Page 170 of The Bone Code

“Why did you call my investigation a cock-up?” Vislosky finally asked.

“Clusterfuck wasn’t strong enough.”

Again, I was treated to dead air.

Quick shower, then I thumbed off my ringer and crawled into bed. Birdie was already there.

“Up for some late-breaking news?” Knowing I was still too agitated to sleep.

The cat was good with it.

I turned on CNN. Don Lemon was discussing yet another congressman indicted for yet another form of misconduct. Bored, I grabbed my phone and started scrolling through Twitter. Learned it was National Princess Day.

I was wondering the whereabouts of my tiara—yeah, I have one—when Lemon’s next story snapped my eyes back to the screen.

South Carolina’s capno crisis was making the national news. Symptoms. Cause. Morbidity and mortality rates. Strained resources. CDC. Herrin was interviewed standing beside one of her portable morgue units. It sounded like COVID all over again.

“Why do you suppose this is just now entering their radar?” I asked the cat. “The outbreak seemed too limited in scope?” I recalled the piece I’d heard on the local NPR station more than a month earlier. “Or has there been national coverage that we missed?”

I was waiting for Birdie’s answer when the device buzzed in my hand. I answered. Why not? I’d only handled a bazillion calls that day.

“I may have a clusterfuck breaker.”

I offered no comment on Vislosky’s sarcasm.

“Huger and his lawyers spent the early months of 2018 finalizing terms for the sale of GeneFree to an outfit called Universal Genomics.”

“I’ve heard of them. They’re huge.”

“Would’ve been megabucks if the deal went through.”

“How mega?”

“Seven zeros mega. To the left of the decimal.”

“Would have?”

“Negotiations fell apart sometime in the fall of 2018 or early winter of 2019.”

“Why?”

“My source wasn’t privy to that detail.”

We both considered the implications.

“So the stakes were even higher than I thought.” Stream of consciousness, out loud. “Huger acquires RGAF, hoping to cash in with GeneFree’s sale to Universal Genomics. Lena and Harmony show up, threatening to put the deal in jeopardy. Huger sees the golden wad slipping through his fingers, panics, and kills them.”

Vislosky didn’t agree or disagree.

“What do you suppose they had on him?”

“I don’t know.” Stony. “But I’m going to net this fucker and drag his ass to the bag.”

“Monger said he was out of town.”

“She say when he’s due back?”

“No. I’ve asked Ryan to see if Huger entered Canada recently.”