Bad Medicine
Page 19
We clinked glasses and sipped. “I think you’ll find a very different attitude on the part of your colleagues now,” I said. “It was just Heller and Carlson that poisoned the atmosphere against you. With them gone, you can look forward to some big changes in the way you’re treated around here.”
“You two are really something,” Carolyn took another sip of champagne and grinned. “You not only fixed MTRI and got me tenure, but you even arranged a party for me.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing compared to what your husband will have in store for you later,” Karen said. “Do you want to call and give him the good news?”
Carolyn’s smile faded. “No, he doesn’t like to be interrupted at work. Anyway, he won’t be home for a few days. He’s staying in Portland until the end of the week.” She shrugged. “It’ll just be me and the kids tonight.”
I was about to ask if he’d known her tenure vote was today, but I realized that of course he did. He just didn’t care. Lousy bastard.
That hadn’t escaped Karen either. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Do you want to have dinner with us? We can continue the celebration over lobsters.”
Carolyn turned to her with a weak smile. “Thank you, but no. You’ve done enough already. More than enough.”
Then she looked at Karen pointedly. “You think I should leave him, don’t you?”
“I don’t know,” Karen said. “Marriages are complicated. Mine was a disaster.”
I couldn’t contain myself. Against my better judgment, I spoke up. “Damn right you should leave him. He doesn’t deserve you. And he treats you like shit.”
“I know,” she murmured. “But the kids need a father.”
“Not just any father. He’s not really there for them, either, is he?”
“No, I guess not.” She sighed. “I’ll have to try and think about it. Maybe now that the professional stuff is sort of settled, I can deal with my personal problems. Anyway, you’ve been such a good friend. I’ll miss you.”
We stood, and Carolyn hugged me again. As we were leaving, Karen turned and gave her a hug, too. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need us,” she said. “Or if you just want to talk.”
We picked up my things from the office and went out to the parking lot. When we got into the car, Karen reached over and squeezed my hand. “You’ve done good here. Cleaned up a big mess, and saved her career.”
“She still has a tough road in front of her. She’s basically on her own with two kids.” I made a face and shook my head. “That asshole of a husband.”
Karen leaned over and kissed me. “You can’t fix everything. Anyway, I think she’ll be all right now.”
50
We drove home almost without talking, lost in our thoughts. We’d turned off of Route 1 onto Drakes Island Road before Karen broke the silence.
“I’m surprised that Claire Houghton didn’t ask you to stay on as director. I’d have thought she would have wanted to keep you here until the new permanent director showed up. That’s still several months away, right?”
“Actually she did ask, but I told her I needed to think about it. The candidate she had lined up as the new director backed out after hearing about all the crap that’s gone on, so who knows how long it’ll take for Claire to find someone permanent? At least six months to a year, and I don’t think we want to be here that long. I’d really like to get back to my own lab, and I suspect shuttling back and forth between Boston and Maine would get pretty old for both of us.”
Karen gave me a skeptical glance. “But can you really turn it down at this point? It feels like you’d be abandoning both Claire and MTRI.”
“I know. And yes, I do feel guilty about that. Especially about deserting Carolyn and some of the other faculty members that I like.”
“Couldn’t you continue running your lab while you were director? You’d be able to spend more time in Boston, now that MTRI is out of crisis mode. Plus, you have Janet Klein there to help as your senior research associate.”
I sighed. Karen was making it harder for me to decline. “Yes, I suppose I could keep things going. Janet’s a big help, and people in the lab have gotten used to meeting with me by Zoom. But how do you feel about it? Are you up to traveling back and forth for another year?”
Karen shrugged. “I can handle whatever we need to do. It seems like it’s important for you to hang in here. Besides, we’ve never really had the chance to enjoy Maine.”
I laughed. “Maine hasn’t offered us much in the way of enjoyment. It may be nice up here, but our visits have been pretty damn traumatic. Dealing with that monster Walter Monroe last year, and now a professional Russian hitman.”
“Let’s think about it for a bit. Are you in a hurry to give Claire an answer?”
I pulled the car up and parked in front of the Drakes Island house. “Not really. I’ll just send Claire my report on Carolyn’s tenure case with a note saying that I’ll get back to her on the job in a week or so.”
Karen smiled. “Sounds good. Any reason we can’t take some time to ourselves while you’re contemplating the directorship?”
“No, I suppose not. Why? What are you thinking?”
“Just that we haven’t given Maine a fair chance. As you said, our visits here haven’t been exactly fun. But now it’s summer, nobody’s trying to kill us, and we have a house on the beach. You know what they call Maine, don’t you?”
I was starting to get her drift. But I said, “Murderland?”
She laughed and slapped me on the shoulder. “No, silly. Vacationland. And I think we should spend the week checking that out before we make a decision.”
“Just hanging out on the beach enjoying ourselves? Sounds decadent.”
“Yep. Rosie will love it. And we can take her for some nice walks, too. They have a one-mile trail that’s open for dogs in the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge and several short trails around the summit of Mount Agamenticus. The view from there is supposed to be spectacular. Plus, I’ve always wanted to see puffins, and there are tours that go out from Boothbay Harbor, just a couple of hours up the coast from here.”
I laughed. “You sound like a tour guide. When’d you figure all this out?”
“I had to do something while I was waiting in your office during your faculty meeting. So, what do you say?”
I reached over and kissed her. “To a week of just playing around with you and Rosie? And seeing puffins? I’m all in.”
Acknowledgments
I’m once again grateful to Alexandra Adams for her enormous help in critically reading and commenting on the manuscript. It’s also a pleasure to thank Shrabastee Chakraborty for her careful reading and thoughtful suggestions. Their very kind and generous contributions made Bad Medicine a better book.
I’m also pleased to thank Kevin Poirier for introducing me to the ins and outs of Sanford, and Ulla Hansen for sharing her knowledge of sandpipers, puffins, and some of the financial aspects of contracts between pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions.
And, as always, my thanks to Audrey, Beau, and Patti.
About the Author
Geoffrey M. Cooper is a retired cancer researcher and academic administrator, having held positions at Harvard Medical School and Boston University as professor, department chair, and associate dean. He is the author of several scientific texts and is now using his experience in academic medicine as background for writing medical thrillers. He lives in Ogunquit, Maine.
Website: geofcooper.com
Reviews from readers are greatly appreciated. If you enjoyed Bad Medicine, please let other readers know by leaving your comments on Amazon or Goodreads.
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