Spring, 1995

Thirty-three thousand feet above North Carolina, shivering under an airline-issue blanket and praying for a smooth flight, Laurie Kilcannon was making a list. She liked lists. They reassured her that she had at least some control over the complicated logistics of events like the sales meeting she had planned. Besides, lists distracted her from thoughts of wind shear, failed landing gear, and cockpit voice recorders.

Six years of crisscrossing the country meant she had racked up enough miles to upgrade to first class on almost every flight. Having to fly in the first place was still the biggest sacrifice she made for her job.

Almost as if her nervousness had willed it, the pilot’s voice sounded over the public address system:

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve been advised by Air Traffic Control that we may encounter some mild to moderate turbulence for the next 25 minutes or so. We’re going to try to find some clearer air for you folks, but in the meantime we ask that you remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened. Thank you.”

Here it comes, Laurie thought. Still, he’d said “mild to moderate.” That’s not as bad as “moderate to severe.” That red-eye home from L.A. last October… but she didn’t want to think about that. List, work on the list, she scolded herself, picking up her pen, occasionally chewing on its cap. A little while later, her legal pad looked like this:

On-Site To Do:
1. Set up mtg. ofc.
2. Book staff dinner thru CSM.
3. Meet w/ ground operator to cross-check A/D manifest against xfer schedule.
4. Meet w/ staff for wkng. agda. review.
5. Distribute staff skeds & assignments.
6. Meet w/ F & B team & Catering Mgr., review BEOs, confirm final GTEs.
7. Have B/O staff set up Box Rm., inventory all pkgs. ag. shpg. list.
8. Stuff welcome packets.
9. Cross-check rmg. list w/ E/A list.
10. Attend precon.
11. Do walk-thru.


The jumble of acronyms and abbreviations made perfect sense to Laurie, but nonetheless she worried that she had forgotten something.

That’s all I need, she thought – a screw-up on a product launch as important as this one. She knew Zephyrex was already being hailed in the media as the next “blockbuster” drug, a breakthrough medication that relieved not only seasonal allergies but tough-to-treat food allergies as well, with virtually no side effects. The company needed this drug to be a success. After a string of lawsuits and regulatory problems on older products, and with a sparse pipeline of new drugs, Connor Pharmaceuticals was mentioned in the media almost daily as a prime takeover target for industry giants like Pfizer and Glaxo.

Laurie had weathered one merger already, when Connor bought the sputtering European pharma company Offenbach, and she had no desire to go through another – not on the buyee side, anyway. Mergers meant consolidation, and that could mean the end of Laurie’s job. Next to fiery wreckage, losing her job was Laurie’s worst fear.

Well, I’m not doing myself any good by obsessing over it, she thought. I’ll talk to Wendell when he gets in on Saturday. He’ll give me the scoop.

She relaxed as she thought of genial old-timer Wendell McCarthy, Senior Vice President of Sales for Connor Pharma, and a frequent beneficiary of Laurie’s “spare time.” She arranged limousine transportation, lavish suites and special amenities for the higher-ups, and had planned more than one executive vacation in addition to her official duties.

She’d even planned a few trips for Eugene Stockton, her company’s president. Although only a manager, Laurie not only knew him, she called him “Gene” at his invitation.

Laurie sat up suddenly and smacked her fist on the tray table. “That’s what I forgot,” she muttered furiously, reaching for her pen and pad to write:

12. Have Becky check VIP suites before arrival.

Laurie Kilcannon was a good meeting planner, one of the best around, if her staff and colleagues were to be believed. But she wasn’t clairvoyant. If she had been, she would have added one more item to her list:

13. Find murderer.