road.â
âWe donât want to attract too much attention. The press will probably beat us there as it is.â
âYou mean after what happened last night with Redfield sticking it to Jacoby? I was going to ask if you saw that.â
âOn the news this morning.â
âThink weâve got a leak in the department?â
âEither that or Clarence Redfield is clairvoyant.â
Baxter laughed. âNobody I hear talking about it gives the asshole that much credit. Hey, what were you saying about your name?â
âThat I prefer to be called Hannah.â
âSorry. I thought I heard your dad call you Hank that day he stopped by.â
âYeah, he did. But itâs a family nickname. Hannahâs for general consumption.â
âGot it,â Baxter said as they reached Lark Street. âAre you sure we donât want to use the siren? Weâre hitting traffic.â
âLetâs just beep the siren if we get stuck. We have officers at the scene.â McCabe reached for her ORB. âWhile youâre getting us there, I want to have a look at the terrain around the crime scene. The CO will decide how we deploy to search the area, but itâs always a good idea to be prepared for his questions. He tends to shoot them out and expect answers.â She pulled up the search engine. âAnd Iâd better see what I can find about Vivian Jessup while Iâm at it.â
âVivian Jessup? That actress with the red hair? British accent? I saw her on one of the talk shows. What does she have to do with this?â
âIt looks like she may be our victim.â
âVivian Jessup? Youâre kidding me, right?â
âCompletely serious.â
McCabe filled him in on what theyâd seen on the crime-scene cam and about Vivian Jessupâs use of Albany as a setting for her play.
âWhatâs this play about?â Baxter asked.
âI didnât catch it all. Something about John Wilkes Booth and an actress. Theyâthe actress and Boothâperformed here in Albany on the eve of the Civil War.â
âSo sheâs writing this play about the guy who assassinated Lincoln and she gets murdered.â
âIf it is her. As Pete said, she could have a clone. A look-alike.â
Baxter beeped the siren and went around a car waiting to turn. They beat the red light onto Delaware.
âWould you ever do that?â he asked.
âDo what?â McCabe said, looking up from her ORB.
âGet yourself cloned?â
McCabe was silent for a moment, scanning Vivian Jessupâs bio on her screen. âIâve never really thought about it. I suppose if I were dying or something.â
âYeah, itâd be really handy to have a spare organ or two then,â Baxter said.
âExcept the clone would be another real person and you might have to kill him or her to harvest the organs.â
âThought you said you hadnât thought about it.â
âI havenât. I happened to see a science show where they were debating the ethical issues about approving the process.â She glanced over at him. âWhyâd you ask about that anyway?â
âI know this guy who has cancer. My age, but heâs dead if they donât find him a lung. I went to visit him and he was joking about how convenient it would be if we all had a clone stashed in a room somewhere.â
âIâm sorry about your friend. Thatâs tough.â
âYeah. But heâs still hoping.â Baxter cleared his throat. âNot that Iâm wishing Vivian Jessup dead, you understand. But if she is, this could be really big. Can you imagine the press weâll get on this?â
McCabe stared at him as what he had said began to sink in.
Even with Jacoby, the public information officer, who was in charge of all police department communications, if the case went cosmic and New York City and national media covered
Judith Miller, Tracie Peterson