With his coffee in hand Jack wandered over to George and looked over his shoulder.

“Do you mind?” George said petulantly. He shielded the papers in front of him. One of his pet peeves was people reading over his shoulder.

Jack and George had never gotten along. Jack had little tolerance for mediocrity and refused on principle to hide his feelings. George might possess stellar credentials—he had trained with one of the giants in the field of forensic pathol-ogy—but to Jack, his efforts on the job were merely perfunctory. Jack had no respect for the man.

Jack smiled at George’s reaction. He got perverse pleasure out of goading him. “Anything particularly interesting?” Jack asked. He walked around to the front of the desk. With his index finger he began to shuffle through the folders so he could read the presumed diagnoses.

“I have these in order!” George snapped. He pushed Jack’s hand away and restored the physical integrity of his stacks. He was sorting them according to the cause and manner of death.

“What do you have for me?” Jack asked. One of the things that Jack loved about being a medical examiner was that he never knew what each day would bring. Every day there was something new. That had not been the case when he was an ophthalmologist. Back then Jack knew what each day was going to be like three months in advance.

“I do have an infectious case,” George said. “Although I don’t think it’s particularly interesting. It’s yours if you want it.”

“Why was it sent in?” Jack asked. “No diagnosis?”

“Only a presumed diagnosis,” George said. “They listed it as possible influenza with secondary pneumonia. But the patient died before any of the cultures came back. Complicating the issue is that nothing was seen on gram stain. And on top of that the man’s doctor was away for the weekend.”

Jack took the folder. The name was Jason Papparis. Jack slipped out the information sheet filled out by Janice Jaeger, the night-shift forensic investigator or physician’s assistant, called a PA for short. As Jack skimmed the sheet, he nodded with admiration. Janice had proved herself a thorough researcher. Ever since Jack had made the suggestion for her to inquire about travel and contact with animals in infectious cases, she never failed to do so.

“Mighty potent case of flu!” Jack commented. He noted that the deceased had been in the hospital for less than twenty-four hours. But he also noticed that the man had been a heavy smoker and had a history of respiratory problems. That raised the issue of whether the infectious agent was potent or the patient unusually susceptible.

“Do you want it or not?” George asked. “We’ve got a lot of cases this morning. I’ve already got you down for several others, including a prisoner who died in custody.”

“Groan,” Jack mumbled. He knew that such cases frequently had complicated political and social fallout. “Are you sure Calvin, our fearless deputy chief, won’t want to do that one himself?”