“Did you learn anything about your grandmother from her?” Laurie asked. She didn’t comment on Jennifer’s rhetorical question. At first blush, Laurie didn’t understand how Maria being the nurse’s first nursing death meshed with the nurse’s being worried Jennifer might be mad at her. Laurie assumed it had to be a cultural thing.

“Not really,” Jennifer said, but then corrected herself. “Except she said Granny was cyanotic when she was found.”

“True cyanosis?” Laurie questioned.

“That’s what she said, and I asked her specifically. But she was relating this secondhand. Granny didn’t die on her shift but on the evening shift. She had learned it from the nurse who had come upon Granny after Granny had already died.”

“Maybe you’d better not play medical investigation,” Laurie suggested. “You might ruffle too many feathers.”

“You’re probably right,” Jennifer agreed, “and especially not with you guys coming. What are your flight details?”

Laurie gave the flight numbers and the expected arrival time. “Now, you don’t have to come to the airport like you suggested,” Laurie said. “We can just jump in a taxi.”

“I want to come. I’ll take a hotel car. I mean, my expenses are being covered.”

Under those circumstances, Laurie agreed for Jennifer to come out to fetch them when they arrived. “Now I better let you get back to your dinner and your dinner companion.”

“Speaking of Mrs. Benfatti, I offered that you would look into the situation with her husband. I hope you don’t mind. There are parallels, as I’ve said.”

“We’ll look first at the parallels and then decide,” Laurie said.

“One more thing,” Jennifer said. “I went to the U.S. embassy this afternoon and spoke to a very nice consular officer who was very helpful.”

“Did you learn anything?”

“It turns out that the case manager at the Queen Victoria was giving me the true story about bringing bodies back to the States. You have to jump though a lot of bureaucratic hoops, and it is expensive. So I’m leaning in the direction of cremation.”

“We’ll discuss it more when I get there,” Laurie said. “Now get back to your dinner.”

“Aye-aye, sir. See you tomorrow night,” Jennifer said gaily.

Laurie replaced the receiver. For a moment she kept her hand on it, thinking about a heart attack and general cyanosis. When the heart fails, the pumping action stops, and you don’t get general cyanosis. Cyanosis generally comes from the lungs failing and the pumping continuing.

The phone under Laurie’s hand rang harshly, causing her to start. With her pulse racing, she snapped the receiver back up and blurted a hurried hello.

“I am looking for Dr. Laurie Montgomery,” a pleasant voice said.

“This is she,” Laurie answered with curiosity.