Page 149 of The Bone Code

The outfit’s full name was the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. A line halfway down the entry grabbed my attention. It cited the Center for Genome Research as the single largest contributor to the Human Genome Project.

I’m an eyeball person. Meaning my brain works best with visual input. Like the printed word.

The gray cells snapped a synapse.

HGP.

Human Genome Project.

Is that what Murray did at the Whitehead Institute? Did Melanie go there after dropping out at Tufts? Did she and Murray both work for the Human Genome Project? If so, was that fact significant?

Follow-up snap.

A couple of weeks back, I’d discussed the HGP with Ryan. Why? Right. Sullie Huger had worked there briefly. Probably no big deal. The project was massive, involving researchers from twenty institutions in six countries including France, Germany, Japan, China, the U.K., and the U.S.

MIT was in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Melanie was from Boston, and Tufts was in Medford, Massachusetts. Did Melanie stay close to home after leaving graduate school? If shehadworked at the Whitehead, it would have been between 1991 and 2000. Did she overlap with Murray?

My fingers flew over the keys.

Just as we were ordered to close our devices, I found the answer.

After dropping Birdie at the annex, I went straight to the MCME.

The chap in the suitcase had been dead a very long time. Hisskull suggested South Asian ancestry. Tiny drill holes in his bones suggested a lengthy postmortem career as a teaching specimen. His journey to the dumpster would be a job for the cops.

I composed a brief report and headed out. While driving back to the annex, I phoned Vislosky.

“Yo.” Her usual.

“Murray lied.”

She took a moment to gear in, then, “Chalmers’s boss at InovoVax.”

“He claimed to barely know Melanie. But they were coworkers for eight years.”

“Where?”

“A lab at MIT.”

“Doing what?”

“Researching the human genome.” I explained the HGP. The Whitehead Institute.

“How do you know they were there at the same time?”

“I found Murray’s curriculum vitae online.”

“His what?”

“Academic résumé.”

“Thank the galloping Lord for egghead egos.” A pause, then, “You’re positive my older container vic is this Chalamet kid.”

“Lena.”

“Where are you?”

“Charlotte.”