Point of Origin

I watched her with gathering resolve as she willed herself to die before my eyes.

'If I don't go on, Aunt Kay, you've got to understand and not blame yourself or anything,' she muttered, wiping her face with her sleeve.

I went over to her and lifted her chin. She was hot and smoky, her breath and body odor bad.

'You listen to me,' I said with an intensity that would have frightened her in the past. 'You get this goddamn notion out of your head right now. You are glad you didn't die, and you aren't committing suicide, if that's what you're implying, and I believe it is. You know what suicide is all about, Lucy? It's about anger, about payback. It's the final fuck-you. You will do that to Benton? You will do that to Marino? You will do that to me?'

I held her face in my hands until she looked at me.

'You're going to let that no-good piece of trash Carrie do that to you?' I demanded. 'Where's that fierce spirit I know?'

'I don't know,' she whispered with a sigh.

'Yes you do,' I said. 'Don't you dare ruin my life, Lucy. It's been damaged enough. Don't you dare make me spend the rest of my days with the echo of a gunshot sounding on and on in my mind. I didn't think you were a coward.'

'I'm not.'

Her eyes focused on mine.

'Tomorrow we fight back,' I said.

She nodded, swallowing hard.

'Go take a shower,' I said.

I waited until I heard the water in her bathroom running, and then went into the kitchen. We needed to eat, although I doubted either of us felt like it. I thawed chicken breasts and cooked them in stock with whatever fresh vegetables I could find. I was liberal with rosemary, bay leaves, and sherry, but nothing stronger, not even pepper, for we needed to be soothed. Marino called twice while we were eating, to make certain we were all right.

'You can come over,' I said to him. 'I've made soup, although it might be kind of thin by your standards.'

'I'm okay,' he said, and I knew he did not mean it.

'I've got plenty of room, if you'd like to stay the night. I should have thought to ask you earlier.'

'No, Doc. I got things to do.'

'I'm going to the office first thing in the morning,' I said.

'I don't know how you can,' he replied in a judgmental way, as if my thinking about work meant I wasn't showing what I should be showing right now.

'I have a plan. And come hell or high water, I'm going to carry it out,' I said.

'I hate it when you start planning things.'

I hung up and collected empty soup bowls from the kitchen table, and the more I thought about what I was going to do, the more manic I got.

'How hard would it be for you to get a helicopter?' I said to my niece.

'What?' She looked amazed.

'You heard me.'

'Do you mind if I ask what for? You know, I can't just order one like a cab.'

'Call Teun,' I said. 'Tell her I'm taking care of business and need all of the cooperation I can get. Tell her if all goes as I'm hoping, I'm going to need her and a team to meet us in Wilmington, North Carolina. I don't know when yet. Maybe right away. But I need free rein. They're going to have to trust me.'

Lucy got up and went to the sink to fill her glass with more water.

'This is nuts,' she said.

'Can you get a helicopter or not?'

'If I get permission, then yes. Border Patrol has them. That's usually what we use. I can probably get one in from D.C.'

'Good,' I said. 'Get it as fast as you can. In the morning I'm hitting the labs to confirm what I think I already know. Then we may be going to New York.'

'Why?'

She looked interested but skeptical.

'We're going to land at Kirby and I intend to get to the bottom of things,' I answered her.

Marino called again at close to ten, and I reassured him one more time that Lucy and I were as fine as could be expected, and that we felt safe inside my house, with its sophisticated alarm system, lighting, and guns. He sounded bleary and thick, and I could tell he had been drinking, his TV turned up loud.

'I need you to meet me at the lab at eight,' I said.

'I know, I know.'

'It's very important, Marino.'

'It's not like you need to tell me that, Doc.'

'Get some sleep,' I said.

'Ditto.'

But I couldn't. I sat at my desk in my study, going through the suspicious fire deaths from ESA. I studied the Venice Beach death, and then the one from Baltimore, struggling to see what, if anything, the cases and victims had in common besides the point of origin and the fact that although arson was suspected, investigators could find no evidence of it. I called the Baltimore police department first, and found someone in the detective division who seemed amenable to talking.

'Johnny Montgomery worked that one,' the detective said, and I could hear him smoking.

'Do you know anything about it?' I asked.

'Best you talk to him. And he probably will need some way of knowing you're who you say you are.'

'He can call me at my office in the morning for verification.' I gave him the number. 'I should be no later than eight. What about e-mail? Does Investigator Montgomery have an address I could send a note to?'

'Now that I can give you.'

I heard him open a drawer, and then he gave me what I needed.

'Seems I've heard of you before,' the detective said thoughtfully. 'If you're the ME I'm thinking of. I know it's a lady. A good-looking one, too, based on what I've seen on TV. Hmmm. You ever get up to Baltimore?'

'I went to medical school in your fair city.'

'Well, now I know you're smart.'

'Austin Hart, the young man who died in the fire, was also a student at Johns Hopkins.' I prodded him.

'He was also a homo. I personally think it was a hate crime.'

'What I need is a photograph of him and anything about his life, his habits, his hobbies.' I took advantage of the detective's momentary lapse.

'Oh yeah.' He smoked. 'One of these pretty boys. I heard he did modeling to pay his way through med school. Calvin Klein underwear ads, that sort of thing. Probably some jealous lover. You come to Baltimore next, Doc, and you got to try Camden Yards. You know about the new stadium, right?'

'Absolutely,' I replied as I excitedly processed what he had just said.

'I can get you tickets if you want.'

'That would be very nice. I'll get in touch with Investigator Montgomery, and I thank you so much for your help.'

I got off the phone before he could ask me about my favorite baseball team, and I immediately sent Montgomery an e-mail that outlined my needs, although I felt I already had enough. Next I tried the Pacific Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, which covered Venice Beach, and I got lucky. The investigator who had worked Marlene Farber's case was on evening shift and had just come in. His name was Stuckey, and he did not seem to require much verification from me that I was who I claimed to be.

'Wish somebody would solve this one for me,' he said right off. 'Six months and still nothing. Not one tip that's turned out to be worth anything.'

'What can you tell me about Marlene Farber?' I asked.

'Was on General Hospital now and then. And Northern Exposure. I guess you've seen that?'

'I don't watch much TV. PBS, that's about it.'

'What else, what else? Oh right. Ellen. No big parts, but who knows how far she might have gone. Prettiest thing you ever saw. Was dating some producer, and we're pretty sure he had nothing to do with what happened. Only thing that guy really cared about was coke and screwing all the young stars he got parts for. You know, after I got the case, I went through a bunch of tapes of shows she was on. She wasn't bad. It's a shame.'

'Anything unusual about the scene?' I asked.

'Everything was unusual about that scene. Don't have a clue how a fire like that could have started in the master bathroom on the first floor, and ATF couldn't figure it out, either. There wasn't anything to burn in there except toilet paper and towels. No sign of forcible entry, either, and the burglar alarm never went off.'