She had a good idea about what he was going to say if she admitted to her worries about competency and wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it, as nothing he said would make her feel differently.
32
“Let’s continue this discussion,” Jack said, his voice quavering. “But can we do it in the warm bathroom? I’m freezing in here wearing nothing but my pride.”
“Good idea!” Laurie responded. “Let’s go! I’m cold even with my robe.” After pulling JJ’s blanket up around his shoulders and tucking it in gently, she hurried after Jack, who’d made a beeline into the bathroom. When she got there he already had the hot-water tap going full blast, filling the room with warm, billowing steam.
“So what else has you nervous?” Jack asked, raising his voice over the sound of the shower as he reached in to adjust the temperature before climbing in. “And don’t talk to me about worries concerning your competence, because I don’t want to hear it.” He’d heard her talk about her fears of competence back when she’d first started at OCME and was intuitive enough to guess it was bothering her again.
“Then I’m not going to say anything,” Laurie shouted back.
Jack stuck his face out from the stream of water, wiped his eyes, and cracked open the shower door: “So it is fear of your abilities! Well, I’m not going to try to change your mind, because I know nothing I’d say would have any effect whatsoever, so you go on and worry. But you know something, the fact that you do worry is probably what makes you such a good medical examiner. You’re a better forensic pathologist, in my mind, than anyone else in the whole place, because you’re always willing to question and learn.”
“I’m flattered to hear you say that, even though I don’t believe it. I was okay before this maternity leave, but it’s been almost two years since I’ve done an autopsy or looked at a microscopic slide.”
“That might be, but over the last month you’ve been burning the midnight oil reading several standard forensic-path books. You’re probably up to speed more than any of the rest of us who haven’t looked at a textbook for years. You could probably even pass your board exams again today, which none of the rest of us could do.”
“Thank you for your support,” Laurie said. “But reading and actually doing are two vastly different things. I’m truly worried I’m going to mess up big-time in some form or fashion, maybe even on my first case.”
“Could never happen!” Jack stated with surety. “Not to you with your experience.
But look, let’s make a point of doing our cases on adjoining tables and sorta maintain an ongoing conversation about what we are doing. Then, after the autopsies, we go over them together just to make sure we’ve both hit all the 33
appropriate buttons. What do you think of that idea?”
“I like it,” Laurie admitted. “I like it a lot.” The idea didn’t absolve her of all her anxieties, but it did lessen them. Most important, by relieving some of her nervousness, she knew she’d be able to turn her attention to what she had to do to get ready to leave for OCME. Leticia was due to arrive in less than an hour, and Laurie had a lot to do before she got there.
2
MARCH 25, 2010
THURSDAY, 6:57 p.m.
KOBE, JAPAN
H isayuki Ishii’s driver, Akira, pulled into the roundabout facing the Hotel Okura Kobe and halted in front of the main entrance. Stopped ahead of them was the first car of the three-car motorcade that had driven the oyabun of the Aizukotetsu-kai Yakuza organization and his saiko komon, Tadamasa Tsuji, the forty-six miles from Kyoto to Kobe. The bodyguards climbed out of the first vehicle, all with their hands stuck inside their jackets, clutching the butts of concealed handguns so that they could be drawn out in an emergency. No one was comfortable visiting Kobe, the traditional home of the rival Yamaguchi-gumi Yakuza family, especially for an
32
“Let’s continue this discussion,” Jack said, his voice quavering. “But can we do it in the warm bathroom? I’m freezing in here wearing nothing but my pride.”
“Good idea!” Laurie responded. “Let’s go! I’m cold even with my robe.” After pulling JJ’s blanket up around his shoulders and tucking it in gently, she hurried after Jack, who’d made a beeline into the bathroom. When she got there he already had the hot-water tap going full blast, filling the room with warm, billowing steam.
“So what else has you nervous?” Jack asked, raising his voice over the sound of the shower as he reached in to adjust the temperature before climbing in. “And don’t talk to me about worries concerning your competence, because I don’t want to hear it.” He’d heard her talk about her fears of competence back when she’d first started at OCME and was intuitive enough to guess it was bothering her again.
“Then I’m not going to say anything,” Laurie shouted back.
Jack stuck his face out from the stream of water, wiped his eyes, and cracked open the shower door: “So it is fear of your abilities! Well, I’m not going to try to change your mind, because I know nothing I’d say would have any effect whatsoever, so you go on and worry. But you know something, the fact that you do worry is probably what makes you such a good medical examiner. You’re a better forensic pathologist, in my mind, than anyone else in the whole place, because you’re always willing to question and learn.”
“I’m flattered to hear you say that, even though I don’t believe it. I was okay before this maternity leave, but it’s been almost two years since I’ve done an autopsy or looked at a microscopic slide.”
“That might be, but over the last month you’ve been burning the midnight oil reading several standard forensic-path books. You’re probably up to speed more than any of the rest of us who haven’t looked at a textbook for years. You could probably even pass your board exams again today, which none of the rest of us could do.”
“Thank you for your support,” Laurie said. “But reading and actually doing are two vastly different things. I’m truly worried I’m going to mess up big-time in some form or fashion, maybe even on my first case.”
“Could never happen!” Jack stated with surety. “Not to you with your experience.
But look, let’s make a point of doing our cases on adjoining tables and sorta maintain an ongoing conversation about what we are doing. Then, after the autopsies, we go over them together just to make sure we’ve both hit all the 33
appropriate buttons. What do you think of that idea?”
“I like it,” Laurie admitted. “I like it a lot.” The idea didn’t absolve her of all her anxieties, but it did lessen them. Most important, by relieving some of her nervousness, she knew she’d be able to turn her attention to what she had to do to get ready to leave for OCME. Leticia was due to arrive in less than an hour, and Laurie had a lot to do before she got there.
2
MARCH 25, 2010
THURSDAY, 6:57 p.m.
KOBE, JAPAN
H isayuki Ishii’s driver, Akira, pulled into the roundabout facing the Hotel Okura Kobe and halted in front of the main entrance. Stopped ahead of them was the first car of the three-car motorcade that had driven the oyabun of the Aizukotetsu-kai Yakuza organization and his saiko komon, Tadamasa Tsuji, the forty-six miles from Kyoto to Kobe. The bodyguards climbed out of the first vehicle, all with their hands stuck inside their jackets, clutching the butts of concealed handguns so that they could be drawn out in an emergency. No one was comfortable visiting Kobe, the traditional home of the rival Yamaguchi-gumi Yakuza family, especially for an
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