“Will you be using phasing and triangulation?” Aria asked. She remembered Madison saying that was how the process worked, and Aria’s reading had confirmed it, particularly the triangulation, which was the best way to determine if matches were real, meaning matches by descent from common ancestors. She had to remember that the process was matching pinpoint variations along a chromosome, the so-called SNPs, or single-nucleotide polymorphisms, not the actual full chromosome sequences. She knew that in the future when full sequencing was faster and cheaper, which was undoubtedly coming sooner than most people realized, it would all be infinitely easier and much more accurate, striking a mortal blow to the concept of individual privacy.
“Of course,” Vijay said. “That’s how this genealogy system works. It’s relatively easy to find matches but finding the real IBD, or identical-by-descent, matches is the tricky part and that requires triangulation.”
“Then I guess I don’t have any questions,” Aria said. She couldn’t be more pleased. With just a few white lies, she’d managed to get awhole team of genealogical software experts working on the problem of finding Lover Boy.
“Before you go, let me show you the type of family tree we’ll be constructing for this child. Do you have the time?”
“I’ll make the time,” Aria said.
CHAPTER 24
May 9th
4:30P.M.
Knock, knock,” Jack said as he rapped on the jamb of Laurie’s open office door. She looked up from the architectural plans for the new Forensic Pathology building that would be housing the autopsy room and offices for all the medical examiners. She’d worked on them in the middle of the night and thought they were nearly done, but now had different ideas in the light of day. Although the Toxicology Department had stayed in the old building by moving up to floors five and six, the Histology Department had been moved down to the new OCME high-rise. The problem was that there was a particularly strong connection with both departments and the autopsy work that the medical examiners did. Laurie could remember the many times she’d visited both departments while trying to complete her investigations to sign out the death certificates. Having them at different locations logistically didn’t make a lot of sense, so she’d gone back to the plans to see what she could do.
“Is this a good time to chat?” Jack asked. He looked and sounded intense.
“It is,” Laurie said. “Whenever the door is open, I’m available. I’ve been looking forward to seeing you all day. Come on in!” In contrast to Jack she tried to sound casual, almost carefree.
He came in, closed the door behind him, and went directly to the couch, which was his usual destination on visits to her office. He was still dressed in scrubs, as he’d been in the pit most of the day. “So, what did you learn about your projected surgery?” he asked. He was sitting but leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He didn’t blink. He was obviously stressed.
“Where is my quick-witted, wisecracking, double-entendre Jack?” Laurie asked, trying to make light of the situation. She stayed seated behind her desk.
“He’s on vacation until all this is put to bed,” Jack said, not minding he was mixing his metaphors. “Stop torturing me! What’s the story?”
“I spoke twice today with Dr. Claudine Cartier,” Laurie told him. “The last time was just a few minutes ago. She’s being wonderfully accommodating. She understands perfectly my interest in getting this handled as soon as possible. If my questionable one-centimeter lump is cancer, I can’t help but feel that I’m taking a risk with every minute that goes by. All that’s needed to change my prognosis is one cell out of billions to detach itself and set up shop in a distant location.”
“I understand,” he said. “I’d feel the same way. So, what did she say?”
“She’s had several cancellations of her scheduled surgeries due to the patients coming down with influenza, and she’s willing to fit me in on a semi-emergency basis. She wants me to be in the Kimmel Pavilion because of the accommodations. Now it’s up to the OR and their scheduling. I guess I’m essentially on call, which is fine by me. Now that I have decided to go through with it, I want it done.”
“So that means it could happen at any time?” Jack asked.
“No, not at any time,” she said. “I’ll have at least eight to twelve hours’ notice. I’ll be having general anesthesia, so I’ll have to be prepared.”
“Does our deputy chief know he’s about to be the captain of the ship for a period of time?”
“He does,” Laurie said. “I had a meeting with him this morning to tell him, and he’s fine with it. I did tell him not to spread it around until it was actually scheduled.”
“I wish I was the one having the surgery and not you,” Jack said. “I could handle that a hell of a lot easier.”
“It’s all going to be fine,” Laurie said as much to bolster her own courage as his. “Let’s talk about something else. I’ve been dying to ask you about our favorite NYU pathology resident. When I was making my autopsy rounds this morning, I saw she was at your table. How did that go? From afar, it seemed to be going fine. I was actually afraid to make my presence known for fear of upsetting the apple cart and causing trouble.”
“It wasn’t a problem,” Jack said.
“I’m shocked, knowing what I do about her,” she said. “And what I know about you, too, for that matter.” She laughed as a way of lightening the mood.
“To be completely honest, for your benefit I was on good behavior.”
“What do you mean, ‘for my benefit’?”
“You’re making a big effort on her behalf,” Jack said. “You did a case with her, and that’s the first one you’ve done since I don’t know when. And I agree with your motivation: It’s not worth getting into a slugfest with NYU Department of Pathology over a possibly sociopathic resident. She obviously is not enamored of forensic pathology. She didn’t even appear in the pit until eight thirty or thereabouts.”
“Did she use any profanity? She did with me, and I know that’s one of your buttons.”
“No vulgar language at all. My only complaint, if I had to come up with one, is that at the end of the case she just disappeared. One minute she was there and the next minute gone. Not a word of thank-you or goodbye or can I help finish up. She’s clearly not a team player.”
