Epilogue
(Almost three months later)
Office of Chief Medical Examiner
New York City, New York
With Vinnie Amendola navigating at the head of the gurney and Jack at the rear, they had just maneuvered the recently autopsied corpse out through the double doors of the busy autopsy room on their way to the walk-in cooler when Jack’s mobile phone rang in his pocket.
Since he had it on Do Not Disturb while doing autopsies, with only a few “favorites” allowed to ring through, he immediately called out to Vinnie to hold up.
When he answered, Laurie said, sounding mildly irritated: “Where are you?”
“Vinnie and I are over here at Dunkin Donuts on Second Avenue,” Jack said, unable to control his sarcastic urges.
She knew full well where he was in the middle of the morning on a busy autopsy day, with almost thirty cases scheduled.
The night before had been hectic for the OCME Medical Legal Investigators, as they had to deal with more than the usual number of medical disasters, homicides, suicides, and accidents.
“Oh, please!” Laurie moaned. She’d never been appreciative of Jack’s sarcastic bent. “Are you in the middle of a case?”
“I’m actually at the very end of a case,” Jack said. “Vinnie and I are on our way to the cooler with the body. I’ve got two more to go. What’s up?”
“Lou had called me earlier this morning and said he wanted to stop by and asked if I’d have time to see him,” Laurie explained.
“I told him I would if he got here a bit after ten, which he did just a few minutes ago, but he never gave me a hint of what it was about. As it turns out, you should be here, too, even more than I. So, can you come up here to my office right now?”
“I suppose,” Jack said. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea as he wasn’t wild about the bureaucratic side of being a medical examiner, which was where Laurie spent most of her day as chief medical examiner.
But with Detective Lieutenant Lou Soldano involved it was a little more appealing.
They had done a case together the previous week involving the suicide of a young police cadet, and Jack wondered if it might involve fallout from that sad episode.
“Okay! Let me get this body situated, and I’ll pop up,” he added.
“Perfect,” Laurie said and disconnected.
Surprised at the abrupt ending to the conversation, Jack shrugged.
“I’ve been summoned to make a quick visit up to the chief’s office,” Jack called out to Vinnie, who was already showing signs of impatience, which he didn’t feel obligated to hide because of the unique relationship he and Jack shared.
Their close working circumstance made him feel more like a partner than an underling.
“Damn!” Vinnie said, rolling his eyes. “That’s more than inconvenient. Exactly how long am I going to be twiddling my thumbs down here waiting for your return? We’ve still got two cases to go.” Often Vinnie stayed voluntarily beyond his quitting time to finish a case with Jack.
“I’ll make it quick,” Jack said as they started moving again.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” Vinnie said dismissively over his shoulder.
After they got the current case into the cooler and the next case located, Jack ducked into the locker room, removed his soiled surgical gown, and put it into the laundry bin.
Not wanting to take the time to change out of his scrubs, he merely donned one of the short, white doctor coats that were available for such circumstance.
Moving at a fast pace just shy of a jog up the stairs, Jack took advantage of the main corridor to get to the administration area and didn’t slow until he came abreast of Cheryl Stanford’s desk.
As per usual, she was using her headset for a call and typing into her monitor all at the same time.
When he managed to get her attention, she flashed a thumbs-up sign to indicate the coast was clear.
With that encouragement, he entered the chief’s office without bothering to knock and wait for an okay.
He was eager to get back downstairs to prove Vinnie wrong.
Expecting to see just Laurie and Detective Lieutenant Lou Soldano, Jack was stopped in his tracks just inside the door.
Mildly nonplussed, he was confronted by a relative crowd of “suits”—well-dressed, high-level bureaucrats.
Even Laurie was not where she normally would be, sitting behind her massive partners desk, but rather standing in front leaning against it.
Jack sensed that she had been speaking the moment he barged in.
Lou was next to her, and even he appeared more put together than usual with a clean shirt, his tie cinched up tight under his chin, and his hair combed.
“Please, everyone!” Laurie called out. She gestured toward Jack. “As promised, let me present Dr. Jack Stapleton. And now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask at least some of you to introduce yourselves.”
“I’ll be happy to start since I’ll be making the presentation,” a square-jawed, athletic-appearing, nattily dressed man in a dark blue suit said without hesitation.
“Dr. Jack Stapleton, I’m FBI Special Agent Ronald Jeffries in charge of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, more commonly known as JTTF… .”
The moment this FBI agent introduced himself, Jack knew that this surprise, impromptu meeting involved what had become known at the OCME, particularly between himself and Laurie, as the Essex Falls Affair.
Although he and Laurie had heard relatively little from the federal or even state authorities due to aspects of the case becoming belatedly classified, they had been kept up to date on what was going on in Essex Falls over the intervening months by Bob Nielson.
Bob, of course, was in constant, direct contact with Police Chief Bill Hargrove even though the Bennet Estate murder-suicide investigation had been taken over by a combination of the Hamilton County sheriff, the New York State police, and the FBI.
Besides, the OCME had already played a significant role in the ongoing investigation since the bodies Jack had briefly glimpsed in the depths of the lake in front of the Bennet House had been sent down to the OCME to be autopsied.
As Jack had expected, one of the lake bodies turned out to be the missing corpse of Ethan Jameson.
The other was identified as John Daniels, who at the time wasn’t even known to be missing.
In another particularly stunning surprise, the OCME Toxicology Department, thanks to the expertise of John DeVries, had determined that both individuals had been killed by the use of Novichok, a family of Russian nerve agents that includes some powerful binary chemical weapons.
These agents caused symptoms similar to some pesticides, only thousands of times more powerful.
They’d also been used to poison dissidents of the Russian government, such as the Skripals in England and Alexei Navalny in Russia itself.
Although Bill Hargrove had not been the principal investigator of the murder-suicide, he’d dutifully stayed in close touch with those who were in charge and communicated the findings to Bob Nielson, who informed Jack.
Although certain details had become classified, Jack learned that the supposed Netherlander militiamen were actually from Russia, which explained the Novichok.
Two were Russian scientists with PhDs in biochemistry and one with an added PhD in molecular biology, and two were scientific technicians, all of whom worked in the Vector Institute in the Russian city of Koltsovo.
In addition, all four were active members of major right-wing Russian militia with one being a general, another a major, and the other two corporals.
“…and with that brief background,” FBI Special Agent Ronald Jeffries continued, “I will now ask my equivalent, Detective Lieutenant Mark Schwarz of the New York Police Department, to introduce himself.”
“Thank you, Special Agent Jeffries,” Mark Schwarz said as he struggled to his feet.
He’d been sitting on Laurie’s colorful but low-slung couch with his knees up near his face.
He was a tall man, not quite as fit appearing as Jeffries, but reasonably trim and sporting an equally short, martial hairstyle.
“My name is Detective Lieutenant Mark Schwarz, and I am the NYPD officer in charge of the NYPD contingent assigned to the NYC JTTF. It’s an honor to be here to acknowledge your superb contribution in this serious affair.
And now I’d like to turn the floor over to Dr. Susan Blumenthal. ”
“And thank you, Detective,” a smartly dressed, somewhat older woman with stylishly bobbed hair said.
She was standing close to Laurie and Lou.
“My name is Dr. Susan Blumenthal, and I am a senior Epidemic Intelligence Service officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC. I’ve been assigned to the New York City Joint Terrorism Task Force specifically to help with the Essex Falls investigation.
I want to personally commend you for your deduction that a novel prion was being manufactured in a jerry-rigged microbiological recombinant laboratory and then criminally spread into the community by way of the municipal water system.
In that regard, we at the CDC have proven by the use of specially engineered transgenic mice that this particular, never-before-seen prion causes very rapid cerebral damage leading to Alzheimer’s-like dementia, of which there have been one hundred and three cases in the town to date.
The Essex Falls event is a major terrorism crisis.
Of particular interest, we at the CDC have noted that this novel prion causes Alzheimer’s-like dementia but without the deposition of amyloid, suggesting the need for new directions in Alzheimer’s research.
So, once again, thank you, Dr. Jack Stapleton, for the work you did in exposing this abominable episode. ”
“And thank you, Dr. Blumenthal, for your concise summary of the CDC’s contribution in this regrettable affair,” Special Agent Ronald Jeffries added while stepping into the center of Laurie’s office to be closer to where Jack had stopped just inside the main entrance door.
Agent Jeffries was holding a small black box.
“I would like to take this opportunity to present a small token of appreciation from the New York City Joint Terrorism Task Force to Dr. Jack Stapleton.” He then opened the black box he was holding and held it up.
Nestled on black velvet was a round medal about two inches in diameter embossed with a gold eagle.
“This is the FBI Medal for Meritorious Achievement. It’s given to FBI agents as well as other law enforcement personnel for outstanding service in the line of duty.
I contacted the Bureau and asked if I could present this token to you, Dr. Stapleton, and received overwhelming support to do so.
So, without further ado, I am proud to present to you this small symbol of the JTTF’s appreciation of your service as a medical examiner. ”
To enthusiastic applause from everyone present, Agent Jeffries handed the small, open box to Jack.
Jack took it and examined it before closing the lid, raising his eyes and glancing around at the expectant faces.
He knew he had to say something, but it seemed that his normal ability to retort adeptly had totally abandoned him.
All he could think to say was: “Thank you.” When it was apparent to him that wasn’t adequate as everyone in the room continued to stare at him expectantly, he added: “Thank you very much.”
After several uncomfortable beats, someone in the room sensed that Jack had been rendered speechless and began clapping anew. This action unleashed another round of enthusiastic applause from everyone present followed by the suits crowding around Jack to personally shake his hand.
Over the next twenty minutes, Jack was forced to meet everyone who’d attended the impromptu ceremony.
Not only did he meet FBI agents, NYPD officers, and CDC members, but also people from the Department of Defense and even the Central Intelligence Agency, all of whom were currently assigned to the NYC JTTF.
All this was a surprise for Jack, since prior to that morning he’d never known much about the organization despite learning it had been in existence for over forty years and had been the first of its kind in the country and had stimulated the creation of twenty more in other US cities.
Then abruptly everyone except Laurie and Lou departed en masse as if the group were a single organism. There’d been no announcement. One minute everyone was standing around Jack while individuals talked to him and the next minute everyone was gone.
Feeling mildly disoriented yet suddenly becalmed, Jack responded by walking over to Laurie’s couch and collapsing.
Laurie sensed Jack’s mindset and broke off her conversation with Lou. She was still in front of her desk although now half sitting on it. Lou was still standing right next to her where he’d remained during the presentation.
“My word!” she said with an expression of mild bewilderment. “You look more confused than proud. What’s going on in that brain of yours?”
“I’m depressed,” Jack admitted.
“How can you possibly be depressed?” Laurie questioned with a disbelieving roll of her eyes. “You’ve just been given an impressive award for your service from the FBI. I would have thought you’d be justifiably proud.”
“I’m depressed for two reasons,” Jack said.
“First, I’m going to have to face Vinnie Amendola’s well-deserved wrath for once again abandoning him in the middle of a busy morning, which is going to go on for days.
Second of all, and most important, I don’t deserve this medal.
” He held up the black box and took a deep breath and then let it out noisily like a deflating balloon.
“I might have figured out to some degree what was going on in Essex Falls but not enough to keep from blundering into a situation in which I probably should have been killed. I understand now that I was lucky that my showing up unexpectedly like I did apparently put the Russians into such a frenzy that they thankfully were unwilling to take the time to deal with me. I mean, I questioned the origin of the supposed Netherlander militiamen on multiple occasions, but I was stupid enough to uncritically accept someone else’s poor judgment, and I certainly shouldn’t be rewarded for that under any circumstance.
I’m afraid this medal is only going to remind me of my folly. ”
“Oh, good Lord,” Laurie commented with a shake of her head. “Sometimes I truly don’t understand Jack Stapleton, even though I love him.”
“Hear, hear,” Detective Lieutenant Lou Soldano said. “My feelings exactly.”