Pulse Read Online Free PDF Page A

never argue with your gut. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. How far you want me to go?”
    “Just the name of the donor and the address of the family member who gave permission. I’ll take it from there.” He moved back to his desk. “You’ll want to start in Florida. Here’s how it works. When a donor becomes available, the computer searches statewide for a match. If none is found, they check the entire region. That includes Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. If no suitable recipient is found, they go nationwide. He could be from anywhere. That’s a lot of turf to cover.”
    Lucca’s dark eyes took on an amused glint. “I wouldn’t lose any more sleep over it, boss.”
    The detective got slowly to his feet. They shook hands and he headed for the door.
    “How long you think it will take?” Frank called after him.
    “How’s tomorrow sound?” Lucca said over his shoulder. He turned and faced Frank. “Tell you the truth, you could be the poster boy for heart transplants. I never would have guessed.” He paused for a moment, then nodded at the black leather bag on Frank’s desk. “Your medication, right?”
    Frank nodded.
    “You shouldn’t leave that thing lying around.”
    “Who would want it?” He felt puzzled. “Nobody could use it to get high.”
    Lucca’s weary look said he should know better.
    “That stuff’s expensive, right?”
    “More valuable to me than money, but you’re right, there’s one pill alone that’s a hundred and fifty dollars every time it’s filled.”
    “Exactly. That’s why it’s easy for a thief to sell it back to the pharmacist.”
    Frank winced. The thought had not even occurred to him.
    Once the detective left, Frank found himself unable to focus on the prospectus he was reading. His mind raced. Lucca would most likely tap into death records, cross-check with the Division of Motor Vehicles. Their licenses designate whether Florida drivers agree to be organ donors. He would list the names of those who died during that time period, then rule out the diseased, drugged or otherwise ineligible, come up with a short list, then narrow it down to the right one by process of elimination. The magic of computer technology. Dead or alive, he thought, nobody has privacy now.
    Frank locked the office and strolled Lincoln Road Mall. Renovations, rebuilding and remodeling were under way everywhere. While he was growing up, the once swanky shopping mile was fading into shabby disrepair. Saks Fifth Avenue and Lillie Rubin moved out, replaced by the sleazy shops of gypsies and grifters who preyed on unsuspecting tourists and lonely senior citizens. Once the South Beach renaissance began to flower, artists and performers discovered the neighborhood and its low rents, transforming the pedestrian mall into a Bohemian venue much like the Greenwich Village of the 1950's. Now in full bloom, the area had become the American Riviera, wildly popular with the rich and famous. Property values and rents soared, the artists were being forced out and a glamorous new rebirth had begun.
    Frank ordered an iced cappuccino at an outdoor café. Oddly enough, though he had never smoked, he wanted a cigarette. Really wanted one. It would be insane to start now, he decided. A notion intrigued him. What if he had inherited the tastes, the desires, maybe even the characteristics, of the stranger whose heart beat in his chest? During support sessions at the hospital, other recipients had discussed the possibility of spiritual links and emotional connections to the original owners of the organs that now kept them alive. Nonsense, of course. Like the counselor, he had scoffed at the idea. But what if his donor was a chain smoker? If so, Frank was grateful the habit hadn’t damaged the man’s heart. What if his transplanted heart had arrived with likes and dislikes, a personality and memory of its own? Perhaps his odd sleeping habits, his early rising, his troubled dreams, were not his at all, but