“Not much,” Stephanie responded. “It’s almost midnight for us European time, and I’m bushed.”
“Should we call the Wingate Clinic and let them know we’re here?”
“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt, although I’m not sure what it will accomplish, since we’ll undoubtedly go over there in the morning. It would probably be more helpful if you went back to the lobby and arranged for a rent-a-car. What’s more important is for me to call Peter and see if he’s ready to overnight some of Butler’s fibroblasts. There’s really little we can do before we have them. Then after I call Peter, I need to call my mother. I promised her I’d get in touch with her to give her an address as soon as we got situated here in Nassau.”
“We’re going to need some more clothes,” Daniel said. “How about this? I’ll go get a rent-a-car, you make your calls, and then we’ll head back to that shopping plaza near the bridge and see if there are any decent clothing shops.”
“Why not just do the rent-a-car. I’m ready to take a shower, get something to eat, and hop into bed. There will be time for clothes shopping tomorrow.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Daniel admitted. “My eagerness at having finally gotten here to Nassau has me fired up, whereas in actuality I’m bushed too.”
As soon as Daniel left the room, Stephanie sat herself down at the desk. She was surprised and pleased to see she had a reasonable signal on her cell phone. As she’d suggested to Daniel, she made her first call to Peter, and as she suspected, he was still at the lab.
“John Smith’s culture is doing fine,” Peter said, in response to Stephanie’s question. “I’ve been prepared to overnight a cryopreserved aliquot for several days. I expected to hear from you on Tuesday.”
“A minor problem held us up unexpectedly,” Stephanie said vaguely. She smiled wryly at how much of an understatement that was, considering they had to flee out of Italy by car to avoid arrest and leave their luggage behind.
“Are you ready for me to ship it?”
“Absolutely,” Stephanie said. “Pack it up with the usual HTSR reagents, plus the collection of dopaminergic gene probes and growth factors I put together. And I just thought of something else. Include the ecdysone construct with the tyrosine hydroxylase promoter we used with our recent mouse experiments.”
“My gosh!” Peter intoned. “What on earth are you guys up to down there?”
“It’s best if I don’t explain,” Stephanie said. “What are the chances you could ship the whole consignment out tonight?”
“I don’t see why not. Worst case, I have to drive it out to Logan, but that’s not a problem. Where do you want it sent?”
Stephanie thought for a moment. Her first thought was to have it come to the hotel, but then she thought it would be wise to limit its travel as well as get it into a liquid-nitrogen freezer, which she assumed the Wingate Clinic would have. Asking Peter to hold on, she used the house phone to contact the concierge’s desk to get Wingate’s island address. It was 1200 Windsor Field Road. She then passed it on to Peter along with the clinic’s phone number.
“I’ll get this in FedEx tonight,” Peter promised. “When will you be back?”
“I’d say a month, maybe a little less.”
“Good luck with whatever the hell you are doing!”
“Thanks. We’ll need it.”
Stephanie stared out at the pink-and-silver-tinted ocean with its gentle swells. A line of cumulus clouds was aligned along the horizon. Each was tipped with a dab of intense rose-purple from the setting sun off to her left. The sliding glass door was open, and a gentle breeze scented with some exotic flower caressed her face. The vista and ambience was luscious and calming after the frenetic days of travel and intrigue. She could feel herself begin to relax in such a serene environment, aided by the news about how well Butler’s fibroblast culture had progressed. The nagging worry that it had gone sour had lurked in the back of her mind ever since she had left on the trip. All in all, she began to entertain the idea that perhaps Daniel’s optimism about the Butler project might ultimately be reasonable, despite her intuition to the contrary and despite the trouble she and Daniel had experienced in Turin.
Once the sun set, night fell precipitously. Torches were lit along the edge of the beach to flicker in the breeze. Stephanie picked up her cell phone again and dialed her parents’ number. She wanted her mother to have the name of the hotel, the room number, and the phone number, in case her mother took a turn for the worse. As the call went through, Stephanie found herself hoping her father wouldn’t answer. It was always so awkward trying to have a conversation with him. She was pleased when she heard her mother’s soft voice.
Although Tony had no reason to think that his headstrong sister wouldn’t carry out her threat to languish in the Bahamas while her company tanked, he’d been entertaining the hope that she’d see the light after what he’d told her, cancel the trip, and do what she could to turn things around. But such was not to be the case, as her phone call to their mother had just proved. The bitch and her freaking boyfriend were in Nassau, staying at some posh oceanfront resort in a suite, no less, with a view of the beach. It was galling.
Tony shook his head at her nerve. Ever since she’d gotten into Harvard, she’d been thumbing her nose at him every time he turned around, which he’d tolerated since she was his kid sister. But now she’d gone too far, especially considering the academic nerd she was hooked up with. A hundred grand was a lot of money, no matter how you looked at it, and that wasn’t even considering the Castiglianos’ share. The whole situation wasn’t right, that was for damn sure, yet she still was his kid sister, so things weren’t as clear as they could have been.
The big Cadillac crunched over the gravel and came to a halt in front of the Castigliano Brothers Plumbing Supply store. Tony turned off his headlights and killed the engine. But he didn’t get out of the car immediately. Instead, he sat for a moment to calm himself down. He could have just called and given the information to either Sal or Louie over the phone. But because it was his sister, he had to know what they had in mind. He knew they were just as pissed as he was, but without the restraint from having a family member involved. He didn’t care what they did to the boyfriend. Hell, he wouldn’t mind pushing him around himself. But his sister was another thing entirely. If she were to be pushed around, Tony wanted to be the perpetrator.
Tony opened the door and was assaulted by the putrid smell of the salt marsh. He couldn’t understand how anyone could hang around a place where every time the wind changed direction, it smelled like rotten eggs. It was a moonless night, and Tony walked carefully. He didn’t want to trip over a discarded sink or any other debris.
Since it was after hours, the store was closed, as evidenced by a sign in the door’s window. But the door was unlocked. Gaetano was behind the cash register, totaling the day’s receipts. He had a nub of a yellow wooden pencil tucked behind his surprisingly small ear, dwarfed by his large head.
“Sal and Louie?” Tony questioned.
Gaetano motioned toward the rear with his head without interrupting what he was doing. Tony found the twins at their respective desks. After a slapping handshake and the usual curt greeting with each, Tony sat down on the sofa. The twins eyed him expectantly. The only light in the room came from small, hooded desk lamps on each desk, emphasizing the twins’ cadaverous faces. From Tony’s perspective, their eye sockets were mere black holes.
“Well, they are in Nassau,” Tony began. “I was hoping I could come here and tell you differently, but that’s not the case. They just checked into a ritzy resort called the Ocean Club. They are in suite 108. I’ve even got the phone number.”