“Of course,” Laurie said, although she wasn’t looking forward to the conversation. Dealing with bereaved parents was not easy for her. “But I’m just arriving at this very moment. You’ll have to give me about fifteen minutes.”

“We understand,” Chester said. With an arm around his wife, Chester retreated to the couch.

Laurie had herself buzzed into the building. Preoccupied with the upcoming meeting with the Cassidy family, she took the elevator up to the fifth floor and went into her office. She hung her coat behind the door. A quick glance at the mound of unfinished folders on her desk made her thankful she’d been steadfast in her decision not to go on the Budapest trip.

Laurie found Brad Cassidy’s folder near the top of the stack. Using her index finger she went through the contents until she came to the identification sheet. She pulled it out. She was curious who had made the ID. The name was listed as Helen Trautman, the deceased’s sister.

Back down on the first floor she took the circuitous route through communications to the ID room. She wanted a bolt of coffee before facing the Cassidys. As she entered, she ran into Jack and Vinnie on their way down to the autopsy room. As usual, they were getting a jump on the day.

“Could we talk for a moment?” Jack asked sheepishly the moment he saw Laurie.

“Can it wait?” Laurie asked. She looked at Jack curiously; sheepishness was hardly one of Jack’s typical behavioral traits. “There’s a couple waiting for me out in the waiting room. I have a feeling they’ve been here for a long time.”

“It’ll only take a second,” Jack promised. “Vinnie, run down and get set up in the autopsy room! I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.”

“Why don’t I just go back to my newspaper?” Vinnie suggested. “I don’t want to be standing down there in the deserted pit twiddling my thumbs. Some of your spontaneous conversations go on for half an hour.”

“Not this time,” Jack said. “Get!”

Vinnie slunk off. Jack watched him go until he was out of earshot. Then he stepped over to Laurie, who was helping herself to the community coffee. Jack cast a quick glance at George Fontworth, but he was ignoring them while busily sorting the cases that had come in over the night.

“Where’s the Hope diamond ring?” Jack asked.

Laurie glanced at her naked finger as if she expected the ring to be there. “It’s hidden in the freezer compartment of my refrigerator.”

“On ice, so to speak,” Jack said.

Laurie couldn’t help but smile. Such a comment was much more like the Jack she knew. “I’m not officially engaged,” she said. “I mentioned that last night, in case you don’t remember.”

“I guess not until you tell your parents,” Jack said.