Chapter 24: Making the First Step

Maureen came by for breakfast. Joey was skipping the first classes of the day to wait for her. She looked decidedly tired.

"The woman will live," she announced. "We'll charge her husband with manslaughter, but he'll be out on bail this afternoon. Miss Zimariano, I would advise you to keep a low profile. He is a very unstable person. He may come after you. I will ask the judge to deny bail but I don't have much hope."

Fabiana was worried as they could see. Perhaps it was not a good idea for Fabiana to be in Maureen's house. If that man came for Fabiana, Carla could be in danger, too.

"I'll ask Uncle Vince to take you in for a couple of days," he told Fabiana.

Fabiana smirked at first, but then she nodded. "At least, I'll be safe there," she conceded.

Maureen left with Carla then and Joey dialed his great uncle's number. Of course, Vincent Di Rosa would be happy to host the granddaughter of his old friend, Don Emilio Zimariano, and Joey had to promise to drive her out to the Di Rosa estate.

He had just ended the call when his phone beeped. To his surprise it was the female cop, Sgt. N'gomo, who called.

"Hi, Mr. Di Rosa, it's Sgt. N'gomo. Remember me?"

"Sure. What can I do for you?"

"It's about Maureen, I mean Mrs. Darling. Mr. Everheart threatened her personally yesterday. He said he'll find out who she is and where she lives and he'll bury her. He was raving, yes, but I think he may just be out of control enough to go after her. She's shrugging it off. They may release him on bail this morning."

"What is it with this guy?"

There was some hesitation and a deep sigh. "Okay, here's the beef: He was an analyst with an investment firm and it seems he made a few bad calls over the last year. They canned him a week ago. I guess the world is caving in on him and he's taking it out on the people around him."

Joey thought briefly. This was worrisome. Maureen should have learned the lesson about dealing with violent perpetrators.

"I'll talk to her. Thanks for the heads-up. I can take our daughter to stay with me for a while, and I'll talk to a cousin of mine. He runs a security firm. Maybe, she'll allow me to have some security installed in her house."

"That's a good idea. I'll talk to the folks in your precinct to increase the patrols in her street."

"Great, that may scare him away if he tries something. Thanks!"

"De nada! Maureen is a friend. I'll call you if I learn something new."

"You do that. Take care!"

After disconnecting the call Joey thought only briefly. Three people were under threat now, Fabiana, Maureen, and most importantly, Carla. He had to inform Uncle Vince.

Of course, the opportunity to talk to his uncle presented itself when he drove Fabiana out to the family estate. A maid showed Fabiana to her room while Joey told his uncle about the situation asking for his advice. The old man listened silently, only once uttering a condemning "Che infamia!" when Joey related the injuries Mrs. Everheart had sustained. When Joey ended, the old man sighed.

"Let me talk to some people. Maybe, we can talk some reason into that man."

Joey smirked. He had a vague idea of the methods of persuasion Uncle Vince's men might put to use. To his surprise and secret chagrin it did not bother him overly if only Carla and Maureen were safe. His uncle continued.

"You have to understand that this is a serious matter. I gave my word to look after my old friend Emilio Zimariano's granddaughter. It will be best to have this man put away. Once he is in prison things will work out by themselves given his bad temper."

"I'll talk to Maureen. I think it may be better to have Carla in my house for the time being."

"That's good thinking. Talk to Teresa. Tell her not to open the door to any stranger. Tell her not to leave doors open."

Joey smirked again. "I'll do that. Thank you for helping."

"Carla is of Di Rosa blood, Joseph," Vincent Di Rosa admonished Joey. "Never forget that. We take care of our own."

Leaving Fabiana with his uncle Joey drove home. He made a detour to Maureen's house and when he arrived he found Maureen at home. They quickly surveyed the house and made a list of weak points. There weren't many, Joey learned. When Di Rosa General Contractors had renovated the house they had ramped up the security. All ground level windows had reinforced frames and panes and would not budge to anything short of a battering ram. The doors, front and back, were solid mahogany, an inch thick, with steel reinforcements around the locks and hinges, and a seven point locking system. The lock system itself was Swiss made, as was his own, with special keys that could not be copied by a garden variety locksmith. This front was safe.

There remained the underground parking at the DA's office and the drive home as potential interception points. Joey discussed this with Maureen to make sure she was careful.

He played with Carla for an hour before he bade Maureen good-bye and drove home. He had lost a full day over this business and for the rest of the evening until Tess came home he tried to read up on what he had missed. His professors were cool enough about such things. Joey was one of their best students, and one of his teachers, Professor Harland, was his mentor in a project he was pursuing. Joey had promised to put in some work over the weekend.

When Tess arrived she gave him the usual kiss and ran upstairs to change. What a difference the last three years had made! Nobody would be able to tell that Tess had been all but palsied the way she moved these days. She was not exactly beautiful with the strong features she had developed as she grew up, but she was attractive as hell with a body to die for and enough energy to drive three normal girls. They had dinner together and talked about their day. Tess made a face when Joey told her that he had informed their uncle of the situation.

"Think he'll have him iced?" she asked rather casually.

"Nah," Joey replied. "I guess they'll have some of those scary looking guys clue him in on who he's messing with. He'll see the light."

"And what if he's stupid?" Tess asked.

Joey shrugged, a little surprised at his indifference. "I saw what he did to his wife, Tess. If he runs against a wall a few times or gets his kneecaps busted, I won't lose any sleep over it."

Joey did feel bad though when, a little after two o'clock, Maureen called.

"Everheart is dead," she said. "He jumped from his window a little after midnight. I'll get the report tomorrow but I suppose we can relax."

A suspicion formed in Joey's head. His uncle had obviously decided that Everheart posed a risk that weighed heavier than his usefulness for mankind. His eyes narrowed a bit but then who was he to judge, with two hits to his credit? Therefore he did not ask any questions.

"I know it may sound heartless but I feel relieved. I was worried about you. Your warrior princess, Sergeant N'gomo, called me yesterday and told me of his threats."

"And you were worried because he threatened me?"

"A little, yes."

"Don't be, Joey. I even have an off-duty police officer sleeping in my guest room. Numi pulled some strings. The woman is connected."

"Sgt. N'gomo?"

"Yes, Numi N'gomo. She's an old acquaintance of Karen and me."

"That's good, Maureen. Make sure to go out with her next weekend. She seems to like you."

Joey could hear Maureen blushing on the other end.

"Stop that nonsense!" she barked. "Now, go back to sleep. I'll call you again tomorrow. Ask that Fabiana for her plans. I can offer her a place as au-pair."

"Sounds like a plan. She seemed open to the idea yesterday. Maybe she likes you, too?"

"Joey, please stop this. I want Carla to grow up like a normal girl. I can't start anything with a woman. I don't want her to be hurt the way..." She stopped in mid-sentence.

"The way Deirdre was hurt?" Joey asked softly. "I don't think it was you living with a woman, Maureen. It was more that she felt she had to emulate your ways to be acceptable to you and Karen. This and Karen's way to interact with the males of our species."

"I keep thinking of her, Joey. I want her back so badly. It feels like a part of my soul is missing. Two parts, I miss Karen, too."

Joey felt a constriction in his throat. Thinking of Deirdre still had this effect on him, even after three years.

"Maybe you could invite her over Christmas? Be real nice to her. Tell her I'll be gone over Christmas, so it's just you and her."

"You are going away over the holidays?"

"I was thinking of it. Tess and I want to see something of the world. Maybe we'll go to Sicily to see our roots."

"I don't know, Joey. What if she turns me down?"

"Maureen, you'll never know if you don't ask," Joey answered, well aware that he was in a wrong position to make that remark.

Maureen saw it, too. "Balls! That one from you!"

"I know, I know, but it's different. You'll always be her mother; I'm just the ex-boyfriend."

Maureen sighed audibly. "Okay, I'll try. Have Fabiana call me tomorrow. Good Night!"

"Same. Try to sleep, Maureen."

After breakfast, Joey called Fabiana at his uncle's house and told her of Everheart's unlamented demise. She took it well.

"That mean I can go back to the City?"

"Yes, and Maureen would offer you a new au-pair position in her house. You could help her. It's not too much work."

"She seems nice, your Maureen," Fabiana said. "Pick me up this evening. I told your uncle I'll spend some time with him."

"Will do. Tell him thank you for his trouble for me. I'll pick you up at six and bring you over to Maureen's place."

An hour later saw Joey in Professor Harland's laboratory. Harland was a microbiologist, and Joey, the would-be savior of the developing world, was in his third year doing volunteer work in Harland's lab. His study object, a unicellular organism from South America, was a unique model system for genetic studies but is was notoriously finicky to manipulate in the laboratory. It was also the causative agent of a potentially lethal infection with serious late effects such as cardiovascular damage. Together with Harland, Joey was working to test new ways to cultivate and manipulate this organism.

Work in the Level 3 Biohazard Unit was routine to Joey after two years. In the air lock leading into the safety lab he changed into blue scrubs, a blue lab coat, special gloves, head cover, and a face mask. Inside the low air pressure room Joey opened the incubator and took out a set of tissue culture flasks. Using a high powered inverted microscope he examined the contents of the flasks, going slowly through the focus planes. slowly through the focus planes.

There! He saw movement. Carefully focussing the lenses he followed the tiny organism as it undulated in the liquid growth medium. There! Another one! Both looked intact, motile and viable. He searched more. In the course of the next ten minutes, Joey could detect at least twenty of the minuscule cells. It was undeniable. The organisms were growing under the pressure of the antibiotic selection, meaning that the foreign DNA Joey had introduced worked as expected. Quickly, Joey put the flask with the control culture over the lens.

For over a half hour, Joey tried to find living cells in the control flask, to no avail. A feeling of achievement washed over him. The last changes to the electroshock treatment had made a difference. He had discovered a new way to manipulate gene expression in this organism making it more accessible to genetic studies.

In spite of his building excitement Joey secured the flasks in the incubator and treated all surfaces with disinfectant. In the air lock he discarded gloves, face mask, and hood. His coat and his scrubs went into the hamper and then he dressed in his normal lab clothes and left the air lock.

Once outside Joey found Harland's office. The older man looked up.

"Hey, Joey, you look upbeat."

"Andy, I see growth under selection. The negative control is still empty!"

Harland sat upright. "You sure?"

Joey made a face. "I counted twenty or so live cells in the transfected culture, but not one in the mock control, and I spent half an hour looking. Of course we'll have to wait for a few more days to be sure but I'll do another electroshock tomorrow. In ten days, we'll know."

"That's a good plan. I'll talk to the Dean, Joey. You'll miss a few courses in the next weeks, but this is more important than looking at fossils. I'll be fair to you. I will not add another person to this project. If this comes through, you'll be the First Author. I expect full commitment in exchange. Okay?"

Joey smiled. A first authorship? This would be a big story. This could earn him a place in a top rated PhD program.

"I'll talk to my sister and my daughter's mother. I'll come in on the weekends and put in a few night shifts if that's all right."

"You need to give me your schedule in advance so I can be here as backup. I can't let an undergraduate student work at BSL 3 without supervision. This story may be hot, Joey, but I don't want to lose my job over this. I'll talk to my wife and clear it with her but I need a schedule."

"I'll work on it," Joey promised. "The next four weeks I won't need night shifts. After Christmas I have X-ray diffraction with Professor Edwards all afternoon. That's when I'll have to work nights."

Harland nodded. "I'll tell the Dean anyway. If this works out, we may land a Science paper. That ought to be more important for this school than regular course attendance."

Two weeks after the Everheart incident Maureen received a letter from one of the oldest law firms in Philadelphia, Stansfield, Lipton and Croft, asking her for an interview. Maureen was nonplussed. She'd never had any dealings with the firm as they mostly represented large corporations. Nevertheless, she accepted an interview a week later.

The place was plush and classy, Maureen found. Real wood paneling adorned the walls of the reception area and the whole place screamed affluence and dignity. None of the name partners were still alive – the firm was established in 1849 – but she was received by the managing partner, Mr. Holloway, and the two other senior partners. Mr. Holloway was all cordiality.

"So nice of you to come, Ms. Darling. Please, these are Mr. Landon and Mr. Washington."

Maureen shook hands with a rotund, balding, sixty-ish man and with a tall, athletic Black man of fifty-odd years.

"Thank you for the invitation, gentlemen," she smiled back. "I must admit that I don't quite know to what I owe this invitation?"

"Quick and to the point, Ms. Darling. No sense wasting time, that's exactly what we try to emulate here," Holloway beamed. "Ms. Darling, your excellent record as Assistant District Attorney has not gone unnoticed. I'll admit that some of your cases were unorthodox in our view, but you showed a tenacity and persuasiveness in the courtroom and in chambers that we see as valuable asset. You were also vouched for by one of our oldest clients, a man whose insight we quite value. In short, Ms. Darling, we would like to offer you a partnership in our firm, succeeding our Mr. Elliston who is retiring. We do not attract many litigation cases, but many of our business clients value in-house referrals if they need trial representation. Such referrals were rather rewarding for our Mr. Elliston, I may add."