“I’ll be curious to hear the fallout,” Chet said, shaking his head. “Deciding not to do an autopsy and then finding out the patient died of botulism is a medical examiner’s worst nightmare.”

“I’m curious, too,” Jack said. “In fact, while you make your calls, I think I’ll see what I can find out.”

Jack phoned the Brooklyn office and asked for Dr. Sanders. Since the ME wasn’t in his office, Jack had him paged. While he waited, Chet got through to Colleen and got a positive reaction. Chet gave Jack a thumbs-up sign just as Randolph Sanders came on the line.

“Sorry to bother you,” Jack said into the phone with the same breezy style he’d used earlier when he’d spoken with the man. “Chet and I have been talking about the Davydov case. We’re curious as to what’s going on.”

“It’s a nightmare,” Randolph said.

“That’s just how Chet characterized it a moment ago,” Jack said. He winked at Chet, who was waiting for Dr. Simsarian to pick up.

“I can’t believe the luck,” Randolph said. “Right after I spoke with you this morning, I called the Strickland funeral home, and they gave me a bit of bad news.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jack said.

“The body has been cremated.”

“Oh!” Jack moaned with feigned sympathy.

“There wasn’t much I could do at that point other than turn the situation over to Jim Bennett.”

“And what’s he done?”

“Nothing yet,” Randolph said. “But I know he has a call in to Bingham. This whole mess is gong to have to be handled by top brass, specifically Harold Bingham.”

“I guess you must feel pretty bad,” Jack said. In spite of his dislike for the man, he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of true sympathy.

“Nothing like this has ever happened to me before,” Randolph said.

“You’ll get through this,” Jack said. “In jobs like ours, it’s impossible to catch everything. And you’re doing the best you can at this point.”

Jack and Chet hung up from their respective calls almost simultaneously. They turned and faced each other.

“You first,” Chet said. “What did you learn?”

“There’s no fallout,” Jack said. “At least not yet. Bingham’s in the loop but hasn’t been told yet. The real problem is that the body’s gone. It was cremated.” Jack shook his head. “It’s a mess. The only thing I know is that it’s out of my hands.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Chet said. “And let it stay out of your hands! As far as Dr. Simsarian is concerned, he wasn’t excited about your suggestion, but he said that he’d give it a try.”

Jack threw up his hands. “Well, that’s all we can do.”

“Absolutely,” Chet said.