“And I tell you again, it can’t even be estimated after one inaccurate determination of the current prion concentration. I was amazed I was able to detect any theta this soon, which is a tribute to this specific culture that’s resulted, but it doesn’t predict the future. Tomorrow morning, I can do another determination and then plot the concentration against time with the two points, which might give us a vague idea. But as I’m certain you know, two readings are hardly enough with so many variables involved such that it will be more of a guess than a determination.”
“Okay, I understand,” Viktor said. “The die is cast. With that kind of uncertainty, we can’t risk allowing a wildcard like JD to exist. He’s like the sword of Damocles for us. He has to be sacrificed for us to do one more release, which I’m insisting on.”
“How do you propose we eliminate him?” Nikolai asked, sotto voce. He too leaned forward on his forearms.
“We’ll use the Novichok again,” Viktor said. “This is exactly what it was originally designed for, namely eliminating problem people like dissidents, nonconformists, and traitors. Alexei, I want you to call JD in the morning and arrange for him to come back here. You can use the pretense of presenting the series of final lectures. We’ll use enough Novichok to make sure he doesn’t leave. My sense is that he won’t be missed for a few days. What’s your take in that regard, Alexei?”
“I agree!” Alexei said. “Without doubt he won’t be missed as he frequently disappears that amount of time. He’s the quintessential loner with a haphazard schedule. He only works at his parents’ hardware store when he feels like it, and lately he hasn’t felt like it. He lives alone in an apartment over a garage on the outskirts of town. The basketball group might miss him, but I’m not sure if they will be playing over the weekend or not. They usually don’t.”
“What will we do with him once he’s history?” Dmitry asked. “Have him join Ethan Jameson?” He smiled. He was enjoying giving himself credit for figuring out what to do with the Jameson corpse.
Viktor chuckled at the suggestion. “Why not? They were partners in life so why not in death. Which reminds me: Has anyone checked on our permanent visitor?”
“I did,” Alexei said. “This morning when I used the diving board. When the water’s calm and the sunlight just right, he can just barely be seen. Apparently putrefaction gases are causing him to be like a balloon on a tether. Luckily it’s as deep as it is.”
“That’s an eerie image,” Nikolai said. “What about the fish. Any activity?”
“Oh, yeah!” Alexei said. “They are having a heyday, especially the larger trout.”
“Well, it was the perfect solution to what could have been a problem,” Viktor said.
“Thank you,” Dmitry said with a self-satisfied smile.
“I have one more issue,” Alexei said.
Viktor, who had slid off his bar stool with the intent to get back to his pelmeni stuffing, regained it. “Okay! What’s on your mind?”
“I don’t want to be an alarmist,” Alexei said, “but the forensic pathologist from New York troubles me even though we’ve denied him his autopsy.”
“How so?” Viktor asked.
“He asked me directly if I knew about Ethan’s body disappearing,” Alexei said.
“I assume you said no,” Viktor responded.
“Of course I said no,” Alexei said. “But just his asking me was worrisome enough, especially when he mentioned Ethan being angry at you for spending time in the supposed brewery the morning he died. He’s obviously taken Ethan’s body disappearing personally, and I sense that he’s the embodiment of that English expression ‘a dog with a bone.’ I was relieved when he didn’t want to talk about Amsterdam today, which was what I feared, but I sense this could be just as bad associating us in any way with Ethan’s death and possibly his corpse’s disappearance.”
“I’m not concerned about this brewery nonsense that JD has concocted,” Viktor said. “In a way it’s helpful for giving a rationale for my absence from the Diehard Patriots’ operations rather than pure disinterest. With theta prion already detected in our current batch of recombinant yeast, we’re only looking at a couple more days. I can’t imagine this pathologist can make any headway figuring out anything unless he comes to us directly. If he does, then we’ll deal with him as needed. We have more than enough Novichok.”
“Yes, sir,” Alexei said dutifully, but he was hardly convinced. If Dr. Stapleton solved medical mysteries the way he played basketball, he would prove to be a worrisome threat.
Chapter 21
Friday, July 25, 5:40a.m.
Hiram House
Hamilton County, New York
The moment the first rays of sun streamed through the east-facing windows in Jack and Laurie’s bedroom, Jack’s eyes blinked open. Without a moment’s hesitation, he slipped out of bed and hustled barefooted over to the velvet blackout curtains that he had purposefully left open, and careful to be as silent as possible, he closed them. Although he had wanted to wake up with the sun, he knew that Laurie certainly wouldn’t, as he’d been vaguely aware she had read her Jane Austen novel late into the night.
With newly gained freedom to indulge his growing interest in Bob’s fascinating and developing conundrums, there were several things he was eager to do: Chief among them was to meet with Melanie to learn what he could about the dementia patients. He also had hopes of a breakthrough involving Ethan Jameson’s AWOL body. If and when that turned up, he was more eager than ever toassist Bob with the autopsy. As far as Laurie was concerned, she had made plans to go on a hike with Carol to a series of connected waterfalls called the Cascades. Carol had lauded it as the best and most scenic hike in the entire area.
With the drapes taken care of, Jack moved on “little cat feet” into the attached changing room where he and Laurie were living out of their carry-on bags. After closing the connecting French doors, he changed out of his pajamas and into his swimsuit. Like the previous morning, he was intent on taking a wake-up swim. From the linen closet just outside the massive master bathroom, he took a fresh towel.
Out in the hall, he checked to make certain Warren and Jada’s door was closed and even paused for a few beats to see if he heard any sounds of movement within. The night before, Jada had said that if she was awake, she’d join him, but Jack didn’t hear a peep. Warren had said that the only way he would do it was under the threat of death. Their plan for the day was to drive over to Lake Placid, which Google Maps said was a two-hour drive. They both had heard kudos about it but had never seen it.
Once outside, Jack paused briefly to appreciate the view of the calm lake, the distant Adirondack Mountains, and the dawning day. It promised again to be gorgeous weather. At the moment there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but he guessed cumulus clouds like yesterday’s would gather as the temperature climbed. Even though the sun was just peeking over the eastern horizon, he could already sense its summertime intensity.
