"What did you find out from the gyn resident?" Joanna asked.
"Congenital absence of one ovary is a rare bird," Carlton said. "She said she's never seen it, never heard of it, and never read it, but she thought it could happen."
"They stole your damn ovary!" Deborah rejoined. "The facts are written on the wall. Hell, I'd think you should be the one trying to talk me into going back out there tonight rather than vice versa."
"That's because I apparently have significantly more sense than you do."
Carlton's pager went off. In the deserted waiting room it sounded louder than it had in the basement cafeteria. He used the phone directly in front on him.
"I don't think we should to lose this opportunity," Deborah persisted.
"All right, I'll be right down!" Carlton said. He hung up. "Sorry to break up this party, but that was the ER. There's been a pileup on Storrow Drive, and the ambulances are on their way in."
Carlton accompanied the women down in the elevator while they kept up their debate in forced whispers in deference to the other passengers. They even persisted quarreling all the way down the main corridor to the front door of the hospital.
"This is where I have to leave you two," Carlton said, interrupting the women and pointing toward the emergency department. Then, looking at Joanna, he said: "Great to see you. And I'm sorry about that ovary."
"Thank you for arranging the ultrasound," Joanna said.
"Glad to be able to help. I'll call you later."
"Do that," Joanna said. She smiled and he did the same. Then he waved self-consciously before disappearing through the swinging doors.
Deborah made the gesture she was sticking her finger down her throat to gag.
"Oh, please!" Joanna said. "He's not that bad."
"Says who?" Deborah countered. " 'Sorry about that ovary'! What a bird-brained, insensitive thing to say! It's like you lost your pet turtle and not part of your identity as a woman."
The two women exited the hospital and headed toward the parking garage. Evening had turned into night and the streetlamps had come on. Approaching ambulance sirens could be heard screaming in the distance.
"Doctors see tragedies more poignant than losing an ovary every day," Joanna said. "He doesn't see it in the same way you and I do. Besides, you said yourself one ovary will not physically affect me."
"But you were his fiancée," Deborah said. "It's not like you're just another patient. But, you know what? Just forget it. He's your problem, not mine. Let's get back to the issue at hand. I'm going to go out to the Wingate tonight whether you go or not. I can't do anything about the computer part, but I can get in that egg room, and if there's incriminating evidence, I'm going to find it."
"You're not going out there by yourself!" Joanna ordered.
"Oh, really?" Deborah questioned superciliously. "What are you going to do, let the air out of my tires or lock me in my bedroom? Because you're going to have to do one or the other."
"I cannot believe you are this adamant about such a stupid, idiotic, dim-witted idea of yours."
"Ah…" Deborah cooed sarcastically. "I'm getting the impression you're sensing my commitment! I'm impressed. Such clairvoyance!"
Feeling irritated with one another and the escalating sharpness of their comments, the women lapsed into silence as they climbed to the proper floor in the hospital's parking garage, found their car, got in, and drove out.
The silence lasted until they were heading up Mount Vernon Street in sight of Louisburg Square. Joanna was the first to speak. "What about a compromise?" she said. "Would you be amenable?"
"I'm listening," Deborah answered.
"I'll come with you, but we restrict our sleuthing to the egg room or whatever it turns out to be."
"What if there's no good evidence in there about what they're up to?"
"That's a risk we'll have to take."
"What's wrong with going back into the server room if we're all the way out there?"
"Because I think Randy Porter will have already made changes in his system, which would mean going back into the server room would be a big risk with a low probability of a payoff. He'41 have detected the hack into the secure files from me downloading them, and he'll figure out how I did it through the server room console. As soon as he does that, he'll beef up the security for the server room keyboard. I doubt I'd get into the system."
"Why didn't you say this earlier?"
"Because I think going out there is idiotic, plain and simple,"
Joanna said. "But I'm not going to let you do it alone even if it is idiotic, just like you wouldn't let me go out there and get a job by myself. So do we have a compromise, or what?"
"All right, we have a compromise," Deborah said as she eased into a parking slot at the end of the square. She cursed under her breath because the spot was so narrow she knew she and Joanna were going to have a hard time getting out of the car. The problem was a black van parked where she normally did.
"I'm not going to be able to get out of this car," Joanna said, eyeing the neighboring vehicle less than five inches away.
"I was afraid of that," Deborah said. She looked over her shoulder and backed out, giving Joanna the chance to exit unencumbered. Then Deborah eased the car back into the slot but even tighter to the passenger-side vehicle. Opening her door against the pesky black van, she was able to squeeze herself out.
SIXTEEN
KURT FELT A RENEWED squirt of adrenaline course through his body when he caught sight of an auspicious looking car coming up Mount Vernon Street.
As the time had dragged on he'd become concerned that he'd made a false assumption about the women returning directly to their apartment. By nine-thirty he'd been concerned enough to pace the room, an activity that was foreign to his usual practiced serenity. If he'd been able to read, the wait would have been more tolerable, but he dared not turn on the light. Ultimately Kurt had been reduced to looking out the front window at the gaslit square, wondering what the women's absence meant and how long he should wait before coming up with an alternative plan.
He'd only been at the window for five minutes when a Chevy Malibu had appeared and then nosed into a parking place right next to his van.
Kurt was quite confident it was the women, but he became certain when the car backed up to let off the passenger before nosing back into the slot. The woman who emerged was Prudence Heatherly, the chaste one. Kurt had gotten a fleeting but good look at her face from the glow of the gas lamp on the corner almost directly below him. Then he saw Georgina squeeze herself out between her car and the van. In the process one of her breasts spilled out. Kurt could see her laugh as she readjusted herself.
"Whore!" Kurt whispered to himself with disgust. The woman was shameless in his mind, but he would soon be showing her the consequences of such lewdness. But what Kurt did not allow himself to acknowledge was that the brief flash of carnality had sexually excited him.
Kurt was about to leave the window to finalize his preparations for the women's arrival when his attention was drawn back to the scene below. Instead of advancing toward the door, the women had become engaged in a discussion that quickly escalated in its intensity. Even from as far up as he was, and even with the glass in between, he could hear bits and pieces of their conversation. It had definitely become an argument.
Fascinated by this unexpected turn of events, Kurt pressed his nose against the glass to give a fuller view of the scene. Georgina had come halfway from the car to the house, but Prudence was remaining by the car and pointing to it repeatedly.
Suddenly Georgina threw up her hands and returned to the car. With as much difficulty as she'd evinced getting out of the car, she got back in. Kurt watched with growing concern as the car backed out. When Prudence climbed back in, he inwardly groaned.