"Coming, Mom." No point putting it off. She'd have to face the music sooner or later and it might as well be sooner.
Today things didn't seem so bad. Yesterday was an embarrassing memory of self-indulgence. Tomorrow, well, she'd deal with tomorrow when it arrived.
She dropped into one of the kitchen chairs and scooped up the receiver. "Hi, Mom. Sorry about yesterday."
"Is this Victoria Nelson?"
Her ears grew hot. It was an elderly woman's voice, strained and tight and most definitely not her mother. Let's make a great impression on a potential client there, Vicki. "Uh, yes."
"This is Mrs. Shaw. Mrs. Elsa Shaw. I work with your mother. We met last September... ?"
"I remember." Vicki winced. Mom must really be pissed if she's getting coworkers to call. This is going to cost me at least a visit.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you."
"Bad news?" Oh, God, don't let her have caught the early train to Toronto. That's all I need right now.
"Your mother hasn't been feeling well lately, and, well, she came into work this morning, said how she'd been trying to get in touch with you, made the coffee like she always does, came out of Dr. Burke's office and... and, well, died."
The world stopped.
"Ms. Nelson?"
"What happened?" Vicki heard herself ask the question, marveled at how calm her voice sounded, wondered why she felt so numb.
"Dr. Burke, the head of the Life Sciences Department, well, you know who Dr. Burke is, of course, said it was her heart. A massive coronary, she said. One minute there, the next... " Mrs. Shaw blew her nose. "It happened about twenty minutes ago. If there's anything I can do... "
"No. Thank you. Thank you for calling."
If Mrs. Shaw had further sympathy or information to offer, Vicki didn't hear it. She set the receiver gently back in its cradle and stared down at the silent phone.
Her mother was dead.
Chapter Two
"Dr. Burke? It's about number seven... "
"And?" Receiver tucked under her chin, Dr. Aline Burke scrawled her signature across the bottom of a memo and tossed it into the out basket. Although Marjory Nelson had been dead for only a couple of hours, the paperwork had already begun to get out of hand. With any luck the university would get off its collective butt and get her a temporary secretary before academic trivia completely buried her.
"I think you'll want to see this for yourself."
"For heaven's sake, Catherine, I haven't got the time for you to be obscure." She rolled her eyes. Grad students. "Are we losing it?"
"Yes, Doctor."
"I'll be right over."
"Damn." The surgical glove hit the wastebasket with enough force to rock the container from side to side. "Tissue decomposition again. Just like the others." The second glove followed and Dr. Burke turned to glare at the body of an elderly man lying on the stainless steel table, thoracic cavity open, skull cap resting against one ear. "Didn't even last as long as number six."
"Well, he was old to start with, Doctor. And not in very good physical condition."
Dr. Burke snorted. "I should say not. I suppose I'm moderately surprised it lasted as long as it did." She sighed as the young woman standing by the head of the cadaver looked crushed. "That was not a criticism, Catherine. You did your usual excellent job and were certainly in no way responsible for the subject's deplorable habits when alive. That said, retrieve the rest of the mechanicals, salvage as much of the net as you can, be very sure all of the bacteria are dead, and begin the usual disposal procedures."
"The medical school... "
"Of course the medical school. We're hardly going to weight it with rocks and drop it into Lake Ontario, although I have to admit that has a certain simplicity that appeals and would involve a lot less additional work for me. Let me know when it's ready, I should be in my office for the next couple of hours." Hand on the door, she paused. "What's that banging noise?"
Catherine looked up, pale blue eyes wide, fingers continuing to delve into the old man's skull cavity. "Oh, it's number nine. I don't think he likes the box."