39 NoraAfter leaving Quinn’s office Tuesday morning, Nora rushed out into the Center’s backyard and puffed her way through a fast nicotine fix.
The smoke took the edge off her panic.
Still, she vowed to huddle at her desk until she got somewhere, skipping lunch if she had to.
Making followup phone calls and combing through her files, she doggedly struggled to find data for her arsenic expert to analyze.
At eleven-forty-five she connected with her contact at the Sweet Home lab.
Heavy metals testing of the hospital samples was underway. But preliminary results wouldn’t be available before noon on Thursday.
Thursday was twenty-four hours later than she needed it. Preliminary meant the report would be data only.
It would not include an interpretation and would not yet be certified as ac
