By David Horne
Continued from TRANSFORMATION
"Well, sleepy head, you're finally awake," the pretty nurse smiled as Cody opened his eyes. "For someone with a mild concussion, you sure need a lot of recuperation time."
"What day is it?" Cody's whole body felt stiff and sore.
"It's Wednesday morning about 8:30. They brought you in here early Saturday morning."
"And all I have is a mild concussion?" Cody wondered if it had all been a dream. "What about burns, or radiation."
"No, you got out with just a concussion."
"But the explosion, I was in it, wasn't I?"
"All I know is that the Chemical Engineering building burned to the ground four days ago. A professor was killed in the fire."
"What about radiation? There must have been radiation contamination."
"Not that I've heard. You're full of a lot of questions for someone who survived the whole mess. Now why don't you just relax and not get yourself all worked up." The nurse placed a cold cloth on Cody's forehead. "You seem to have a fever, but we can't seem to figure out why. Oh, and a pretty girl brought you that rose while you were sleeping."
Cody reached over and looked at the card attached to the crystal vase that held a single red rose. It read, "Get well soon. Love, Lisa."
"She brought it herself?"
"Yes." Cody smiled and touched the soft petals of the flower.
Cody dozed for most of the morning, interrupted by the doctor who was handling his case and the nurse's occasional visits to take his temperature and pulse. The doctor was very hesitant to answer Cody's questions. He talked briefly about something anomalous in his blood work that they thought was an infection.
Several hours later, Inspector Grainger from the Montreal Police knocked on the door. "Good afternoon, Mr. MacPherson. Are you feeling up to answering some questions?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Cody shifted a bit in bed and poured himself some water.
"I'm investigating the fire at the Chemical Engineering building and the death of Dr. Johansen. The first people to arrive on the scene saw you running from the building before you collapsed and I need to know why you were there."
"I worked for Dr. Johansen as a lab assistant." Cody decided to choose his words carefully until he knew how much the detective knew. "He'd called me on Friday evening about 10:30 and asked me to come to the lab."
"You were at home when he called?"
"Yeah, I was in my dorm room."
"Were you alone?"
"Um, no, my girlfriend Lisa was with me. We had a fight because I was going to go and help him." The inspector smiled and shook his head. "I know, I was a real jerk."
"Did you go to the lab then?"
"No, after Lisa left I fell asleep and Dr. Johansen called me again. I'm not sure what time that was. He wanted me to come quickly because something was wrong in the lab."
"And you went immediately."
"Yes." Cody didn't volunteer any information intentionally.
"Did you speak to Dr. Johansen at the lab?"
"No, when I arrived it was already on fire," Cody lied.
"Why did you go into the lab?" The detective was hastily writing notes in a small pad.
"I didn't see Dr. Johansen outside of the lab so I figured he was still inside. He was in a wheelchair. I went in to find him."
"We know that Dr. Johansen was working on something to do with theoretical radioactive fuels. What was Dr. Johansen working on that night?" Cody noted the detective's qualification of the doctor's work as 'theoretical' and remembered that the final approvals for the actual experiments had not been given by the Engineering Department. Dr. Johansen had funded some of the initial acquisitions himself when he grew impatient with bureaucracy.
"We had run some computer simulations earlier but I'd expected them to take all weekend to finish. I guess they finished sooner and Dr. Johansen was checking the results. That was why he wanted my help so late."
"Did you see anyone else in the lab on Friday night?"
"No, I didn't even see the Doc. The fire was too hard to maneuver through so I went out the emergency door."
"Several witnesses said they heard explosions before they saw you come out of the building. What would have caused an explosion?" Cody was concerned that the detective was not completely accepting the explanations he was offering.
"There were a lot of chemical compounds stored in the lab. Many of them could be quite explosive by themselves or if mixed. I dodged a couple pretty nasty explosions while I was trying to get out." As an afterthought, Cody added, "There's probably a list of the chemicals in Dr. Johansen's records."
"Unfortunately, the fire destroyed everything. You obviously haven't seen the newspaper pictures. The building and everything in it was lost. You may be our only tie to what happened that night."
"I didn't realize how much damage was done. It's been hard to get any information out of the people around here." Cody was more suspicious of the whole situation now. The men he had seen in the lab obviously knew what they were doing because they had successfully erased all evidence. He also realized that he knew too much and that someone out there might not be happy he was alive.
"I asked them to not tell you anything, so that your memory of that evening would be as clear as possible." The detective leafed through the notes he had taken.
"Am I a suspect in this?" Cody asked with genuine concern.
"No, the Fire Marshall has already ruled that the fire started in the boiler room with a leak in the main gas line. Dr. Johansen's lab was next to the boiler room and he may have been overcome by the gas before it ignited. That may have been the reason for his second call to you. The fire ignited when the boiler started up and it spread very quickly through the building."
"I can try to put together an inventory from memory of what was in Doc's lab if that will help." Cody was pleased that his story had fit neatly into their conclusions.
"That won't be necessary. I think you've given us what we need."
"I'm glad." The inspector turned to leave the room and Cody quickly asked, "Do you know if there will be a funeral for Dr. Johansen?"
"The family were eager to finalize the arrangements. I believe they had a memorial service yesterday, though the university has planned a memorial for later in the week. You rest and get better. If you remember anything else that might be significant, call me at the main precinct."
"I will." As the door closed behind the detective, Cody breathed a heavy sigh. The explanations that the fire marshall had arrived at only complicated his own questions about the situation. He knew that he shouldn't even be alive, and that Dr. Johansen's experimental radioactive fuels should have contaminated the site of the fire for the next two or three centuries. He wondered if the fever he had was somehow linked to the explosion in the radiation chamber. He didn't even want to contemplate how he managed to hit the roof while he was escaping.
As he reviewed the experience in his mind, he suddenly remembered Dr. Johansen lying on the ground. The reality that his friend and mentor was dead swept over him and he started to cry uncontrollably.