Cut and Run by Donn Cortez

can lead to murder, too.”
    â€œTrue—but Perrone claimed Breakwash wasn’t the type. Said he had big dreams but little follow-through.”
    â€œA dreamer, not a schemer?”
    Horatio smiled. “Exactly. And after reviewing Mister Breakwash’s files, I have to agree with that sentiment. It’s possible he was using sensitive information to blackmail someone, but I don’t think so. Still, maybe someone else was—Breakwash was subcontracting to a man named Lee Kwok, who works out of a University of Miami building downtown. I’m on my way to see him now.”
    She stopped outside the door to the layout room. “Wish I was doing as well. So far, all the evidence I’ve gathered seems to indicate Breakwash was definitely alive and by himself in the balloon while it was aloft. I’m going to see if I can locate the gun.”
    â€œGood luck.”
    â€œThanks—I’ll need it.”
    Â 
    The Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine was the University of Miami’s medical campus, located in downtown Miami. The medical complex had received a massive donation in 2004 of a hundred million dollars, a bequest so enormous it had caused the school to rename itself in honor of its benefactor. Lee Kwok worked in a fifteen-story highrise called the Clinical Research Building, where—not surprisingly—he had access to an SEM, a scanning electron microscope.
    Horatio tracked him down just outside the main entrance, leaning against the glass wall and smoking a cigarette. Kwok was a young Korean in a white lab coat over a blue shirt, with a shaved head and a short, scraggly goatee that looked out of place on his round face.
    â€œMister Kwok?” Horatio said. “I’m Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Miami-Dade PD. Do you have a minute?”
    Kwok dropped his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it. “Sure, I guess so. What can I do for you?”
    â€œIt’s about a colleague of yours—Timothy Breakwash.”
    â€œYes, I heard about that. Tragic.”
    â€œI understand you and Timothy were working together on a project?”
    Kwok hesitated. “I was helping him out with some samples, yes. I wouldn’t say it was anything as formal as a project.”
    â€œNo, of course not. That would require more documentation than you could obtain, wouldn’t it…”
    Kwok frowned. “I don’t know what you mean by that.”
    â€œWhat I mean, Mister Kwok, is that you were using the university’s SEM to look for evidence of the Pfiesteria organism in samples provided by Timothy Breakwash—and you were doing so without the university’s knowledge or consent.”
    â€œHow did you—oh. You talked to my department head.”
    â€œJust a few preliminary questions. He doesn’t know what you’ve been doing—yet.”
    â€œLook, it was harmless—just a favor for an old friend. I slipped them in as part of a research project I’m involved with.”
    Horatio studied him carefully. “And what did you find, Mister Kwok?”
    â€œThe samples he gave me weren’t contaminated—not the ones from the fish farm, anyway.”
    â€œThere were others?”
    â€œHe supplied me with some Pfiesteria cultures for comparison and practice. You have to strip off the outer coating to tell whether you have a genuine example of the organism or just a look-alike.”
    â€œTell me, Mister Kwok—did any of the samples he gave you come from the Everglades?”
    Kwok shook his head. “No. Pfiesteria usually shows up in river estuaries, not swamplands—it likes the combination of shallow water and high fish population you find there. I’ve never heard of it turning up in the ’Glades.”
    Horatio nodded. “You mentioned the fish farm. Timothy told you where the samples came from?”
    â€œSure, he explained the whole thing to me. He’s a good guy; I thought