CHAPTER 3
THE LABORATORIES were tucked away cozily half a mile from the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Montgomery County, inside the Beltway in Bethesda, Maryland. Caroline loved its location off Wisconsin Avenue; the drive from Georgetown took only fifteen minutes with heavy traffic going downtown in the opposite direction, and for once there were no construction detours.
Housed in a drab building, the rented one-story setup came with a parking lot. It was a modest location, fenced off by plain greenery. Caroline thought it lovely. There were a few birches in good health, her favorite tree. The rent included the services of a part-time gardener who tended the bushes and roses that bordered the outdoor terrace. It had a canopy and was a popular meeting place during coffee
