“Hemmed in?” Fulton gave him an incredulous look. “Sir, that’s just a given when you work with someone of his stature. That’s how it is with medical academia. Dr. Sparks owns everything that comes from his lab, even if he’s only worked tangentially on the project.”

“That doesn’t seem fair,” Marge stated.

“That’s research science,” Liz said. “Get on Azor’s good side, you might get some credit. And you need credit if you want to advance. You must publish the right material under the right people. Someone with clout. For that privilege, you have to eat…you know.”

“Sparks make you eat a lot of…you know?” Marge asked.

“Well, he was graceful about it. He could afford to be because he knew who he was. I’ve worked for him for the last four years. It’s nice to have a boss who’s a benevolent tyrant. Because I’ve worked under the other kind, too.”

“Benevolent tyrant,” Marge repeated.

“Tyrant is too strong a word.”

“Dictator?” Oliver tried.

“Put it this way. After a while, you know when to suggest something and when to keep your mouth shut.”

“Does Decameron know the rules as well?”

“Reggie is an individualist. More forceful than I am, certainly. More than once at our meetings, he played devil’s advocate. But he knew when to stop. The man is no fool.”

“Dr. Sparks was deeply religious,” Marge said.

“Yes.”

“How’d he feel about Dr. Decameron being homosexual?”

“I don’t know. It never came up in any of our conversations.”

“Never talked about ‘those’ kinds of people?” Oliver said.

“Not to me.”

“A passing derogatory phrase never slipped from his lips?”

Fulton smiled. “Nothing slips from Dr. Sparks’s lips. If he ‘utters’ something, it’s for a reason.”

“Dr. Decameron said that one of Sparks’s sons is gay. You know anything about that?”

“Which one?”

“The priest.”

She waved Oliver off. “That’s ridiculous. I mean I don’t know if Bram is or isn’t. But I don’t know why Dr. Decameron would know, either. Unless he’s indulging in wishful thinking. Bram’s a nice-looking man.”

Marge said, “I take it you never detected Sparks having a problem with Dr. Myron Berger being Jewish.”

“Dr. Berger and Dr. Sparks have known each other for thirty-plus years. They attended Harvard Medical School together.”

“So they’re…peers.”

“Yes,” Fulton said.

“Being his peer,” Oliver said, “is Dr. Berger just as…respectful of Dr. Sparks’s rules? Or does he have more independence than either you or Dr. Decameron?”

“We all had independence,” Fulton said testily. “We aren’t chattel.”

Oliver said, “You know what I’m getting at.”

“Frankly, I don’t,” Fulton said.

“Was Sparks Berger’s boss?” Marge asked.

“Of course.”

“And that didn’t create resentment?” Marge asked. “Two of them going to medical school together, and now Sparks is above him?”