Back in the land of the living, George called the on-call pathology resident. Dr. Simonov agreed to meet with them and asked that they come up to the clinical path lab. When Pia and George found him, Simonov was taking a break in a small windowless office with a giant mug of strong coffee on the desk in front of him.

“So what can I do for you guys? It’s not often I get called by medical students. What’s up?”

Simonov was Russian but had lived in the West long enough to almost completely lose his accent. Only the occasional dropped article gave him away. He’d gone to both college and medical school in the States.

“We’re wondering if there was an autopsy performed today on either Dr. Rothman or Dr. Yamamoto or both,” George said. He had suggested to Pia that he do the talking this time. She didn’t care. “They died early this morning when—”

“Yes, I know who they were,” Simonov said. “Everybody in the medical center knows about them. Why are you asking?”

“There are questions about how quickly they died,” Pia said before George could speak. “It was a relentless downhill course despite maximum treatment so that we—”

“No autopsies were done on them here,” Simonov said, cutting Pia off. “Not a lot of autopsies are done anymore in general. It’s a pity, but it is reality. There’s no money. But Rothman and Yamamoto, they would not have been done here under any circumstances. Having died like they did of an infectious disease while working meant that they are definitely medical examiner cases, pure and simple. All we did here was put the bodies in body bags, seal them up, and decontaminate the exterior. They were then picked up by the OCME.” He spelled out the acronym, explaining it stood for Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

“I know what the OCME is. So do you know the results?”

“Results!” Simonov laughed at Pia’s question. “Maybe in three weeks or more,” he said. “They get a lot of bodies down there, and they generally take their time.”

“Down where?” Pia said. “Where exactly is the OCME?”

“You gonna go down there now? I wouldn’t advise it. But, okay, whatever. It’s on East Side, First Avenue and Thirtieth Street, near NYU Medical Center.”

“Thanks. If we call them up, do you think they’ll answer our questions?”

“Now?”

“Tomorrow.”

“How would I know? Maybe they never had medical students asking questions. But then again it is affiliated with NYU Medical Center, which is a teaching hospital. For all I know they may have a medical student elective.”

“Who should we call? Should we ask for someone in particular?”

“I knew one of the MEs, but he’s no longer there. But they have a PR department. I’d call them. Maybe call the medical legal investigator on the case.”