Diane’s eyebrows rose a fraction. “A proposal?”
“Business,” Mike added.
“Okay, shoot.”
“It’s a job proposal, a rather unusual one. I’ve got it written out, but I don’t have it here. I’ll ask Neva to drop it by your office. However, I’ll tell you about it.”
Diane moved the chair closer to Mike’s bed and sat back down. “I’m listening. What is your unusual proposal?”
“Can I have a drink of water?”
A glass of ice water was sitting on the stand next to his bed. She helped him take a sip from the straw.
“Can I do anything else for you? Get you an extra pillow?” She felt helpless watching him lie there.
“I’m okay, really.”
But Diane had seen him push the button that gave him his intravenous painkiller. She sat back down and leaned forward.
“I’m listening,” she said.
“I’ve been asked by a biotechnology and pharmaceutical research company to search out and collect extremophiles.”
“Extremophiles?”
“Organisms that live in the most extreme environments on earth, conditions that would kill other creatures. Some grow in very cold or extremely hot temperatures, some in very high-or low-pH environments, and some live under high pressure or in high salt concentrations, and others have very limited nutrient needs.”
“And they want you to find these. . organisms? What does this company want with them?”
“Extremophiles have some very interesting characteristics. For example, you know that polymerase chain reaction test you guys do for the DNA in blood?”
“Uh-huh. It replicates small samples of DNA to increase the amount we have to work with. We don’t do it here. We send our samples to the GBI lab in Atlanta, but sure, I know what it is.”
“Did you know the Taq DNA polymerase used for the reaction originally came from Thermus aquaticus, a bacterium found in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park?”
Diane blinked. “Really? I had no idea,” she said, feeling oddly abashed. “Jin is more up on this than I am. He has a particular interest in DNA testing.”
“Does he know that for some other PCR applications, Taq DNA polymerase isn’t as useful because it lacks proofreading? It doesn’t have the ability to detect and remove replication errors.”
Diane shrugged and smiled at Mike, who was clearly having fun. “I’ll ask him.”
“The DNA polymerase from Thermococcus litoralis has an enzyme that has very promising proofreading capabilities. The point is that some of these extremophiles are like little engines that do really cool stuff.”
“It sounds to me a lot like nanotechnology.”
“Interesting you should say that. Some researchers are looking at extremophiles as a model for nanotechnology. Extremophile research has a lot of branches-medicine, environmental cleanup, food preservation and lots more. The characteristics that allow them to survive in extreme conditions are sometimes very useful for other kinds of work.”
“Fascinating, I agree. But your Ph.D. is in geology. What do they want with a geologist?”
He gave her a lopsided smile. “Some extremophiles live inside rocks.” He laughed. “I think I’m getting silly. This painkiller is feeling really good. Is my speech slurred?”
“Not much more than usual,” said Diane.
Mike clasped his chest with both hands. “Oh, now I’ve been stabbed through the heart. Seriously, sometimes locating extremophiles in their natural habitat is a geologic problem. That’s part of what geomicrobiology is about. But it’s mainly my skill set they are interested in-caving and rock climbing. Extremophiles live in remote, hard-to-get-to places-like ice caves and inside volcanoes. They need someone like me. I’ve climbed a five-fourteen rock face.”
The surprise must have shown on Diane’s face, the way Mike grinned broadly at her. She knew Mike was good, but they always had relatively easy climbs in the caves they visited. She could do a five-seven, a five-eight or — nine in a pinch. Only a handful of elite rock climbers could handle a rock face with a five-fourteen degree of difficulty-it required an enormous amount of skill and strength.
“Have I impressed you, Doc?”
“You’ve impressed the hell out of me, Mike.”
She didn’t think it possible, but his grin got even broader and a little more lopsided.
“I’ve sure been working hard at it.”
Diane suddenly felt a pang of sadness. Mike was an extremely talented and intelligent individual, and a genuinely nice guy. All that would be gone had he died. Twice now he’d almost been killed when they were together.
She fingered the locket that hung on a chain around her neck. It contained a photograph of her and her daughter. Diane wondered what Ariel would have become had her bright light not been extinguished so soon. Her eyes filled with tears.
“You okay, Doc?”
Diane blushed and hoped that Mike didn’t notice that as well as the tears. “Yes. . it’s. . I was just thinking about my daughter. Now you-twice-and Frank getting shot last year, too. It seems I’m not a lucky person to be around.”
“Doc, none of what happened to any of us was your fault. This time we were at a funeral, for heaven’s sake. Who knew?” He reached out his hand and Diane took it. “Thanks for riding with me in the ambulance. I have to tell you, I was scared.”
“Me too.”
She squeezed his hand, let it go, took a tissue from the box on his nightstand, and blotted the tears from her eyes.
“I’m sorry. Please tell me more about your proposal. Where does the museum come into it?”
“That’s the unusual part. The company wants me to work for them on a job-by-job basis-kind of open-ended contract work. This proposal is really an application for a job in the museum-an official job. Right now I work there because of my assistantship in the Geology Department at Bartram, and that won’t last forever.” He took a deep breath, and it looked to Diane like his eyes were drooping. “In the written proposal, I’ve got several ideas for exhibits for the museum.”
He stopped for a long moment and closed his eyes. Diane was about to leave when he spoke up suddenly.
“What I was thinking is that I could work part-time at the museum with enough hours to get insurance and benefits. I would continue to do the duties I do now. When I’m off working for Extreme Research, I can also collect rocks, minerals, fossils, whatever, for the museum, and make videos of some of our explorations. I think an exhibit on extremophiles, for instance, would be popular-I outlined a plan in the paper.”
“It’s an intriguing proposal.”
“Does it work for you?”
“I like it. I’ll need to think about it. When do you need to know something?”
“No deadline, but sooner rather than later, if possible.”
“I’ll give it serious thought, Mike. It’s a good idea,” she said. “But now I really should let you get some rest.”
Diane stood just as Neva came in the door bearing flowers and a bright smile. She set the flowers across from Mike’s bed and went to his bedside.
“You’re looking good. How do you feel?” She bent over to kiss him on his cheek, but he turned his head and kissed her on the lips.
“Thanks for the flowers. They are for me, aren’t they?”
“No. Your doctor’s really cute. They’re for him.” She kissed him again.
Diane was relieved to see Mike’s interest in Neva. His attraction to Diane had become more of a joke between them than anything serious, but seeing that he genuinely liked Neva put her at ease.
“How’s your arm?” Neva asked Diane.
“Sore, but that’s all. I’ll see you guys later. I’m going to the museum.”
As Diane was leaving, three young women came into the room and gathered around Mike. They looked like graduate students, she thought. She noticed that Neva started to back away, but Mike held on to her hand.
Diane met Korey coming into the museum along with a throng of visiting children and two tour buses. It was good to see the museum crowded and noisy.
“Begging you’re pardon, Dr. F.,” said Korey. “Why aren’t you at home taking it easy?”
“If I get to feeling bad, I’ll go home. There’s just so much to do in the museum and the crime lab.”
“That’s why you have all those people working for you.”
“I know, but I’ve been gone for a couple of weeks. . I get uneasy leaving things that long.”
Korey grinned and waved as they parted company at the stairwell and he went up to the conservation lab on the second floor. Diane continued on through the double doors to the private office of the museum. Several of her staff gathered around when they saw her, and expressed their concern about her and asked about Mike. Diane held out her arm to show them that it was still functional and that she would live, and she gave them a short briefing on Mike’s condition.
Her chair felt good when she finally sat down behind her desk. The first thing she did was call Kendel and Andie to her office.
“Andie, Neva is bringing by a proposal from Mike. Make a copy and give it to Kendel.” She turned toward Kendel. “I’d like your opinion on it as soon as you have a chance to evaluate it.”
Kendel nodded. “Sure. Mike always has good ideas.” After catching up with Kendel and Andie, she walked upstairs to the labs. Her arm was throbbing, but she didn’t want to take painkillers if she could get by without them.
In her osteology lab two boxes sat on a metal table. The tag on one told her it was from Lynn Webber, the Hall County medical examiner. That would be Caver Doe. Lynn had autopsied the mummified body and had her diener strip the bones of the dried flesh so that Diane could examine them. Lynn’s report said the probable cause of death was infection from a compound fracture of the tibia exacerbated by kidney damage consistent with a vertical-height fall. Lynn noted that at this point the manner of death looked like an accident, but she couldn’t be sure.
The second box was from England-the Moonhater Cave bones. On top of the box was a large envelope with photographs of the bones, the cave, and the so-called salt maiden. The salt maiden was obviously a carved stalagmite. She wondered if the part of the story about turning a woman to salt was added much later, when someone saw what looked a little like a face in the cave formation. It would be interesting to hear all the various stories about the cave and the bones.
She took the Moonhater photographs and the Caver Doe medical examiner’s report into her office and sat down behind her desk. This office, unlike her other one in the museum, was stark, almost bare of personal items. The pale off-white walls and green slate floor did little to warm up the room. She had hoped the burgundy sofa and chair and walnut desk furniture would add something to the atmosphere, but it was a room much like the watercolor of a wolf hunting in the wild she had hanging on one wall-lean and efficient-looking.
Diane picked up the phone and called the crime lab a few doors away and asked David and Jin to bring her up to speed on what they’d been doing while she was on vacation-and whether they had discovered anything at Mike’s crime scene. She didn’t look forward to that part. Her arm continued to throb.