“He said they wanted to release the information right away to see if it would smoke out any more tips from informers. He said it worked to an extent. They got a tip which was later confirmed that Franconi’s body had been taken under orders from the Lucia crime family.”

“Good grief!” Laurie said and shuddered. “This case is starting to remind me too much of the Cerino affair.”

“I know what you mean,” Jack said. “Instead of eyes, it’s livers.”

“You don’t suppose there’s a private hospital here in the United States that’s doing undercover liver transplants, do you?” Laurie asked.

“I can’t imagine,” Jack said. “No doubt there could be big money involved, but there is the issue of supply. I mean, there’s seven thousand plus people in this country waiting for livers as it is. Few of these people have the money to make it worthwhile.”

“I wish I were as confident as you,” Laurie said. “The profit motive has taken over American medicine by storm.”

“But the big money in medicine is in volume,” Jack said. “There are too few wealthy people who need livers. The investment in the physical plant and the requisite secrecy wouldn’t pay off, especially without a supply of organs. You’d have to postulate some modern version of Burk and Hare, and although such a scenario might work in a B movie, in reality it would be too risky and uncertain. No businessman in his right mind would go for it, no matter how venal.”

“Maybe you have a point,” Laurie said.

“I’m convinced there’s something else involved here,” Jack said. “There are just too many unexplained facts from the DQ alpha nonsense to the fact that Franconi wasn’t taking any immunosuppressant drugs. We’re missing something: something key, something unexpected.”

“What an effort!” Laurie exclaimed. “One thing is for sure, I’m glad I foisted this case onto you.”

“Thanks for nothing,” Jack quipped. “It’s certainly a frustrating case. On a happier note, last night at basketball, Warren told me that Natalie has been asking about you. What do you say that we all get together this weekend for dinner and maybe a movie, provided they don’t have any plans?”

“I’d enjoy that very much,” Laurie said. “I hope you told Warren that I was asking about them as well.”

“I did,” Jack admitted. “Not to change the subject, but how was your day? Did you make any headway in figuring out how Franconi managed to go on his overnight? I mean, Lou telling us that a crime family was responsible isn’t telling us a whole bunch. We need specifics.”

“Unfortunately, no,” Laurie admitted. “I was caught in the pit until just a little while ago. I’ve gotten nothing done that I’d planned.”

“Too bad,” Jack said with a smile. “With my lack of progress, I might have to rely on you providing the breakthrough.”

After promises to talk with each other by phone that evening, specifically about the weekend plans, Laurie headed to her own office. With good intentions she sat down at her desk and started to go through the lab reports and other correspondence that had come in that day involving her uncompleted cases. But she found it difficult to concentrate.