“Now that you’ve had a night’s sleep to think about this trip, do you still feel the same?” Laurie asked.

“Absolutely,” Jack said. “I’m psyched.”

“Are you really going to pay for everyone’s ticket?” she asked. “This could get expensive.”

“What else do I have to spend my money on?” Jack said. He glanced around his apartment. “Certainly not my life-style, and the bike is all paid for.”

“Seriously,” Laurie said. “I can understand Esteban to some extent, but Warren and Natalie?”

The previous night when the proposal had been presented to Teodora, she had reminded her husband that one of them had to stay in the city to mind the market and be there for their teenage son. The decision that Esteban would go instead of Teodora had been decided by the flip of a coin.

“I was serious about making it fun,” Jack said. “Even if we don’t learn anything, which is a possibility, it will at least be a great trip. I could see in Warren’s eyes his interest to visit that part of Africa. And on the way back, we’ll spend a night or two in Paris.”

“You don’t have to convince me,” Laurie said. “I was against your going at first, but now I’m excited myself.”

“Now all we have to do is convince Bingham,” Jack said.

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Laurie said. “Neither of us has taken the vacation time they’ve wanted us to. And Lou said he’d put in his two cents about the threats. He’d like to get us out of town.”

“I never trust bureaucracy,” Jack said. “But I’ll be optimistic. And assuming we’re going, let’s divvy up the errands. I’ll go ahead and get the tickets while you, Warren, and Natalie take care of the visa situation. Also, we’ve got to arrange for some shots and start malaria prophylaxis. We really should have more time for immunizations, but we’ll do the best we can, and we’ll take a lot of insect repellant.”

“Sounds good,” Laurie said.

Because of Laurie, Jack left his beloved mountain bike in his apartment. Together, they cabbed down to the medical examiner’s office. When they walked into the ID room Vinnie lowered his newspaper and looked at them as if they were ghosts.

“What are you guys doing here?” he asked with a voice that broke. He cleared his throat.

“What kind of question is that?” Jack asked. “We work here, Vinnie. Have you forgotten?”

“I just didn’t think you two were on call,” Vinnie said. He hastily took a drink from his coffee cup before coughing again.

Jack and Laurie went to the coffee urn. “He’s been in a weird mood for the last couple of days,” Jack whispered.

Laurie glanced back at Vinnie over her shoulder. Vinnie had gone back behind his newspaper.

“That was a strange reaction,” she agreed. “I noticed he was nervous around me yesterday.”

Jack and Laurie’s eyes met. They regarded each other for a moment.