As soon as she left the medical examiner’s office, Billie Brewster drove west along the Sunset Highway. Twenty minutes later the detective took one of the Hillsboro exits and found herself in open country where rolling green hills and a sweeping blue sky formed a backdrop for the three interconnected, black-glass-and-polished-granite buildings in the Geller Pharmaceuticals complex. The main attraction in Building A was an atrium with a three-story waterfall that started just under a tinted-glass roof and occupied one corner of the spacious lobby.
Billie learned the location of Kurt Schroeder’s office at reception and walked up a staircase near the atrium that led to the second floor. A glass-encased sky bridge connected the main building to Building B, which housed research and development. Moments after Billie flashed her badge at Schroeder’s secretary she found herself seated across from Geller’s chief medical adviser. “Dr. Schroeder, I’m Detective Brewster with Portland homicide.” “Homicide?” Schroeder said nervously. “Yesterday evening I was at a building that was destroyed in an arson fire. There were approximately twenty dead rhesus monkeys inside. They were set on fire in their cages.” “That’s terrible, but what does this have to do with me or Geller Pharmaceuticals?” “The records show that Geller owns the property where the building is located. We think it’s a primate lab.” Schroeder’s brow furrowed. “All of our research is conducted in this building. We do own property apart from this campus for expansion, but it’s undeveloped. If you found a lab, it wasn’t Geller’s.” “A body was discovered in the lab, Dr. Schroeder. The corpse was badly burned, but we can tell it’s a forty-five- to fifty-five-year old white male, and we think it might be Dr. Sergey Kaidanov.” “Kaidanov! My God! He disappeared more than a week ago. We’ve been looking for him. This is terrible.” “Was Dr.
Kaidanov involved in primate research?” “That’s where the problem comes in. The plaintiffs in a lawsuit we’re defending produced what purports to be a letter from Kaidanov in which he claims to be conducting a primate study for our company, but we have no record of his being assigned to conduct such a study.” “A lawyer from the Reed, Briggs firm told me about that. That’s where we got the idea that the victim might be Kaidanov.” Schroeder shivered. “God, I hope not.” “You can help with the identification by sending me Dr. Kaidanov’s personnel file. His dental records would be very useful.” “I’ll do what I can,” he answered, apparently shaken by what he had learned.
Brewster handed Schroeder a paper with the location of the destroyed building. “Can you check to see if your company has a lab on the property?” “Certainly. I should have an answer for you in a day or so.” Brewster stood. “Thank you for your cooperation, Dr. Schroeder.”
“Of course.” He paused. “I hope you’re wrong about Kaidanov.” “I hope so, too.” • • • There were several phone messages waiting for Billie when she got back to the Justice Center. Halfway down the pile was a message from missing persons. Even though she was pretty certain of the identity of the body at the lab, Brewster had phoned them from the medical examiner’s office and asked for a list of men who matched the description that Forester had given her. She dialed the extension for missing persons. “Hey, Billie,” Detective Aaron Davies said, “I got a live one for you. A guy named Gene Arnold. He’s a lawyer from Arizona.
His partner, Benjamin Kellogg, reported him missing right around the time you’re interested in. He disappeared while staying at the Benson Hotel. I’ll give you Kellogg’s number.” Billie dialed the Arizona number. The receptionist at the firm connected her with Benjamin Kellogg and she identified herself. “Have you found Gene?” Kellogg asked anxiously. “No, but I wanted to get some information from you so I can follow up on your report. Can you tell me why you think Mr.
Arnold is missing?” “I know he’s missing and I’m certain that something is wrong. We’re all very worried about him.” “Why is that?”
“He went to New York on business, Sunday, February twenty-seventh. He was supposed to come straight back. I had his flight number and everything, but he wasn’t on the plane. Then he called from Portland on Wednesday, March first. He asked for me, but I was in court, so he spoke with Maria Suarez, our secretary.” “You weren’t expecting him to go to Oregon?” “No. I’ve worked with Gene for six years, Maria even longer. We can’t remember him ever mentioning any contacts, business or social, in Oregon.” “Okay, what did he tell Ms. Suarez?” “He wanted me to know that he would be away for a few days on personal business.
Maria said he asked about his mail and messages, and then he gave her his room number at the Benson Hotel and said he’d keep in touch. The hotel called on Tuesday, March seventh and said that Gene had reserved the room through Monday but had not checked out. They wanted to know if he still wanted it. I had no idea. The security chief said that he was putting Gene’s belongings in storage. That’s when I got scared that something was wrong and I contacted your missing persons bureau.”
“And no one’s heard from him since?” “Not a word.” “Is Mr. Arnold married?” “He’s a widower. His wife died about a year before I started working here.” “Do you have a photograph of Mr. Arnold that you could send me?” “I can find one.” “Good. I also need the name and phone number of Mr. Arnold’s dentist.” Billie heard an intake of breath.
“You think he’s dead?” “I have no reason to believe that.” “You’re homicide, right?” Billie did not want to alarm Arnold’s partner, but it was obvious that he was already upset. “Yes.” “I’m not naive, Detective. I’ve handled some criminal cases. I know why a homicide detective needs dental records. You’ve got an unidentified body that might be Gene.” “I do have a body, but I’m pretty certain I know who it is.” “Then why call me?” “I’ve been known to make mistakes. But I don’t think I have in this case.” There was dead air for a moment.
Finally Kellogg spoke. “Gene’s dentist is Ralph Hughes. If you give me your address I’ll have him send you Gene’s dental records.”