As she came through the open door, she was relieved to see him doing paperwork at the library table. She did a double take when she caught sight of Durell stretched out on the couch, a book on his chest, and an ice pack perched on his upper forehead. It was at that moment that Cal became aware of her presence and glanced up. They both spoke at the same time, neither able to understand the other.

“I’m sorry,” Veena said nervously, her hand fluttering up to her face.

“No, it’s my fault,” Cal said, putting down his pencil and grimacing in the process. He had an ice pack balanced on the top of his left shoulder.

There was a moment of awkwardness as they both began to talk concurrently for the second time. Cal chuckled. “You first,” he said.

“There was a disturbing development this morning,” Veena said. “It has me upset.”

Durell swung his legs around and sat up. He was rubbing his eyes; he’d been asleep.

“Tell us what it was!” Cal said.

“Late this morning, Maria Hernandez’s body disappeared. The hospital is convinced the two forensic pathologists that Jennifer Hernandez arranged to come to India took it. They must be planning to do an autopsy or they might have already done one. What if they discover she died from succinylcholine?”

“We’ve been over this before,” Cal said, with some frustration. “Especially after this amount of time. I’ve been assured the human body rapidly gets rid of succinylcholine by breaking it down.”

“Also, remember,” Durell added, “that if they find some of the breakdown products, it doesn’t matter. The woman actually had succinylcholine during her surgery.”

“I Googled succinylcholine,” Veena said. “There have been cases where people have been convicted of killing their wives with succinylcholine, and its presence was proved by forensic pathologists.”

“I read those cases as well,” Cal said. “One of them injected the drug, and it was found in the injection site. We’ve used an existing IV. The other one, the drug was found in the idiot perpetrator’s possession. Come on, Veena! Stop being so paranoid! Durell and I researched this. It’s foolproof in our situation. Besides, I’ve recently read that isolating the drug is not easy. To this day a lot of people question the work of the toxicologist involved in the intramuscular injection case.”

“Are both of you completely convinced these New York forensic pathologists are not going to find it?” Veena implored. She wanted to believe, but her guilty mind kept suggesting otherwise.

“I-am-con-vinced,” Cal said, pronouncing each syllable in a staccato fashion. He was tired of the issue.

“Yeah, man, it’s not going to happen,” Durell corroborated.

Veena breathed out noisily, as if deflating, and collapsed into one of the library chairs. She was exhausted from her anxiety.

“Now, we have a favor to ask you,” Cal said. “We need your help.”