“I doubt it,” he said. “They’ve got a lot out there, but TEMs are really big and expensive.”
“So are they sending their samples to Cagliari, too?”
“I don’t know. But I’m sure they’ll get to the bottom of this much faster than we will.”
“What’s Daniel Bornemann saying?”
Bruno laughed. “He’s not even picking up our calls.”
“I can ask Paul,” I offered, which was no small task, considering howwe’d left things. “He’s not going to admit to much, but if he knows the white stuff isn’t harmful, he might say so.”
Bruno shrugged. “It can’t hurt to ask.”
We worked in silence for some time before I got brave enough to ask if anyone had told Teo what was going on.
“He’s been here since yesterday.”
“Oh,” I said, surprised. “I didn’t realize.”
“Are things okay between you?” he asked.
I wondered if Teo had said something, then decided that Bruno was probably just reading between the lines. “Yeah,” I said. “I haven’t seen him in a couple of weeks. His parents were in town, and it’s been busy with the move and everything…”
Bruno gave me a nod of understanding, then took the last of the glass jars from me. “Go call your husband. Try to find out what you can. And if I see Teo, I’ll tell him you’re looking for him.”
148.
I WALKED DIRECTLYfrom the lab to Bar Sanna, but when I called over to the tender, the operator couldn’t get through to anyone in RADCON. “You want me to send someone down there to relay a message?” he asked, but there was no point. Without a home phone, Paul wouldn’t be able to call me back.
Back at the house, I ate a yogurt, some apricots, and a handful of walnuts. Then the cat and I took ourselves to bed, where I did not sleep. I kept thinking about the sub and what it would mean for the island if it was leaking something dangerous into the sea. By the morning, I was a wreck.
I bathed and dressed, then decided to take a page out of Mary Lou’s book and focus on the stuff I could control. So I drove over to Laura’s apartment to try to make amends.
She answered the door wearing sweats and Bobby’sLA MADD SQUADT-shirt, which had enough give in it to fit over her expanding stomach. It was clear she hadn’t showered and, judging by the dark circles under her eyes, I suspected she also hadn’t slept.
“Hey,” I said, gently.
“Hey, yourself.”
“Have you heard anything from Bobby?”
She shook her head. “What about Paul?”
“Nothing.”
We stood there, not saying anything.
“Can we talk?” I finally asked.
“If you want,” she said, and walked back into the apartment, leaving me to kick off my shoes at the door.
I followed her into the kitchen, where she’d been making coffee. She looked like she was moving slow. “Are the protesters still at it?” she asked as she filled the coffeepot’s reservoir with water.
I had driven past the waterfront on my way over. “It’s just a lot of people. Like more than usual. But it doesn’t seem bad.”
“Beth Stevenson says a sub came in with its whole nose blown off.”
“That’s what I heard, too.”
