“I need a gun,” Yuri said. “You told me how many guns you and the PAA have. I just need one.”

“What the hell for?”

“Because of Connie’s brother,” Yuri said. “I’ve just heard he’d been to see her body at the funeral home.”

“So what!”

“So plenty,” Yuri said. “You saw her eye last night. I’d swatted her, and her brother told me once that if I ever hit her, he’d kill me.”

“Jesus Christ!” Curt snarled.

“I’m serious,” Yuri said. “He’s a big black guy, and I’m not going to stay here and work in the lab without some protection.”

“All right, we’ll get you a freaking gun.”

“I need it right away,” Yuri said.

“We’re getting off work at five,” Curt said. “We’ll bring it around.”

“Thanks,” Yuri said.

“Yeah, sure,” Curt said and hung up.

Yuri shook his head dejectedly as he hung up the phone. He’d planned on telling Curt about Jack Stapleton after he’d mentioned Connie’s brother but had changed his mind when he’d heard Curt’s tone of voice. Again there’d been surprising anger and hostility like there’d been the night before. To Yuri, such an attitude was entirely inappropriate for people who were supposed to be working together. He was forced to consider again that Curt was no friend.

In one gulp, Yuri finished off the rest of the vodka and put the glass in the sink. Then he wondered if he’d have enough time to suit up and go into the lab to check the second fermenter before Curt got there. In the end, he decided that he’d feel safer around his anthrax powder.

THIRTEEN

_________

THIRTEEN

Tuesday, October 19

5:00 P.M.

Jack had Warren drop him off on the Thirtieth Street side of the ME’s office so he could duck into the building via the loading dock. He wanted to avoid running into the chief or Calvin in case his Brooklyn exploits had already caused a stir. What he hoped to have prior to any confrontation were the results of the samples he’d taken from Connie Davydov. They were to serve as a justification for his actions.

Jack’s intuition told him that Flash was probably right about his sister having been the victim of foul play. With a heart attack, a stroke, and generalized infectious disease ruled out, poisoning was quite probable considering the history of domestic strife. Lending considerable credence to the theory was the black eye. Even though Jack had been reluctant to admit it to Flash, Jack’s professional judgment told him the black eye had come from trauma and not infection, and that the trauma was the result of a fist rather than an inanimate object in the woman’s bathroom.