Upper Montclair, New Jersey, Monday…

"Is Professor Richter there? I need to ask him an important question."

The secretary looked uncomfortable. Kalidas at first thought it was only the good secretary protecting her boss. Yet when she spoke, the answer shocked her.

"Professor Richter was killed by thieves that broke into his house. Didn't you see it in the e-zines?"

No, she hadn't seen it. She didn't read e-zines. Maybe she should start. It was the second time that had come back to bite her.

"I'm so sorry. How did it happen?"

"I'm really afraid to talk. It was so violent." The secretary was clearly in distress. "From what the police said, the professor was shot and a young student's throat was slit."

"Holy shit!" exclaimed Kalidas. "Have they caught the thieves? What did they steal?"

"As far as I know, the police have no clues. It seems they took several valuable coin collections the professor had. He was quite the collector, you know."

"Well, that should be easy to trace. Maybe they will catch them soon. My condolences."

"Thank you. Can I be of any further help?"

"If it's not too much trouble, yes." She thought about how to phrase the question, given the circumstances but then decided to just go boldly forward, ignoring the secretary's sensibilities. "Do you happen to know if any of his projects had to do with cloning?"