[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

thought Jarvis was involved, he probably was. Which led immediately to the
question, Why?
"Did Tirrell mention a motive Jarvis might have had?" he asked the righthand.
"Not to us, sir. I think he was mad at Hob for not letting him do the
radiophone trick."
"You have done well to tell me this," Omega said. It was time to bring the
confession to an end; he'd gotten about all he could out of Weylin for the
moment and the preteen had to get back to his hive before lights-out. "Strive
to bring peace between Hob and Tirrell, so that you can learn more about
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/...thy%20Zahn%20-%20A%20Coming%20of%
20Age.htm (56 of 190) [12/31/2004 12:01:28 AM]
A Coming of Age what Tirrell is doing. Remember that the man who has Colin,
whether scientist or not, is evil; and those of us who serve the Truth must
free the boy from his grasp."
A few minutes later he watched from the entrance to the tabernacle as Weylin
rose swiftly into the night sky and disappeared among the stars. For a moment
he lingered, his eyes picking out the constellations as he thought about this
new twist. Was there, then, no fagin involved at all? or was
Page 46
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Jarvis simply acting as agent for someone else? That was a particularly
intriguing thought, one that might make it worth reopening communications with
some of his old friends. If someone had found a way to bribe, threaten, or
blackmail leading citizens that effectively, the technique might be worth
learning.
No. Better to wait a while, at least until Weylin could pump Tirrell for a
little more information.
After all, he had a good thing going here already, and it would be foolish to
risk someone else's muscling in on him.
Smiling in the direction of the temple site, Omega glanced once more at the
stars and went back inside.
Chapter 11
"...the fourth... the fifth... and the seventh," Cam Mbar said, closing the
last of the eight lab books and settling back with a quiet sigh that somehow
expressed just how wasteful of time she considered this. "Dr. Jarvis left on
the seventh, so there are no more entries," she added.
Tirrell nodded as he finished making little triangles around the dates she'd
read off. "That's all the lab books you have?"
"Weren't they enough?" she asked dryly. "I could go get last year's, if you'd
like."
"That won't be necessary," Tirrell said, looking over his calendar with
growing interest. It had been a long-shot hunch all the way, but it had paid
off. "And you confirm he's been here every weekday since the beginning of the
year?"
"Every one of them and most of the days last year, too," she confirmed
tiredly. "If you're about to suggest he doesn't deserve such a long vacation "
"Nothing of the sort," Tirrell assured her. "You might be interested in taking
a look at this, though."
Turning the calendar around, he slid it across the desk toward her. "The
circles are entries he made in his hibernation studies book, the squares are
his pituitary studies, the x's his work on that hormone
I can't pronounce, the plus signs his Romo's syndrome cure, and the triangles
the work with pre-
teekay children."
Cam glanced at the paper, an annoyed frown spreading across her face. "You
must not have been
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/...thy%20Zahn%20-%20A%20Coming%20of%
20Age.htm (57 of 190) [12/31/2004 12:01:28 AM]
A Coming of Age paying very good attention to me, Detective," she said. "There
are at least half a dozen days in May alone that I remember that you don't
have marked."
Tirrell shook his head. "I marked every date you read off. But go ahead check
it yourself."
Cam gave him a strange look. Then, clamping her jaw, she picked up the first
lab book and leafed through it. Tirrell sat back, letting her take her time.
It took several minutes, and when she finally looked back up her irritation
had been replaced by puzzlement. "But I
remember him working here these days," she insisted.
"I'm sure you do," Tirrell nodded, "and I'm not doubting your word. It would
seem, though, that you're missing at least one of the doctor's lab books."
"But these are always kept in a locked drawer " She stopped suddenly. "You
think it was stolen?"
"Not really. I think Dr. Jarvis has it with him."
She opened her mouth, closed it again. "But he never takes his books out of
the lab," she objected weakly.
Tirrell didn't bother trying to argue the point; she was certainly intelligent
enough to see that he was making sense. "Do you have any idea what else he was
Page 47
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
working on, besides these?" he asked instead, waving at the stack of books.
"No... not really." She still looked troubled, as if she were betraying a
confidence. "A lot of time he worked alone, or gave me routine sorts of tests
to run. We'd all sit down together on Nultday morning and discuss the work he
wanted to get done for the week, and I never heard him mention any project but
these. Maybe he told one of the other assistants about it, though."
"I doubt it." Tirrell pondered a moment. Until Tonio got back from Ridge
Harbor, he still wouldn't have anything Paxton would be willing to move on.
But with a little ingenuity, perhaps he could circumvent the need to see
Jarvis's project proposals or any other official records. "I'd like you to dig
out all the supply and equipment requisition forms you can find for the past
nine or ten months.
Who's the best endocrinologist here after Dr. Jarvis?"
"Dr. Somerset," the woman said without hesitation.
"I'd like you to ask him to join us, too, if you would. We're going to try and
figure out what exactly this special project is."
Somerset, though not especially enthusiastic about their chances, was
nevertheless willing to help.
Jarvis, fortunately, was the methodical sort who had kept copies of all his
requisitions neatly filed in chronological order; but even so, it took Cam and
Somerset the rest of the day to sort through them all. Tirrell, sitting off to
one side, listened quietly and cultivated his patience.
Finally, at four-fifteen, Somerset put down his pencil and returned the last
piece of paper to the pile.
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/...thy%20Zahn%20-%20A%20Coming%20of%
20Age.htm (58 of 190) [12/31/2004 12:01:28 AM]
A Coming of Age
"I don't know, Detective," he said, pushing back his chair and stretching.
"It's pretty obvious now that Matt did have something going on the side there
are drugs here that I
know we haven't used on any of the other projects. But as to what that other
thing is, I really can't tell you."
"Make an educated guess," Tirrell said. "Surely you can do that."
"I'm sure I can. But I'm not sure I should." Somerset eyed the detective
thoughtfully. "After all, this is Matt's private work, and without an official
police request, my telling you anything at all puts me on rather thin legal
ice. You understand what I'm saying?"
"Perfectly," Tirrell nodded, forcing his voice to remain calm and reasonable.
"At the same time, I'm sure you understand that in a police investigation time
can be critically important. Of all of us here
I'm probably the one most familiar with the laws concerning privacy that's the
main reason I asked
Ms. Mbar to read me the dates in the lab books, instead of looking through
them myself. If you'd prefer to wait the couple of days it'll take to get
proper authorization, that is of course your right. But it would make things a
lot easier if you could give me at least some idea of what Dr. Jarvis was
doing."
He held his breath as Somerset and Cam exchanged glances, but they didn't call
his bluff, at least not directly. "Why don't we call Dr. Jarvis and ask him [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]