Back in his office, Jack turned his attention to another case. Anything to block out Serena. This was a case he had chosen to keep for himself. If anything could clear his mind it would be a case like this. It involved one of his favorite classes of criminals, stupid gangsters. This case had two of them, Joey Testavuota and Tony Sciocco, who were known as "Fish Lips" and "Big Carbuncle," though Jack couldn't remember which one was which. These two had been among the flotsam and jetsam left behind after the breakup of the Napoli family a few years back. They, along with some others, had been trying to take control of what was left of the family enterprises. In order to do this, they felt they needed to eliminate some competition. They were caught when one of their victims, whom they had killed, by cutting him up with saws, was disposed of in a duffel bag which was weighted and sunk in the Hudson River. Unfortunately the bag washed ashore prematurely, to the horror of hundreds of people at a "Take Back the Hudson" festival. It landed at the feet of the mayor's wife, who was leading the dedication ceremony.
But even a juicy case like this one couldn't take his mind off things. Jack shook his head to clear it, then realized he needed some documents out of Alberto Napoli's file in closed cases. He got up and left his office. His path took him past Serena's cubicle. He tried to avoid looking at her, but his eyes disobeyed him. Serena was at her computer again, very intent, rocking slightly from side to side in apparent excitement. Just as Jack passed the opening to her cubicle, Serena chortled softly then said, "Oh, boy, got the last one!" She giggled. Jack almost froze, but was able to will himself to keep going. Last one? he wondered to himself. Was she referring to stud number seven in the game, or was she thinking of him? His right temple began to throb.
Later, file in hand, he headed back toward his office. On the way, he quietly approached Arthur's office. Jack had something minor he needed to tell him. The secretary was away from her desk. Jack went in and looked through the open doorway. Arthur was at his desk, but he was looking out the window, day dreaming, a million miles away. He didn't see Jack. Jack looked at him a minute and wondered what Arthur day dreamed about. Mint juleps? Possum hunts? Dolly Parton? Jack decided it was not a good time, and walked out.
As he left, something about what he had just seen tickled at his brain. What was it? He had it. Arthur had been scratching his crotch as he day dreamed. Jack was sure of it. Could Arthur and Serena have shared one of her glow in the dark condoms? Come to think of it Jack had seen a lot of people scratching lately. He quickly shoved the images out of his mind. He didn't want to think about it too much. The throbbing in Jack's temple increased. He decided it was better not to think about it at all. He began to feel very queasy. He decided that it would be better to take the rest of the day off and go home. If he could rest quietly by himself, maybe he could make some sense out of everything. Or maybe there was no sense to be made. Either way he knew he had to leave. His left temple was throbbing too. It felt like small staccato snare drums were being played on either side of his forehead.