Petrified (22 page)

‘I
love
it,' she repeated; and then she turned to Nathan and said, ‘I love you, too, Professor. I love you with all of my heart. How could I lose both the project and you? I couldn't bear it.'

‘Listen,' said Nathan, ‘why don't you pull over here? You don't want to drive when you're upset.'

Kavita turned into West Johnson Street, a quiet suburban side street lined with trees, and parked halfway up the curb. ‘I'm sorry,' she said. ‘I'm so stupid.'

‘You're not stupid at all,' Nathan told her. ‘You're one of the brightest, cleverest research assistants I've ever had working for me. Every reading you give me, every analysis, they're always one hundred percent accurate.' He paused, and then he said, ‘I know that doesn't sound very romantic, but it means that I rely on you, Kavita. I couldn't have created Torchy without you.'

Kavita pulled a crumpled Kleenex out of her sleeve. ‘Look at my mascara. It's a mess now. God, I'm stupid.'

Nathan waited while she dabbed her eyes and blew her nose. Then he said, ‘You still haven't told me what made Ron Kasabian change his mind about my funding.'

Kavita took a deep breath. ‘Late yesterday evening, maybe ten p.m., when I was settling Torchy down for the night, Ron came into the laboratory. He told me how sorry he was that I was going to be leaving, and asked me if I would go out with him for one last drink. This time I said yes.'

‘Go on,' said Nathan.

Kavita wouldn't look at him, but stared straight ahead along West Johnson Street as if she thought she recognized somebody in the distance.

‘He took me to the Swann Lounge at the Four Seasons for cocktails. Well – he had a couple of Martinis but I only had one glass of white wine. We talked about the phoenix project and I told him how much it meant to me, and how upset I was that Schiller had cut off our funding.'

‘And what did Ron say?'

‘He said that I was a fantastic-looking girl and what a great future I had ahead of me. Maybe as a personal favor to me he could find a way to keep the phoenix project going, at least for a few months longer. Maybe he could divert some of the money that Schiller have been investing in that new denture cleanser.'

‘Jesus. What a Casanova.'

Kavita gave a bitter little smile, but still didn't look at him. ‘I have to say that he was completely honest about what he wanted in return. If he was going to do
me
a personal favor, then he expected me to do
him
a personal favor. Or
favors
, rather, for as long as our funding continues.'

Nathan said nothing, but waited for Kavita to finish.

‘He booked a room,' she said. ‘We went upstairs.' She hesitated, and turned her face away, and then she added, ‘He wasn't very good.'

Nathan whacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. ‘Christ almighty, Kavita! How could he have done that? How could
you
have done that?'

‘Because I thought it would save the phoenix project! Because I couldn't think of any other way! Because I love you!'

‘Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to cut off Ron Kasabian's pecker and feed it to Torchy for breakfast. What a bastard! Do you seriously think that I'm going to take any more of Schiller's money if you have to prostitute yourself for it?'

‘I'm sorry,' Kavita sobbed. ‘I'm so, so sorry. I thought it would make everything right. I told you I was stupid.'

Nathan took hold of her hand. ‘You're not stupid, Kavita. You're super-intelligent. But sometimes super-intelligent people can't imagine the depths of moral shittitude to which people like Ron Kasabian are capable of sinking. Listen, if we can prove beyond doubt that the phoenix project works – if this little girl's face regenerates itself – then we should be able to find funding from almost anyone. Maybe even the federal government.'

She looked at him with a tear-stained face, and her mascara had run so badly she looked like Alice Cooper. ‘Do you hate me? Do you think I'm worthless?'

He took her crumpled tissue and wiped her eyes. ‘You made a mistake, that's all. You should never sell yourself for any reason. Not your beliefs, not your principles, not your body.'

‘I'm sorry,' she repeated, dismally.

‘Don't be. Here – let me drive the rest of the way home. We can both freshen up and then we can go see Torchy. And Ron Kasabian, if he's there, and tell him what we think of him. When you said he wasn't very good . . .?'

‘I don't want to talk about it. I'm too ashamed of myself. But, yes. He had hardly started when he was finished.'

‘OK. I'm sorry. I won't bring it up, ever again. And if I have anything to do with it, neither will he.'

TWENTY-TWO

Friday, 11:37 a.m.

G
race was off-duty that morning, so while Nathan went upstairs to shower and change, she perked a pot of coffee and whipped up some of her famous egg and pepper omelets. Kavita sat on one of the kitchen stools and talked to her while she cooked. As he went upstairs, Nathan could hear her telling Grace how Torchy's plumage was beginning to shine, and how docile he had become since his fiery and bad-tempered debut.

Passing Denver's bedroom, Nathan was sure that he could hear a faint, persistent
tish-tish-tish
that sounded like music. He stopped and listened. Denver was supposed to be at school, so he must have left his iPod playing. But when Nathan opened the door, he found Denver sprawled on his bed with his earphones on, his eyes closed, punching the air in time to the AxCx song he was listening to, and mouthing the words in a high, catarrhal whine – what his friends would have called singing
a crapella
.

‘
Hear the pounding, army of the night
!
The call of metal summons us tonight
!
We rule the night
!'

Nathan walked up to the side of his bed and grabbed hold of his ankle. Denver shouted out, ‘
Aaahh
!
Fuck
!' and sat up so quickly that his earphones were pulled out of his ears. He blinked at Nathan as if he couldn't think who he was.

‘Why aren't you at school?' Nathan demanded.

‘Why aren't you in hospital?' Denver retorted.

Nathan held up his hand, right in front of Denver's nose, so that Denver went cross-eyed trying to focus on it. ‘I'm not in hospital because my hand is all healed already. What's your excuse?'

Denver clamped his hand to the left side of his head. ‘I have a really bad earache.'

‘You have a really bad earache and you're listening to that racket? Get real. You have a really bad earache because you wanted to cut your math class, and earache is one of the few ailments that nobody can tell for sure if you're faking it or not.'

‘Dad – I swear to you. I have an earache. It's like this unbearable throbbing, you know? I think I got an infection in my ear when I went swimming on Monday.'

‘And what does Mom say?'

‘Mom said it was OK to take a day off, seeing as how it's Friday anyhow.'

‘Mom is much too soft.'

‘Dad, really, I'm not faking it. I promise. I feel terrible.'

‘OK,' said Nathan, reluctantly. ‘But it's a pity you're feeling so bad, because Kavita's downstairs.'

Denver swung his feet off the bed. ‘Hey, I'm not feeling
that
bad that I can't be polite.'

Nathan smiled and shook his head. ‘Go on, then. Go talk to her. Ask her about the phoenix. I won't be long. I'm just going to take a shower.'

‘Dad,' said Denver, as Nathan turned to leave the room.

‘What is it?'

‘Do you think Kavita would go out with me? Like, on a date? I know I'm a couple of years younger than her, but you know, I think I'm quite mature for my age.'

‘One day, maybe. But not today. She's been through some personal stuff recently, and I don't think she's really in the mood for dating.'

‘Oh. OK. Is she OK?'

‘Oh, sure. But she's only just found out that the world can be a much crappier place than she imagined. Happens to us all, eventually. It's called “disillusionment”. Or “growing up”.'

They ate breakfast together in the kitchen, with the sun shining across the table and lighting up the jar of marmalade like an orange lamp.

Grace said, ‘I was so angry about Nathan burning himself. Spontaneity I don't mind at all. But spontaneous stupidity – that does make me mad. I get so many patients who do stupid things on the spur of the moment and end up hurting themselves really badly. My waiting room is almost like an open audition for
Jackass Four.
'

‘But Professor Underhill has proved something so amazing,' said Kavita. ‘If that little girl's face regenerates . . . it's like a miracle, almost.'

‘There's a kid at school,' Denver put in. ‘He has these twisty purple scars all over his legs because his brother pushed a lighted firework down his pants. He's real self-conscious when he has to wear shorts. But if you could fix somebody like him, that would be great.'

‘I think we can fix anybody,' said Nathan. ‘In a few years' time, the phoenix treatment is going to be the standard cure for burns, worldwide, and we're all going to be very, very famous and very, very rich.'

‘I thought you said you didn't get into this cryptozoology stuff for the money,' said Denver. ‘I thought you said you were doing it for the good of mankind.'

‘Do you want a new Mustang or not?' Nathan asked him.

When they had finished brunch, Kavita left to drive herself downtown, while Nathan stayed behind to go through his mail and talk to Grace.

‘I can't believe you let Denver play hooky,' he told her. ‘You know there's not a damn thing wrong with him. Earache, my ass.'

‘I know there's nothing wrong with him. But didn't you ever skip school for a day, when you were his age? I know you think it's important to be strict if you're a parent. But I think you need to be indulgent, now and again. It makes your kids realize that you're human, after all. And it also makes them feel ever so slightly guilty, and where there's guilt there's chores, like taking out the trash or raking the lawn.'

‘You're more devious than I thought, Doctor Underhill,' grinned Nathan, and gave her a kiss.

As he drove to the Schiller building, he listened to the local news. The lead item was the killing of Eduardo Sanchez Delgado in the parking lot of Temple University Hospital.

‘Police are still declining to commit themselves as to the exact cause of Mr Delgado's death. His fellow orderly was the only eyewitness, and according to police he is still in shock and unable to give a coherent description of what happened. However, several hospital patients and employees who saw Mr Delgado's body after the incident say that it appeared that he had been crushed, as if by a very heavy object.

‘Detective Jenna Pullet, who is leading the investigation, appealed for anybody who was in the vicinity of the incident to contact her.

‘“
Any detail, no matter how trivial or unimportant you may think it is, can assist us in determining how Mr Delgado met his death. If you saw anything out of the ordinary, or heard anything unusual, please contact me on two-one-five six-eight-six thirty-ninety. Your call will be kept strictly confidential
.”

‘Detective Pullet was asked by our correspondent if the death of Mr Delgado could be connected in any way with the stone statues that have apparently been falling from the sky on to various locations around Philly over the past week. As we reported earlier, a third statue, almost intact, appeared to have been dropped into the wetlands at Bartram's Gardens sometime during Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

‘“
Our forensic teams are still examining the statue that was recovered from Bartram's Gardens and reassembling the fragments of the statues from the Convent of Divine Love and Woodlands Cemetery. I'm afraid that it's far too early for us to make a positive identification of any of them
.”

‘“
And still no clue where they might have come from
?”

‘“
Not so far. But as soon as we find out for sure – don't worry, you'll be the first to know
.”'

Henry, the Super, gave Nathan a salute as he walked into the lobby of the Schiller building.

‘Top of the mornin', Professor! Real glad to see you got your hand fixed up so quick! That was some kind of amazin'.'

‘Hi there, Henry. How's it going?'

‘Just fine, so long as I stay well clear of that crazy pigeon of yours. I swear that bird would peck out my eyes and have them for breakfast, given half a chance.'

‘Really? Still? Kavita told me that Torchy had really chilled out.'

‘With
her
, maybe. But no way with nobody else. A couple of building contractors come in yesterday afternoon to give us an estimate for redecoratin' your laboratory, but that bird of yours made such an all-fired fuss, a-screamin' and a-flappin', they came hot-footin' out of there like their asses was alight. The sooner you can find a new roost for him, the happier I'm goin' to be.'

‘Well, between you and me, Henry, that shouldn't be too long now.'

‘Praise the Lord, Professor. But welcome back, all the same.'

Nathan crossed over to the elevator and went up to his laboratory. Most of the debris from the holocaust of Torchy's birthing had been cleared away now, including the twisted steel bars of his cage. Aarif was hunched over one of the benches, peering at stem cell samples with his microscope. He was wearing a red knitted hat and an ankle-length
djellaba
, in maroon wool. Kavita meanwhile was standing in front of Torchy's cage. The door was open and she was taking readings of Torchy's heart rate and respiration and other vital signs, and scraping up faeces for chemical analysis.