Lenore stares up into Woo’s face and passes the pictures absent-mindedly to Richmond.
“Don’t jump to any conclusions,” Woo says, almost under his breath.
“In tandem with this is an additional effect that I, personally, find fascinating. The pathologist’s studies on both Partridge and Robbins showed an inordinate buildup of sperm cells and seminal plasma in the testes and urethral glands and a severe retraction of the muscles around the ductus deferens.”
“In English, please,” Lehmann says without hiding his impatience.
Woo nods as he speaks. “Both men were sexually stimulated. Very stimulated. Without the presence of any external erotic materials. Again, we were doing language tests.”
“Speed, Spanish fly, and a Berlitz course in one quick pop,” Lenore says.
“Let’s not jump the gun, Officer. We don’t know that these effects would present themselves in a lower dosage—”
Lenore ignores him. “Quite a commodity. You take it to speak in tongues and as a bonus you get sex and power. Who’s going to want TV anymore?”
“And the downside,” Peirce says, refocusing the table’s attention on Woo.
“The downside,” says Woo, still looking at Lenore, “is its unpredictability. At full dosage, you can end up with what you heard on the tape. Homicidal rage. And death.”
He waits until the photos have made their way around most of the table, then says, with his index finger pointed in their general direction, “This is where you people become involved. Because of our limited testing and the complexity of the drug’s chemical base, we’ve been unable to find out what a tolerable dosage might be. It’s theoretically possible that the individual’s language capacities can play a part in the drug’s level of intensity.”
Lehmann pipes in with, “Crack and ice are bubble gum compared with this shit.” Then he glances down toward the mayor and says awkwardly, “Excuse the language.”
The photos come back to Lenore, who says, “How’d this happen?”
Woo takes a deep breath. Lenore thinks it’s for effect.
Woo says, “This is a very powerful, but very unstable substance. From my observations I believe there to be three distinct stages of consequences to ingestion. The first you just heard, phenomenal increases in linguistic ability and comprehension. The second consequence follows directly on the heels of the first, and it’s a stunning, erotic high, a sexual euphoria, a burst of intoxication to rival anything you’ve come across recently, I assure you.”
“And the last …” Lenore pauses, then says, “Consequence?”
Woo gives an awful and smug grin and says, “Probably just what you’re guessing, Detective. Paranoia that increases unchecked, very likely to the borders of schizophrenia, if not beyond. Accompanied by a limitiess and very shocking rage. A homicidal rage.”
There’s silence until Lenore says, “There was no way to prevent this?”
Woo shakes his head. “It’s unlikely in this extreme condition that any tranquilizer would have done much good. But to be honest with you, we were somewhat unprepared for the explosion. The guards overreacted. I’m sure in your line of work you can understand how certain tragedies can be unavoidable. In retrospect we often see options that may not have actually existed at the time.”
Lenore ignores the rest of the table and says evenly, “I’m not sure we know very much about each other’s line of work.”
Woo nods and says, in the same tone, “Perhaps we can correct this in the days to come.”
Zarelli comes alive and asks, “Well, what happens now? I mean, the convicts are dead. You burn their files and you burn the pill inside that bubble there, and, I guess, DEA—” he gives a head motion toward Lehmann—“tracks down the deal on the consulting firm and all …”
“Not exactly,” Lehmann says, staring down at his sunglasses. “When we found the pills inside the Swanns’ spice jar they were wrapped in a piece of paper.” He takes a very small piece of crumpled-up paper from his jacket pocket and lays it on the table. “Just a small piece of scrap paper. Except that it had a phone number written on it.”
“That connected to?” Lenore says.
“Hotel Penumbra.”
The detectives all look at each other and Lenore says, “The Capital of Bangkok Par.”
Lehmann says, “Yeah. And I don’t think Leo and Inez were looking to book a getaway weekend, do you?”
“What about Pecci?” Richmond asks.
Lehmann shrugs. “Could be a deal couldn’t be cut with the family and the Swanns started looking elsewhere for connections and backers for their new venture.”
“Is there any indication,” Peirce asks, “that any contact was made between the Swanns and any other Bangkok brokers?”
Lehmann shrugs. “No idea. Bangkok is your sewer. We decided that step one was to get you people involved.”
“If the stuff is out there,” Lenore says, “we’ll know about it soon enough.” She slides the morgue photos back at Woo.
He collects them back into his satchel and says, “I would say that’s a correct assumption.”
The mayor stands up abruptly and says, “I think we all know the critical nature of what we’re dealing with. Now, I’m due back at City Hall. I leave you people to coordinate your efforts, but I want to assure you that if there’s anything whatsoever that my office can do, please, have the lieutenant call at any time.”
He gives a bouncing, loose-necked nod around the table, grabs Miskewitz’s hand, and pumps it fast. He starts to move away from the table, then hesitates and adds, in a lower voice, “Detective Peirce, could I see you privately for a moment?”
Peirce seems to go a little white in the face. She rolls back from the table without looking at anyone and follows the mayor into the outer corridor. Shaw gets Lenore’s attention and motions after them with her head.
“His little friend in the department,” Lenore says in an unhushed voice.
Miskewitz rolls his eyes, runs his beefy hand over the roll of flesh under his jaw, and raises his eyebrows. “Well, people,” he says, “we were getting bored.”
Shaw and Richmond laugh. Zarelli stares down at Lenore. Lenore stares up at Woo. Richmond cracks his knuckles and says, “So how do we work it?”
Lehmann says, “I’m bunking here for the duration. You run everything through me. I want to know every piece of information you trip over. I want to know what you eat for dinner.”
Lenore knows she’s going to have problems with Lehmann.
Lehmann continues, “Dr. Woo will be assisting us throughout because that’s what my boss wants, so include him in all your updates.”
Miskewitz says, “Put everything on hold that you can and junk what you can’t. We’ll work our normal partners with the exception of Thomas and Zarelli. Zarelli, you tag onto Richmond and Peirce. Detective Thomas, you’re to escort Dr. Woo throughout the investigation—”
Lenore comes straight up in her seat and repeats, “Escort?” as if she’d never heard the word.
Miskewitz tilts his head slightly and gives an annoyed smile. “That’s right, Lenore. As of today the doctor is on leave from St. Ignatius and on loan to us—”
“As in report—” Lenore begins, and the lieutenant holds up a hand.
“—As in accompanies you. As in the mayor wants it this way.”
“I can’t take this guy down the Park,” she says in disbelief.
“Look, Thomas, we’re dealing with a new substance here. Dr. Woo is the only one to have seen its effects firsthand—”