across the table.
"There he is." She pointed to a young man, probably in his early thirties, dressed in a tuxedo with a red tie and
cummerbund. He had olive skin and thick blue-black hair.
"Do you remember his name?"
She shook her head.
Jason eased out from the booth and walked toward the owner, who had a
friendly, boyish face. As Jason came up to him, he laughed and patted
the back of a man sitting at the bar.
"Excuse me," Jason said. "I'm Dr. Jason Howard. From Boston." The owner
turned to him. He wore a plastic smile.
"I'm Sebastion Frahn," the owner said. "Welcome to the Totem."
"Could I speak to you for a moment?"
The man's smile waned. "What's on your mind?"
"It will take a minute or two to explain."
"I'm awfully busy. Maybe later."
Unprepared for such a quick brush-off, Jason stood for a moment watching
Frahn move among his customers. His smile had immediately returned.
"Any luck?" Carol asked when Jason returned to their booth and sat down
again.
"None. Three thousand miles and the guy won't talk to me."
"People have to be careful in this business. Let me to try.
Without waiting for Jason's reply, she slid from the booth. Jason
watched her gracefully make her way over to the owner. She touched his
arm and spoke briefly Jason saw him nod, then gaze in his direction. The
man nodded again and moved off. Carol r-turned.
"He'll be over in a minute."
"What did you say?"
"He remembered me," Carol said simply.
Jason wondered what that meant. "Did he remember Hayes?"
"Oh, yes," Carol said. "No problem."
Sure enough, within ten minutes Sebastion Frahn made a swing around the
r-oom and stopped at their table.
"Sorr-y to have been so curt. I didn't know you people were friends."
"That's all right," Jason said. He didn't know exactly what the man
meant, but it sounded cordial.
"What can I do for you?"
"Carol says you remember Dr. Hayes."
Sebastion turned to Carol. "Was that the man you were here with last
time?"
he asked.
Carol nodded,.
"Sure I remember him. He was a friend of Arthur Koehler."
"Do you think you could tell me what you talked about? It might be
important."
"Jason worked with Alvin," Carol interjected.
"I don't have any problem at all telling you what we discussed. The man
wanted to go salmon fishing."
"Fishing!" Jason exclaimed.
"Yup. He said he wanted to catch some big chums but he didn't want to
drive too far. I told him to go to Cedar Falls."
"Was that all?" Jason asked, his heart sinking.
"We talked about the Seattle Supersonics for a few m1nutes."
"Thank you," Jason said. "I appreciate your time."
"Not at all," Sebastion said with a smile. "Well, got to circulate." He
stood up, shook hands, and told them to come back again. Then he moved
off.
"I can't believe it," Jason said. "Every time I think I have a lead, it
turns out to be a joke. Fishing!"
At Carol's request they stayed for another half hour to watch the show,
and by the time they got back to the hotel, Jason was totally exhausted.
By East Coast time it was four o'clock Thursday morning. Jason got ready
for bed and climbed between the sheets with relief. He'd been
disappointed by the results of his visit to the Totem Club, but there
was still the University of Washington. He was about to drop off to
sleep when there was a soft knock on the connecting door. It was Carol.
She said she was starving and couldn't sleep. Could they order room
service? Feeling obliged to be a good sport, Jason agreed. They ordered
a split of champagne and a plate of smoked salmon.
Carol sat on the edge of Jason's bed in a terrycloth robe, eating salmon
and crackers. She described her childhood growing up outside of
Bloomington, Indi- ana. Jason had never heard her talk so much. She'd
lived on a farm and had to milk cows before going to school in the
morning. Jason could see her doing that. She had that freshness about
her that suggested such a life.
What he had trouble with was relating that former life to her current
one.
He wanted to know how things got on the wrong track, but he was afraid
to ask. Besides, exhaustion took over and try as he might, he could not
keep his eyes open. He fell asleep and Carol, after covering him with a
blanket, returned to her own room.
Awakening with a start, Jason checked his watch, which said five A. m.
That meant eight in Boston, the time he usually left for the hospital.
He opened the drapes and looked out on a crystal-clear day. In the
distance a ferry was making its way across Puget Sound toward Seattle,
leaving a sparkling wake*.
After showering, Jason knocked on the adjoining door. There was no
answer.
He knocked again. Finally he opened it a crack, allowing a swath of
bright sunlight to fall into the cool, darkened room. Carol was still
fast asleep, clutching her pillow. Jason watched her for a moment. She
looked an gelically lovely. Silently, he closed the door so as to not
waken her.
He went back to his bed, dialed room service, and ordered fresh orange
juice, coffee, and croissants for two. Then he called GHP and paged
Roger Wanamaker.
"Everything okay?"
"Not quite," Roger admitted. "Marge Todd threw a big embolus last night.
She went into a coma and died. Respiratory arrest."
"my God," Jason said.
"Sorry to be the bearer of sad tidings," Roger said. "Try to enjoy
yourself."
"I'll give you a call in a day or so," Jason said.
Another death. Except for one young woman with hepatitis, he was
beginning to think the only way his patients could leave the hospital
was feet first.
He wondered if he should fly directly back to Boston. Yet Roger was
right.
There was nothing he could do, and he might as well see the Hayes
business throu. h, even though he wasn't very optimistic.
1 9 Two hours later Carol knocked at the door and came in, her hair
still wet from the shower. "Top of the morning," she said in her
cheerful voice.
Jason ordered fresh coffee.
"Guess we're lucky," he said, pointing out at the bright sunlight.
"Don't be so sure. The weather around here can change mighty quickly."
While Carol breakfasted, Jason had another cup of coffee.
"Hope I didn't talk your ear off last night," Carol said.
"Don't be silly. I'm sorry I fell asleep."
"What about you, doctor?" Carol asked, putting jam on a croissant. "You
haven't told me much about yourself." She didn't mention that Hayes had
told her a good deal about him.
"Not much to tell."
Carol raised her eyebrows. When she saw his smile, she laughed. "For a
second I thought you were serious."
Jason told Carol about his boyhood in Los Angeles, his education at
Berkeley and Harvard Medical School, and his residency at Massachusetts
Ge
neral. Without meaning to, he found himself describing Danielle and
the awful November night when she'd been killed. No one had ever drawn
him out the way Carol did, not even Patrick, the psychiatrist he'd seen
after Danielle's death. Jason even heard himself describing his current
depression over his increased patient mortality and then Roger's news
that morning about Marge Todd's death.
"I'm flattered that you've told me this," Carol said sincerely. She
hadn't expected such openness and trust. "You've had a lot of emotional
pain."
"Life can be like that," Jason said with a sigh. "I don't know why I've
bored you with all this."
"It hasn't been boring," Carol said. "I think you've made an
extraordinary adjustment. I think it was difficult yet very positive
that you changed your work and living environment."
"Do you?" Jason asked. He hadn't remembered saying that. He hadn't
expected to be so personal with Carol, but now that he'd done so, he
felt better.
Enjoying their time together, it wasn't until ten-thirty that they
emerged from their respective rooms dressed for the day. Jason asked the
bellman to bring their car to the front entrance, and they took the
elevator down to the lobby. True to Carol's prediction, when they
emerged from the hotel the sky had darkened and a steady rain was
falling.
With the help of an Avis map and Carol's memory, they drove out to the
University & Washington's Medical School. Carol pointed out the research
building Hayes had visited. They went in the front entrance and were
immediately challenged by a uniformed security man. They had no
University of Washington identity badges.
"I'm a doctor from Boston," Jason said, removing his wallet to show his
ID.
"Hey, man, I don't care where you're from. No badge, no entry. Simple as
that. If you want to come in here, you have to go to Central Administration."
Seeing it was fruitless to argue, they went to Central Administration.
Enroute, Jason asked how Hayes had handled security.
"He called his friend beforehand," Carol said. "The man met us in the
parking lot."
The woman at Central Administration was friendly and accommodating, and
even showed Carol a faculty book to see if she could pick out Hayes's
friend. But faces weren't enough, and Carol couldn't identify him.
Instead, armed with security badges, they returned to the research
building.
Carol led Jason up to the fifth floor. The corridor was crowded with
spare equipment, and the walls were in need of fresh paint.
There was a pungent chemical smell, akin to formaldehyde.
"Here's the lab," Carol said, stopping by an open doorway. The names to
the left of the door were Duncan Sechler, MD, Phd; and Rhett Shannon,
MD, Phd.
The department was, as Jason might have guessed, molecular genetics.
"Which name?" Jason asked.
"I don't know," Carol said, going up to a young technician and asking if
either of the doctors was in.
"Both. They're in the animal room." He pointed over his shoulder, then
turned as Carol walked by so he could catch the view from the rear.
Jason was surprised by his blatancy.
The door to the animal room had a large glass panel. Inside were two men
in white coats drawing blood from a monkey.
"It was the tall one with the gray hair," Carol said, pointing. Jason
moved closer to the window. The man Carol indicated was handsome and
athletic appearing, of approximately Jason's age. His hair was a
uniform silver color that gave him a particularly distinguished look.
The other man, in contrast, was almost bald. What hair he had was combed
over the top of his head in a vain attempt to cover the thinning spot.
"will he remember you?"
"Possibly. We only met for a moment before I went off to the Psychology
Department."
They waited until the doctors finished their task and emerged from the
animal room. The tall grayhaired man was carrying the vial of blood.
"Excuse me," Jason said. "Could I possibly have a moment of your time?"
The man glanced at Jason's badge. "Are you a drug rep?"
"Heavens, no." Jason smiled. "I'm Dr. Jason Howard and this is Miss.
Carol Donner."
"What can I do for you?"
"I'll see you in a minute, Duncan," interrupted the balding man.
"Okay," Duncan said. "I'll run the blood immediately." Then, turning to
Jason, he said, "Sorry."
I "Ouite all right. I wanted to talk to you about an old acquaintance."
"Oh?"
"Alvin Hayes. Do you remember him visiting you here?"
"Sure," Duncan said, turning to Carol. "And weren't you with him?"
Carol nodded. "You have a good memory."
"I was shocked to hear he'd died. What a loss."
"Carol said Hayes came to ask you something important," Jason said.
"Could you tell me what it was about?"
Duncan looked upset, glancing nervously around at the technicians.
"I'm not sure I want to talk about it."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Was'it business or a personal matter?"
"Maybe you'd better come into my office."
Jason had trouble containing his excitement. It finally sounded as if
he'd stumbled onto something significant.
After entering the office, Duncan closed the door. There were two
metal-backed chairs. Removing stacks of journals, he motioned for Jason
and Carol to sit.
"To answer your question," he said, "Hayes came to see me for personal
reasons, not business."
"We've come three thousand miles just to talk with you," Jason said. He
wasn't going to give up so easily, but it wasn't sounding encouraging.
"If you'd called, I could have saved you the trip." Some of Duncan's
friendliness had disappeared from his voice.
"Maybe I should tell you why we are so interested, Jason said. He
explained the mystery of Hayes's possible discovery and his own futile
attempts to figure out what it might have been.
"You think Hayes came to me for help in his research?" Duncan asked.
"That's what I'd hoped."
Duncan gave a short, unpleasant laugh. He looked at Jason out of the
comer of his eye. "You wouldn't be a narc, would you?"
Jason was confused.
"All right, I'll tell you what Hayes wanted. A place to buy marijuana.
He said he was terrified to fly with the stuff and couldn't bring any
with him. As a favor, I set him up with a kid on campus."
Jason was stunned. His excitement dwindled like air seeping out of a
balloon, leaving him deflated.
"I'm sorry to have taken your time ..."Not at all."
Carol and Jason walked out of the research building, surtendering their
visitor's badges to the security guard. Carol was smiling slyly.
I "It isn't so funny, you know," Jason said as they got into the car.
"But it is," Carol said. "You just can't see it right at this moment."
"We might as well go home," he said gloomily.
"Oh, no! You dragged me all the way out here, and we're not leaving
until you see the mountains. It's only a short drive."
"Let me think about it," Jason told he
r moodily.
Carol prevailed. They went back to the hotel, got their belongings, and
before Jason knew it, they were on a fi-eeway heading out of town. She
insisted on driving. Soon the suburbs gave way to misty green forest,
and the rolling hills became mountains. The rain stopped and Jason '
could see snowcapped peaks in the distance. The scenery was so beautiful
he forgot his disappointment.
"It gets even prettier," Carol said as they left the freeway, heading
toward Cedar Falls. She remembered the route now and happily pointed out
the sights. Taking an even smaller road, Carol drove along the Cedar
River.
It was a nature fairyland, with deep forests, craggy rocks, distant
mountains, and rushing rivers. As dusk fell, Carol turned off the road
Cook,Robin - Mortal Fear.txt Page 23