“That’s all.”
Livvy spent the next hour locating and calling Josephson’s clinic to get the details of Josephson’s schedule and the missed appointment, then arranging an interview with Josephson’s girlfriend. Interestingly enough, the clinic staff not only happily supplied the girlfriend’s address; they seemed to relish the idea of LLE paying her a visit. She was apparently a regular at the clinic.
It was a heady experience, having people so willing to talk to her, and not one she had been expecting. As an LLE detective, her right to requisition an individual’s reset and enhancement records, and everything related to practitioners’ and researchers’ work, was unassailable. The clinic license and their jobs were at her disposal. The people at Josephson’s clinic, though, were not just talking to her to fulfill their legal obligation, they seemed glad to be doing so. A few minutes in, she realized it was the prospect that Josephson was in trouble that was pleasing them, not any unlikely desire to make her life easier.
After checking Archives for any past Enforcement history on Josephson, Professional Licensing for the status of his licenses, and the professional associations, AAMP and AAMB, for any ethics issues, Livvy went back to her study of ELU.
“If you’re determined to actually read those things in their original language, Manglese, you’re going to need some more of this,” Meg Dalton said, setting a mug of black coffee by Livvy’s left hand.
Meg had brought another coffee for herself, and made it clear by dragging Chris’ chair around that she was planning on staying awhile.
“Well, I was, but if you offer some excuse to tear me away for a while all I can say is, ‘thank you, thank you.’”
“I think I should be able to beat that for keeping you awake,” Meg said, nodding at the ELU. “With some help from the LLE coffee, that is.”
“That obvious, huh? Has everyone noticed me nodding off?” Livvy asked.
“We’re detectives. We notice things,” Meg said. She cocked her head and nodded at ELU again. “But unfortunately, a lot of our work is following through on violations involving that stuff you’ve been trying to study. Some of it is a moving target.
“You came here from Homicide?”
“Yes. Ten years. In San Francisco.”
“And Tactical before that, I understand. So I’d guess you’ve seen your share of the more exciting side of life,” Meg said.
“I’m behind on sleep,” Livvy said, “but not, I can assure you, because I’m worried about missing any action.”
“And the Chief has given you a missing doctor to find. McGregor’ll be back soon and you’ll get to go out on your first real LLE case,” Meg said, her eyes glinting in a way that reminded Livvy uneasily of Mike’s wicked smile. “The Chief asked me to give you some background.”
“On the missing doctor? So he said. But it’s a new case and not much of one. It turns out that the doctor called the clinic on Friday to cancel his appointments for the day. He’s barely missing. A few more calls and we’ll probably find out that it’s just a family emergency or something else that he got wrapped up in and absent-mindedly forgot to call the clinic about Monday and Tuesday. A non-starter, in fact.”
“And you’re already wondering about the black hole you’ve hitched your star to,” Meg said. Her eyes were still glinting, but then she hesitated and seemed to gather her thoughts. “LLE handles things differently. We try to be proactive. Any time it’s a missing physician or molebiologist who does Longevity or enhancement clinical or research work, detectives go out if anything is called in. And we require the clinics to call in any schedule irregularities or unexpected absences. It’s possible, for example, that Josephson was under duress when he called in to cancel on Friday.
“As for this being a new case,” she added slowly. “It may be and it may not be. Josephson has a history of considerable significance to LLE.”
“I couldn’t find anything in Archives or in the ethics cases in AAMP or AAMB,” Livvy said, a little chagrined. “What did I miss?”
“There wouldn’t be anything in the official records. For what this sorry son-of-a-bitch did, you have to get the story from the few of us who were around when he did it. McGregor and I were here. The Chief wasn’t, but he keeps a cross-indexed file of these kinds of cases so he can assign repeat offenders to the original detectives.”
“But if it was an old LLE case, wouldn’t there at least be a record of an Incident Alert in Archives?”
“Not necessarily,” Meg said. “A lot of the calls LLE went out on in those early days were on things that weren’t yet illegal. It was a molebiol wilderness and we were on the frontier. LLE has been proactive throughout its history. McGregor pioneered the way LLE handles things.”
Meg looked around the office at the other LLE detectives. About half were at their desks, the rest were out of the office or elsewhere in Enforcement or City Central, Livvy supposed.
“Back to Josephson and why there are no records of his involvement. One reason is that he’s a physician. The Chief has asked me to give you some deep background. The kind you’re not likely to get from McGregor, who’s…
“Rusty on dealing with a partner. Yes, I know,” Livvy said.
Meg smiled and took a sip of coffee. “In Homicide did you ever come across a case of medical malpractice that resulted in a death?”
“A few.”
“So maybe you have some idea of the power of the AMA. Nowadays LLE deals more with the AAMP, because although it was ostensibly spun-off from the AMA to increase the lobbying power of the practitioners who specialize in Longevity and enhancement technologies, it also allows the AMA to stay out of some of the worst of the molebiol controversies. Unfortunately, while Josephson’s involvement may have been heinous, even to the AMA, which was the only Association they all shared at the time, it was not illegal, and couldn’t even be proven to be unethical.
“By the way, if you want to get a sense of how powerful the AAMP lobby is, witness how Longevity and enhancement technologies are licensed for use only under the supervision of a physician. Only the AAMB comes close to matching them in power. Court battles between the two have been epic, with the molebiologists who do clinical work claiming they have been virtually enslaved by the medical profession.
“On the other hand, the people still like having that M.D. handy. Even in the hotlabs, patrons with the funds to finance it will try to have a physician on retainer.” Meg shrugged. “Considering what can go wrong, I’ve always thought it was a good idea.”
“Are there really that many molebiologists and physicians out there ignoring the Laws?” Livvy asked, intrigued. “You just don’t hear about it being a big problem.”
Meg gave her a meaningful look. “Exactlly. That’s the goal. That’s because of the way LLE handles it.”
“I’m starting to get that,” Livvy said.
“LLE has an aversion to the limelight. We don’t just fail to seek the public eye, we shun it,” Meg said. “It’s very important that you understand this, so I’m going to say it again: we try not to let the public know how much of this is going on. It just fuels the fires if they know.”
“Huh,” Livvy said thoughtfully.
Meg watched her. “Think of it this way. Two years ago a man severely beat his girlfriend when she got pregnant. She miscarried and almost died. Now, this sort of abuse has been going on for, well, as long as careless jerks have been mistakenly getting careless women pregnant. But now, there are… new twists to the problem. The man was plugged into Longevity, so he risked losing 50 years if the woman chose to have the baby. The careless jerk claiming he didn’t want the baby is not a recognized legal recourse.”
“Was that his motive?” Livvy asked.
“Yes, but it really doesn’t matter, does it? That’s the point. Just the suspicion… It wasn’t even an LLE case. But associated with his arrest, there were riots, anti-Longevity riots, and 3 more people died. Do you see?