"I apologize in advance if I say anything inappropriate," Jack said, "but I have the sense that this special effort Allan Smitham is willing to devote to this case is because of unrequited feelings he has for you."
"Maybe," Latasha said equivocally.
"I hope that accepting his aid doesn't put you in an uncomfortable position."
"I think I can handle it," Latasha said in a tone that proclaimed: End of discussion.
The lab was state-of-the-art and almost deserted. In addition to Allan, there were only two other people there, both lab technicians who were busily engaged at the far side of the generous-sized room. There were three aisles of benches groaning under the weight of gleaming new equipment.
Allan was a striking-looking African American with a closely trimmed mustache and goatee that gave him an intimidatingly Mephistophelean air. Adding to his imposing appearance was a heavily muscular frame barely concealed by a white lab coat with rolled-up sleeves over a form-fitting black T-shirt. His skin was a burnished mahogany, a shade or two darker than Latasha's. His eyes were bright and fixated on his old college friend.
Latasha introduced Jack, who rated only a quick but firm handshake and a rapid, appraising glance. Allan was unabashedly interested in Latasha, whom he lavished with a broad smile filled with startlingly white teeth.
"You shouldn't make yourself such a stranger, girl," Allan said as he gestured toward his tiny, utilitarian office. He ended up sitting at his desk while Latasha and Jack took two straight chairs in his line of sight.
"You have an impressive lab," Jack said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. "Seems lean on staff, though."
"Just for this shift," Allan said. He was still smiling at Latasha. "In terms of the number of employees, the difference between us and the day shift is like night and day." He laughed at his own joke. Jack had the feeling he wasn't lacking self-esteem or humor.
"What did you find with our samples?" Latasha asked, cutting to the chase.
"Ah, yes," Allan said, steepling his fingers while his elbows rested on the desk. "You gave me a little background in your note, which I'd like to go over to make sure I understand. The patient died of a heart attack approximately eight months ago. She was embalmed, interred, and recently exhumed. What you want to do is rule out drug involvement."
"Let's put it more succinctly," Latasha said. "Her manner of death was assumed to be natural. We want to be sure it wasn't homicide."
"Okay," Allan intoned as if mulling over what he wanted to say next.
"What was the result of the screen?" Latasha asked impatiently. "Why are you dragging this out?"
Jack inwardly cringed at Latasha's tone. It made him uncomfortable that she was being less than gracious with Allan, who was doing them an enormous favor. For Jack, it was becoming progressively clear there was something between them that he didn't know and didn't want to know.
"I want to be sure you interpret the findings correctly," Allan said defensively.
"We're both medical examiners," Latasha shot back. "I think we are relatively informed about the limitations of a toxicology screen."
"Informed enough to know the predictive value of a negative test is only about forty percent?" Allan questioned, eyebrows raised. "And that is with a recently deceased, not embalmed, corpse."
"So you are saying the toxicology screen was negative."
"I am," Allan said. "It was definitely negative."
"My God, it's like pulling teeth," Latasha complained. She rolled her eyes and flapped her arms impetuously.
"What drugs constitute your screen?" Jack asked. "Is digitalis included?"
"Digitalis is included," Allan said as he half-stood to hand Jack the lab's toxicology screen drug list.
Jack scanned the sheet. He was impressed with the number of drugs included. "What methods do you use?"
"We use a combination of chromatography and enzyme immunoassay for our screens."
"Do you have gas chromatography-mass spectrometry?" Jack asked.
"Bet your ass we got mass-spec," Allan said proudly. "But if you want me to use the artillery, you're going to have to give me an idea of what I'm looking for."
"We can give you only a general idea at the moment," Jack said. "According to the symptoms the patient was reported to have had if drugs or poisons were involved, we would be looking for something capable of producing a markedly slow heart rate unresponsive to all attempts at pacing and a respiratory depressant, since she was also described as being cyanotic."
"You're still talking about a shitload of potential drugs and poisons," Allan said. "Without more specifics, you're asking me for a miracle!"
"I know," Jack admitted. "But Latasha and I are going to go back and brainstorm to see if we can come up with some likely candidates."
"You'd better," Allan said. "Otherwise, this is probably going to be a fruitless exercise. First, I have to figure out what to ignore with all the embalming fluid on board."
"I know," Jack repeated.
"Why are you even considering homicide?" Allan asked. "If you don't mind my asking."
Jack and Latasha exchanged a glance, unsure of how much to say.
"We just did the post a few hours ago!" Latasha said. "We didn't find diddly-squat. There was no cardiac pathology, which doesn't make sense, considering the history."
"Interesting," Allan said pensively. He locked eyes with Latasha. "Let me get this straight. You want me to do all this work, take up my whole night, and do it on the sly to boot. Is that what you are saying?"
"Of course we want you to do it!" Latasha snapped. "What's the matter with you? Why else would we be sitting here?"
"I don't mean you and the doc here," Allan said, gesturing toward Jack. He then pointed at Latasha. "I mean you personally."
"Yeah, I want you to do it, okay," Latasha said. She stood up.
"Okay," Allan said. There was a trace of a satisfied smile on his face.
Latasha walked out of the office.
Surprised at the sudden ending of the meeting, Jack got up and fumbled for one of his cards. "Just in case you want to ask me something," he said as he put it on Allan's desk. He helped himself to one of Allan's from a small Plexiglas holder. "I appreciate your help. Thank you."
"No problem," Allan said. The lingering smirk was still apparent.
Jack caught up to Latasha at the elevator. He didn't say anything until they were on their way down.
"That was a rather precipitous ending," Jack said. He pretended not to look at Latasha by watching the floor indicator.
"Yeah, well, he was getting on my nerves. He's such a cocky bastard."
"I sensed he didn't have a self-esteem problem."
Latasha laughed and perceptively relaxed a degree.
They walked out into the night. It was going on three, but there were still people on the street. As they neared the medical examiner's office, Latasha spoke up: "I suppose you wondered why I appeared somewhat rude."
"It crossed my mind," Jack admitted.
"Allan and I were tight the last year of college, but then something happened that gave me insight into his personality that I didn't like." She keyed open the front door and waved to the security person. As they started up the single flight of stairs, she continued: "I got a scare that I was pregnant. When I told him, his response was to ditch me. I couldn't even get a call back, so I wrote him off. The irony is that I wasn't pregnant. During the last year or so when he found out I was here at the ME office, he's tried to get us to connect up, but I'm not interested. I'm sorry if it was uncomfortable back there in his office."