Coming of Age by Timothy Zahn

understand there have been Saturdays when you could find his lab locked up,” Ramsden shrugged. “There haven’t been many of them, though.”
    â€œI’ll bet,” Tirrell murmured. “Perhaps we could take a look at his lab later, after I’ve seen the other four men. And I’d appreciate it, by the way, if you’d keep the specific case we’re working on to yourself for the time being. There’s no need for anyone else to know, and publicity can sometimes be harmful to this kind of investigation.”
    Ramsden nodded. “I understand.”
    The four meetings went quickly; as Tirrell had expected, none of the men bore any real resemblance to Oliver’s sketched face. All denied knowledge of anyone named Miribel Oriana, and only one thought he recognized her picture. Tirrell made a note for the Barona police to check their alibis for the day of the kidnapping, but that was pure by-the-book reflex, and he didn’t expect anything to come of it. Ramsden seemed a bit embarrassed—Tirrell sensed he’d had visions of minor fame as the man who’d provided the case’s first solid clue—but the detective assured him that chasing dead-end leads was all part of the job. Looking only marginally consoled, Ramsden led them upstairs to Matthew Jarvis’s lab.
    Tirrell had reasonably expected “lab” to be a singular noun, but in this case it turned out to be decidedly plural. Jarvis presided over a fourth-floor complex that included two labs, an office, a preparation room, and a small menagerie of caged animals. “Very impressive,” Tirrell said after one of Jarvis’s assistants gave them a brief look at the facilities. “I begin to understand how Dr. Jarvis can handle five different projects at once.”
    The woman, Cam Mbar, smiled. “Actually, he was handling five projects at once long before the department gave him this much room. He just gets all of them finished faster this way.”
    â€œWhat are all these animals for?” Tonio asked, drifting sideways through the air as he scanned the rows of cages with obvious fascination.
    â€œThey’re used in various experiments,” Ramsden told him. “If we’re working with a new drug, say, we have to test it on animals to make sure it’ll be safe for people to use.”
    â€œWhat happens if it’s not?”
    â€œWell, we do more testing and research to try and—”
    â€œI mean what happens to the animal,” Tonio interrupted, still gazing into the cages.
    Ramsden exchanged a quick glance with Cam. “Well … usually the animal dies, I’m afraid.”
    Slowly, the preteen settled back to the floor and stepped back to Tirrell’s side, his face set into an expression that was simultaneously hard and blank. Forcing his eyes back to Cam, Tirrell broke the awkward silence. “I wonder if we could go to the doctor’s office now and ask you a few questions, Ms. Mbar.”
    â€œCertainly,” she nodded with evident relief. Tirrell glanced once at Tonio’s face as they all filed out of the animal room, but the other’s expression hadn’t changed. The righthand’s reaction worried Tirrell a bit, and he made a mental note to ask about it later.
    The office was considerably smaller than Ramsden’s had been, but once Cam had sat down at the cluttered desk and Tonio had drifted up over everyone’s head, there was enough room for everyone to breathe simultaneously. “Have you ever seen this woman before?” Tirrell asked Cam, handing her the picture of Miribel Oriana.
    Cam gazed at it, shook her head. “No. Sorry.”
    â€œOkay. Do you happen to have a picture of Dr. Jarvis available?”
    She blinked at the request. “Uh … I think there’s one on the jacket of his latest book.” She scanned the bookshelves. “That’s one—end of the shelf, gray cover.” She