“You the folks from Boston?” he asked.
“Dr. Bartusek?” said Jane. “I’m Detective Rizzoli. This is my partner, Detective Frost.”
“Call me Bert.” Grinning, Bartusek grabbed her hand and gave it an enthusiastic shake. “Big-city homicide detectives! I bet you folks have really interesting jobs.”
“Not as interesting as yours,” said Frost.
“Mine?” Bartusek snorted. “Nowhere as cool as hunting down killers.”
“My partner here thinks it’s way cooler to work for NASA,” said Jane.
“Well, you know what they say about the grass on the other side of the fence,” Bartusek said with a laugh as he waved them down the hall. “Come on, let’s go sit in my office. The guys upstairs gave me full clearance to talk to you. ’Course, what else am I going to do, when a cop asks me questions? If I don’t answer, you might arrest me!” He led them down the corridor, and Jane imagined she could almost feel the building shake with each ponderous step he took. “I’ve got a lot of questions myself,” he said. “Me and my colleagues, we all want to know what happened to Neil and Olivia. You speak to Detective Parris yet?”
“We’re meeting with him this evening,” said Jane. “Assuming he gets back from Florida in time.”
“Parris seemed like a smart cop when I met him. Asked me just about every possible question. But I don’t think he ever came up with an answer.” He glanced at Jane. “Two years later, I’m wondering if you’ll be able to.”
“You have any theories about that plane crash?”
He shook his head. “Never made sense to any of us, why anyone would want to kill Neil. A good guy, a really good guy. We talked about it a lot here, and we went down all the possible reasons. Did he owe someone money? Did he tick off the wrong people? Was it a crime of passion?”
“Is that a possibility, a crime of passion?” asked Frost. “He or his wife having an affair?”
Bartusek stopped outside a doorway, his massive girth blocking any view into the room. “I didn’t think it was possible at the time. I mean, they were such regular people. But then, you never know what’s really going on in a marriage, do you?” He gave a sad shake of the head and stepped into his office. On his walls hung a gallery of stunning photos of galaxies and nebulae, like multicolored amoebas.
“Wow. The Horsehead Nebula,” said Frost, admiring one of the photos.
“You know your night sky, Detective.”
Jane glanced at her partner. “You really are a Trekkie.”
“Told you so.” Frost moved on to another photograph. “I see your name here, Dr. Bartusek. You took these?”
“Astrophotography’s a hobby of mine. You’d think, after spending my day studying the universe, I’d go home and take photos of birds or flowers. But no, I keep my eye on the sky. Always have.” He squeezed in behind his desk and sank into a massive chair, setting off a loud groan of the springs. “You might call it an obsession.”
“Is that true for all rocket scientists?” asked Frost.
“Well, technically speaking, I’m not really a rocket scientist. Those are the guys who light the candles and blow stuff up. They’d tell you they have the fun jobs.”
“And your job?”
“I’m an astrophysicist. In this building, we’re focused on the research side. My colleagues and I, we formulate a scientific question, and we figure out what kind of data we need to answer it. Maybe we want to sample dust from a passing comet, or we want to do a wide-field infrared survey of the sky. To get that data, we need to launch a special telescope. That’s when we turn to the rocket scientists, who help us get that scope up and into position. We define the purpose of a mission. The rocket engineers design a way to do it. Truth is, we kinda talk different languages. They’re gearheads. They think of us as eggheads.”
“Which was Neil Yablonski?” asked Jane.
“Neil was most definitely an egghead. He and his brother-in-law Brian Temple were the smartest guys around here. Which may be why they were friends. Such good friends, in fact, they were planning a joint trip to Rome with their wives. That’s where Neil and Olivia first met, and they wanted to visit their old romantic haunts.”
“Hardly sounds like a romantic trip if you’re bringing another couple along.”
“Not just any other couple. See, Lynn and Olivia were sisters. Neil and Brian were best friends. So when Lynn and Brian got married, presto, they turned into the four amigos. Brian and Neil had to go to Rome for a meeting anyway, so they thought they’d bring their wives. Man, was Neil looking forward to that trip! Tortured me with all his talk about pasta! Pizza! Fritto misto!” He looked down at his bulging stomach, which suddenly gave a growl. “I think I gained weight just saying those words.”
“But they never made it to Rome?”
Bartusek gave a sad shake of the head. “Three weeks before they were supposed to leave, Neil and Olivia took off for their weekend cottage on the Chesapeake. Neil had a little Cessna he liked to fly down there. Their son, Will, had a science project he needed to work on, so the boy stayed with the Temples. Lucky for the kid, because three minutes after takeoff that Cessna went down in flames. The weather was perfect, and Neil was a very careful pilot. We all assumed it was mechanical. Until Detective Parris and the FBI showed up here a week or so later and started asking a lot of questions. That’s when I realized there was more to the crash than we thought. Parris never came right out and told me, but I read about it later in the newspaper. That the crash was suspicious. That there may have been a bomb aboard that Cessna. Since you folks are now asking about it, I assume it’s true.”
“We’ll discuss that with Detective Parris tonight,” said Jane.
“So it wasn’t an accident. Was it?”
“It appears not.”
Bartusek slumped back against his chair and shook his head. “No wonder Brian freaked out.”
“What do you mean?”
“The day after Neil’s plane went down, Brian came into work white as a sheet. Picked up some of his research papers, said he was going to work from home for a few days, because Lynn and their nephew didn’t want to be alone. A week later, I heard he’d resigned from NASA. That really shocked me, because he loved this job. After twenty-some years, I can’t imagine what would make him just pick up and quit. He didn’t tell any of us where he was going. I didn’t even know they’d moved to New Hampshire until we heard that he and Lynn died in that house fire.”
“So Brian didn’t give you any clue why he left town?”
“Not a word. As I said, he looked pretty shook up, but at the time I thought it was only natural. His best friend and his wife’s sister just got killed, and now he had Neil’s kid to raise.” Bartusek fell silent for a moment, fleshy face drooping at the memory. “Poor boy’s had some damn tough breaks in life. To lose your parents when you’re only twelve.” He shook his head. “You know, I never mentioned this to Detective Parris, but some of us had a theory that it was all a mistake. Maybe the killer put a bomb aboard the wrong Cessna. Couple of big-business types keep their planes at that field. So do a few politicians, and Lord knows some of us would love to bring down their planes.” He paused. “That was a joke. Really.” He looked back and forth at the two detectives. “But I can see you don’t appreciate the humor.”
“We’ve been focusing on Neil, but what about his wife?” said Frost. “Is there any reason she might have been the target?”
“Olivia? No way. She was a sweet gal, but also a bit bland. Whenever I saw her at NASA parties, she’d be standing off in a corner, looking lost. I used to try my best to give her some attention, ’cause she was such a wallflower. But frankly, nothing she ever said was memorable. She had some boring job as a sales rep for medical equipment.”
Frost glanced at his notebook. “Leidecker Hospital Supplies.”
“Yeah, that was it. She didn’t talk much about it. The only time she got animated was when she talked about Will. The kid’s some sort of genius, just l
ike Neil.”
“Okay, let’s go back to Neil,” said Jane. “Did he have any conflicts here at work? Any colleagues he didn’t get along with?”
“Just the usual stuff.”
“Meaning?”
“A scientist proposes a theory, stakes out a position. Sometimes he gets emotionally attached to that position when others disagree.”
“Who disagreed with Neil?”
“I can’t even remember, that’s how normal it was. He and Brian, they were always having spirited debates, but it was never hostile, you know? It was more like this egghead game between them. You get the two of them talking about debris disks, and whoosh! They’re like two rambunctious kids playing in the sandbox, tossing toys at each other.”
Frost looked up from the notes he’d been jotting. “Debris disks? What are those?”
“That was the subject of their research. It has to do with interstellar cloud cores. When they collapse, angular momentum causes them to form these spinning disks of gas and dust around baby stars.”
“They got into arguments about that?” said Jane.
“Hey, we get into arguments about everything. It’s what makes science so damn engaging. Yeah, sometimes the debates might turn personal, but we can deal with it here. We’re all big boys.” He looked down at his belly and added with an ironic sigh, “Some of us bigger than others.”
“What kind of arguments would you get into over a dirt disk?”
“Debris disks. There’s a lot of controversy about how these rings of dust and gas transform into solar systems with planets. Some say the planets form because of multiple collisions, but what makes those debris particles stick together? How does mass accumulate? How do you turn a bunch of swirling particles into a Mercury, Venus, and Earth? It’s a question we can’t answer yet. We do know ours isn’t the only solar system. There are countless planets in this galaxy alone, and many of them are in the habitable zone.”
Frost, who might as well have had TREKKIE tattooed on his forehead, rocked forward with sudden interest. “You mean we could colonize them?”
“Maybe. Habitable zone means that life in some form could exist there. At least, the carbon-based life we’re familiar with. Data from the Kepler Mission identifies a number of what we call Goldilocks planets. Not too hot, not too cold, but just right. In fact, that’s why Neil and Brian were going to Rome. To present their data to the team at the Vatican observatory.”
Frost gave a surprised laugh. “The Vatican has an observatory?”
“Quite well regarded, part of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.” He saw Frost’s raised eyebrow. “Yeah, I know, it sounds strange that this is the same church that attacked Galileo for believing the earth revolves around the sun. But their academy has some impressive astronomers. They were anxious to look over Neil and Brian’s latest research, because it has major implications. Certainly for the Vatican.”
“Why would this research concern the Catholic Church?” asked Jane.
“Because we’re talking about astrobiology, Detective Rizzoli. The study of life in the universe. Think about it. What does it mean to our perceived place in that universe if we find life on another planet? What happens to the concept of divine creation and Let there be light? It overturns humankind’s most cherished belief, that we are unique. That God made us. It could topple the central pillar of the church.”
“Topple? Did Yablonski and Temple actually have the data to do that?”
“I don’t know that I’d call it proof, exactly.”
“They shared it with you?”
“I saw their initial analysis of data from infrared and radio telescopes. It came from one of those Goldilocks planets I was telling you about. There was carbon dioxide, water, ozone, and nitrogen. Not just the building blocks of life, but also molecules that indicate photosynthesis is taking place.”
“Which means plant life,” said Frost.
Bartusek nodded. “It was highly suggestive.”
“How come we haven’t heard about this?” said Frost. “Where was the press conference, the big White House announcement?”
“You can’t just come out and announce this stuff without being absolutely certain, or you’ll look like an idiot. You know you’ll be attacked. You know there’ll be wacko deniers of every stripe coming after you. We’d need contingency plans to deal with all the nuts who’d try to drive truck bombs into our buildings here.” He stopped to take a calming breath. “So, no. We do not make announcements, not until we can prove anything beyond a shadow of a doubt. Hell, ET himself would need to land on the White House lawn before some people would be convinced. But Neil and Brian, they felt they had enough evidence. In fact, that was one of the last things Neil told me, before he died.”
Jane stared at him. “That he had proof?”
Bartusek nodded. “Of extraterrestrial life.”
JANE AND FROST were silent as they drove toward columbia, both of them stunned and trying to process what they had just heard. After their visit to NASA, this was an anticlimactic journey down a mundane highway toward the unexciting office where Olivia Yablonski worked as a medical equipment sales rep.
“I’m wondering if we had it wrong,” said Frost. “I don’t think the boy was the target in New Hampshire.”
Jane glanced at her partner, who was squinting ahead, as though trying to peer through fog. “You’re thinking it was the boy’s uncle. Brian Temple.”
“Both men are about to reveal something earth shattering. Neil gets taken out. Brian panics, flees with his wife and nephew to New Hampshire. The bad guys come after him.”
“Trouble is, we don’t know who the bad guys are.”
“You heard Bartusek. Finding ET would shake up the world. It would make people question everything they learned in Sunday school.”
“So, what, we’ve got some albino assassin monk killing NASA scientists?” She laughed. “I think that was a movie.”
“Consider what religious zealots already do to defend their beliefs. Those climate scientists at MIT, they’re always getting threats. This is gonna really bring out the crazies. If it ever gets announced.” He frowned. “Interesting that NASA hasn’t.”
“Sounds like the proof isn’t there yet.”
“Is that really true, or is this too hot for them—for anyone—to handle?”
Extraterrestrial life. She spun that possibility in her head, trying to see it from every angle, imagine every repercussion. A motive for assassination? The murders of the Yablonskis and the Temples were definitely the work of professionals who knew their way around Semtex. “There’s a problem with this theory,” she said. “It doesn’t explain Claire Ward’s family. He was a diplomat, working for the State Department. What’s his connection with NASA?”
“Maybe they’re unrelated cases. We’re just linking them because both kids ended up at Evensong.”
She gave a sigh. “Now you sound like Crowe. Different kids, different cases. Just a coincidence they ended up in the same school.”
“Although it is interesting …”
“What?”
He pointed to a road sign for the turnoff to Washington. “Didn’t Erskine Ward also work in DC for a while?”
“And Rome. And London.”
“At least we’ve got a geographic connection between the Wards and the Yablonskis. They lived within the same fifty-mile radius.”
“But not Teddy Clock’s family. Nicholas Clock’s job was in Rhode Island.”
“Yeah.” Frost shrugged. “So maybe we’re trying to connect things that have no connection, and we’re just making it all too complicated.”
She spotted the address they were searching for and turned into the parking lot. It was yet another strip mall, indistinguishable from thousands of others across the country. Was there some universal strip mall design they taught you in architecture school, photocopied blueprints passed around to every builder in America? She pulled into a parking spot and eyed the usual mix of businesses. A drugstore,
a dress shop for big sizes, a dollar store, and a Chinese buffet. That was the one constant you could always count on, the Chinese buffet.
“I don’t see it,” said Frost.
“Must be at the far end.” She pushed open her door. “Let’s stretch our legs and walk.”
“You sure this is the right address?”
“I confirmed it with the manager this morning. She’s expecting us.” Her cell phone rang, and she recognized the Maryland number of the detective who had investigated the Yablonski case. “Rizzoli,” she answered.
“It’s Detective Parris. Did you make it to Baltimore?” he asked.
“We’re here now. Can you still meet us tonight?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m on the road right now, but I should be back in town by dinnertime. How about we meet at the LongHorn Steakhouse around seven thirty? It’s on Snowden River Parkway. By then, I’ll be ready for some red meat. I’d rather not meet at my residence.”
“I understand. I don’t like to mix business and family, either.”
“No, it’s more than that. It’s this case.”
“What about it?”
“We’ll talk about it later. Did you bring your partner?”
“Detective Frost is right here with me.”
“Good. It always helps to have someone watch your back.”
She hung up and looked at Frost. “That was a weird call.”
“What hasn’t been weird about this case?” He eyed the strip mall, with its unexciting array of shops, and sighed. “From NASA to this place.” He sighed. “Let’s do it.”
Leidecker Hospital Supplies was located at the far end of the mall, behind a storefront window displaying two wheelchairs and a quad cane. Stepping inside, Jane expected to find a showroom filled with medical equipment. Instead they found an office with five desks, beige carpet, and two potted palms. At one of the desks, a middle-aged woman with shellacked blond hair was talking on the phone. She spotted the visitors and said, “I’ll call you back later about that order, Mr. Wiggins.” Hanging up, she smiled at her visitors. “May I help you?”