her."
"You'd be surprised what the inside of a police station can do to love."
Richard smiled. "Maybe. But getting Edwards to rat on her, now that's a real possibility. He's much more addicted to his creature comforts. I bet he'll fold like a lawn chair if he thinks you'll go easier on him. If we can nail Downs with criminal charges based on his testimony, she might be less the Ice Queen we saw back there and more inclined to make a deal as well. Then maybe she'd give us the killer."
A chuckle rolled out from the depths of McKnight's massive barrel chest. "Doc, stick to medicine and let me handle him. You've seen too many gangster movies."
The passage led to where a severe looking woman dressed in a tangerine-colored jumpsuit commanded a desk blocking a set of mahogany doors as high as the ceiling.
"What lives in there?" McKnight whispered. "Godzilla?"
"Dr. Edwards isn't in yet," the woman informed them.
"When do you expect him?" Richard asked.
"I honestly don't know. He's never late, and," she added, a trace of anxiety in her words, "when I phoned his home, the housekeeper said he didn't come in last night."
Alarms went off in Richard, and, judging from the look on McKnight's face, he hadn't taken the secretary's information lightly either.
On their way back to the coffee shop, McKnight said, "By the way, what did you make of that alcohol smell? Is it normal for her office to reek of it like that?"
Chapter 17
That Same Morning,
Critical Condition Page 27
