Gil cleared his throat, once more taking charge. 'Gardner, I think it would be a good idea if you called in the police. Perhaps we should all wait here for them.'
'I'll do that,' Gardner Phillips said, and the meeting broke up.
Small groups formed. Jerry Peterson turned to Enever, and began asking questions. Both men looked angry, although Jerry was under much better control. Gil walked over to Ravi, and began an earnest discussion. He beckoned to Daniel to join them. Of all of us in the room, Ravi had the most experience of biotechnology. I suspected it would be he, and not Art, who would be picking up the pieces of BioOne.
Art remained seated at the table, drinking and refilling a glass of sparkling mineral water. This would not be good for his attempt to stay on the wagon.
Diane walked up to Lisa and me. I could feel Lisa stiffen.
'It's a bad day for Revere,' she said.
I nodded.
'But if there is a problem with the drug, we can't pretend it will go away,' she continued. 'Gil was right. We have to get Ravi to confirm it.'
'Revere will lose millions. Hundreds of millions,' I said.
'It was only ever paper profits.'
We stood together in silence for a moment, contemplating the gloomy future of the firm.
Then she glanced at Lisa and me. I could feel the tension in Lisa next to me, and I didn't dare to check her expression.
'Good luck, both of you,' Diane said with a quick smile, and turned to find Gil and Ravi.
'Bitch,' muttered Lisa.
I didn't contradict her. But I wasn't so sure.
34
It was wonderful to wake up the next morning in our own bed, together. It took us a while to get up, but eventually I stumbled into the shower and Lisa went hunting for breakfast. Twenty minutes later, I heard the door slam. I stepped out of the shower, and grabbed a towel. I was hungry.
'What did you get, Lisa? Did they have any of those black ones hot?'
Lisa always got whatever was freshest from the bagel bakery, which made breakfasts a bit of a lottery. But as long as it wasn't rye with caraway seeds I was basically happy.
No answer.
'Lisa?'
I walked out of the bathroom through to the kitchen. Lisa had put the bag of bagels on the table. She was staring at the newspaper. Wordlessly, she handed it to me.
'Biotech Boss Found Dead,' shouted the headline. Underneath was a picture of a grimacing Enever.
I scanned the article. Dr Thomas Enever had been found hanged in his apartment in Newton. The police were tight-lipped, but it was clear what had happened.
'Suicide,' I said.
Lisa nodded.
'Is there anything linking him to your father?'
'Nothing there,' she said. 'But I'm sure there will be.'
Gil called me later that day, and asked me to come in to Revere the next morning. All was forgiven, and there was work to be done.
Ravi's analysis confirmed Lisa's opinion. There was a significant chance neuroxil-5 might be dangerous. Indeed, there were signs that as the length of time a patient took the drug increased, so did the chances that he or she would suffer from a stroke. Taken over a period of years, the drug might kill most of the people who took it. Jerry Peterson was left with no choice. The trials were stopped immediately, the Phase Three data was unblinded for further analysis, and the FDA was informed, as were all the clinics participating in the trial. All this was outlined in a press announcement.
The market response was predictable. The stock dived from fifty-five dollars to one and three-eighths, slashing the value of the company from nearly two billion dollars to around fifty million. The value of Revere's stake was reduced from three hundred and forty million to eight and a half. Nobody had escaped unscathed, except possibly for Daniel. He acted as though he too had taken a bath, but without conviction. I was sure the bastard had sold at the top.
Of course BioOne's pessimistic announcement about the side-effects was only one reason for the fall in the stock price. There was plenty in the story of Thomas Enever's death to scare investors. The press dug deep, and quickly found buried secrets. The faked neuroxil-3 experiment. The hijacking of the Australian research institute's ideas. And the murders of Frank Cook and John Chalfont.
The police did their best to sound vague, but the press had found their murderer. Thomas Enever had killed to defend the drug he had devoted his life to developing – the drug that he had stolen from his Australian alma mater. The world of biotechnology was portrayed as an evil one, full of secrets and homicidal egos. Biotech stocks everywhere fell.
The press interviewed Lisa and me, but on Gardner Phillips's advice we said little. Neither did we tell Mahoney and his colleagues anything about the gun Lisa had found. Phillips felt we should only do this if the Assistant DA gave us immunity from prosecution, and this she was still reluctant to do.
I wasn't surprised. I wasn't entirely convinced the case was closed, either.
I called Helen and told her we would be able to fund her appeal. She was overjoyed. Apparently, her extremely expensive barrister was confident of victory, once we got round to paying him.
But all this was too late for Aunt Zoë. She died on Tuesday, a week after her stroke. For the second time in a month Lisa and I attended a shiva at that small house in Brookline.
We were in a sombre mood as we returned to our apartment after the funeral. I poured us both a glass of wine, and we sat down together in the dimly lit living room. We shared each other's silence, wrapped up in thoughts of our own, but grateful to be together in our introspection.
Finally, Lisa spoke. 'You know, Simon. We still don't know how the gun came to be in the closet. Enever can't have put it there.'
The thought had occurred to me, too. 'Because there was no break-in, you mean?'
'That. And also he didn't know either of us, then. I mean why pick on you? Or me? He wouldn't have known our address.'
'He could have found it, with a bit of research.'
'Possibly. But he would have had to know a lot about you and me, and our relationship to Dad, to pick on us as likely suspects and our closet as the place to hide his gun.'
'You're right,' I said, thoughtfully.
We sat in silence for a minute or so. Footsteps approached along the quiet street outside, tapping louder and louder, and then receding into the evening. Through the undrawn curtains a small tree on the other side of the road glimmered in the gaslight. I felt a tremor run through Lisa, and she pressed herself against me.
'Simon?'
'Yes?'
'I'm scared.'
It was Thursday evening. I rubbed my eyes, saved my file, and turned off my machine. I'd done enough work for one day. I was just putting on my coat, when I realized I didn't have my house-keys with me. Henry Chan had offered Lisa her old job back, and it was her first day. I knew there was little chance that she would be home when I got back. I was supposed to be meeting Kieran and the boys at the Red Hat later on that evening, and I wanted to go home to get changed. I was considering my options, the best of which seemed to be to go to the Red Hat early, when I remembered the spare set of keys I had stuffed in the corner of my desk drawer for just such an eventuality.
As I dropped them in my trouser pocket, it dawned on me. That was how the gun had been planted! Someone had let themselves into our apartment with my house-keys borrowed from my desk.
But who?
Not Thomas Enever. Someone at Revere.
It was a big night at the Red Hat. Kieran was there, of course, and half a dozen others, all ex-business school. I had asked Daniel along, but as I had expected, he had declined. He never had been a great group socializer.
I was asked lots of questions, and aided by plenty of beer rapidly drunk, talked freely. Frank and John's murder, Enever's suicide and BioOne's collapse for once made for a better story than job offers and stock options.
I remained the centre of attention for an hour or so, and then Greg Vilgren spoke up.
He was an American who had been posted to London with a big investment bank, and was on a brief visit back to Boston.
'Hey. Did you guys hear about Sergei Delesov?'
Blank looks round the table.
'It was in the papers in London. He was murdered about a month ago.'
'Jesus. What happened?' Kieran asked.
'It was a contract killing,' Greg said. 'I didn't realize it, but apparently he was the youngest CEO of any bank in Russia.'
'Wow!' said Kieran. 'I always thought he was a bit of a shady character.'
Notes were compared on Sergei. Nobody knew him much. Then Kim spoke. She was a management consultant with one of the big Boston firms, and one of only two women at the table.
'Daniel Hall knew him, I think. He used to talk about his stock picks with him.'
'Really?' I said, leaning forward. I remembered that Kim had sat next to Daniel in class.
'Yeah. In fact, I think Daniel borrowed some money from Sergei, or from some people Sergei had introduced him to. To play the market.'
'Much money?'
'You know Daniel. It was more likely to be a hundred grand than ten.'
'Has he made his million, yet?' Greg asked me.
'He gets close, then he blows it all,' I said. 'But he's a bright guy.'
'Hey, did he ever hit on you, Kimmy?' someone demanded.
'Daniel! No way,' said Kim, and the conversation deteriorated to its usual late-evening level.
I watched Daniel in action. He was on the phone trying to say no to a hopeful entrepreneur.
The entrepreneur was persistent, and Daniel's patience wore out as it always did. 'I said no. No means no! N – O. No!' He slammed down the phone. 'These guys drive me crazy. What do they think we are, a fucking charity?'
'I can't think where they'd get that idea from,' I said. 'You don't exactly come across to me as the charitable type, Daniel.'
'Gee thanks.'
'Daniel?'
'Yeah.'
'Did you hear about Sergei?'
'Sergei?'
'Sergei Delesov. The bloke we were at Harvard with.'
'Oh, yeah. Sergei. What happened?'
'He was murdered. In Russia. Greg Vilgren told me last night.'
'Jesus! Not another one. It's a dangerous world out there. They're dropping like flies.' He didn't seem especially upset, but then you wouldn't expect that from Daniel.
'You knew him quite well, didn't you?'
'Nah. Crazy Rooskie. Eurotrash. Do you remember he wore those Gucci loafers all the time?'
'Didn't he lend you some money?'
Daniel looked up sharply. 'Who told you that?'
'Kim Smith.'
Daniel grunted. 'I was down a few grand on some Dell I'd bought on margin. He knew some people who could tide me over. The stock came back within a month.'
'Some people?'
'Yeah. A loan company.'
'Why didn't you just go to a bank?'
'Jeez, Simon. What is this? An IRS investigation?'
'It just seems strange to borrow a few thousand dollars from some friends of a Russian, rather than top up your loan from the bank.'
'I was up to my limit with the bank. And my parents decided I was a lousy credit risk long ago. It was no big deal. I paid them back.'
Daniel made a show of looking over the papers on his desk, and I left him to them.
'What are you up to this weekend, Simon?' he asked after a couple of minutes.
'Oh, Lisa and I are going to Marsh House to sort out Frank's stuff. There's quite a lot to do. What about you?'
'Don't know yet.' Just then his phone rang, and he snatched it up.
35
We drove up to Woodbridge first thing the next morning in my Morgan. I parked it beside the house, in the spot where Frank had always left his Mercedes, and we climbed out. The thin November sun burned through the last remnants of the morning fog to illuminate the browns and golds of the watery landscape. There was no wind, and the silence of the marsh lay like a heavy cloak all around us. The only movement was the occasional flapping of an egret hauling itself into the air. There weren't many left now; most of them had gone south for the winter.
It was cold inside. I wound the grandfather clock and lit the stove, and a steady warmth soon pushed its way out from the old contraption through the building. The house wasn't really built for winter habitation, but the beginning of November was unseasonably warm, and the place was quiet, and cosy, and peaceful.
I had tried to call Jeff Lieberman the previous day, whenever Daniel was out of the office, without success. He was in and out of meetings all day. I had the number of his Riverside Drive apartment, so I tried him again. This time I got through.
'Hi, Simon.' He sounded tired.
'I didn't wake you, did I?'
'Yeah, but don't worry, you just beat the alarm by a couple of minutes. I didn't get home from the office until four last night. And they want me in again at eleven. All so we can make a pitch on Monday that I know we won't win. But you've got to go through the motions.'
'Jeff. Do you remember when Daniel came to New York in October?'
'Yes.'
'You definitely saw him, did you?'
'What do you mean? Yes, I did.'
'And that was the tenth of October, right?' The day Frank was killed.
'I don't know the exact date. I can check with my diary?'
'Please.'
I waited a few seconds.
'Yes. Here it is. October tenth. Brunch. We were supposed to have dinner together, but he changed it.'
'He changed it?'
'Yeah. He called a day or so before, and said he'd met some "babe" who lived in New York who he wanted to see that night.'
'Daniel? A babe?'
'It sounded a little odd to me. I did try to pry, but he wasn't saying much. But, hey, everyone gets lucky sometime. He spent most of brunch pushing Net Cop.'
That much, at least, Daniel had told me. 'Did you see him that afternoon?'
'No. After brunch he headed off. I don't know where. Why all these questions?'
'Oh, nothing.'
'OK. I'll see you at the Net Cop board meeting next week.'
'See you then. Oh, and Jeff?'
'Yes?'
'Don't mention any of this to Daniel.'
There was a pause as Jeff tried to work out what I was fishing for. In the end he decided to trust me. 'OK,' he said and hung up.
'Well?' asked Lisa as I put down the phone. She was perched on Frank's desk beside me trying to follow my end of the conversation.
'Daniel switched dinner to brunch.'
We looked at each other.
Lisa exhaled. 'So, what do we do now?'
'Well, we don't have absolute proof. But the cops can check him out. They should find something to nail him, if they know what direction to look in.'
'Do we call Mahoney?'
I sighed. 'I'd rather not.'
'What about the Assistant DA? What was her name?'
'Pamela Leyser. Maybe. But I think we should talk to Gardner Phillips first.'
I dialled his home. His wife answered, and said he was out on the golf course. She gave me the number of his cell phone. I tried it. It was switched off. I called Mrs Phillips back, gave her Marsh House's telephone number, and asked her to make sure her husband called me as soon as he got in. It was urgent. She expected him back by eleven fifteen, although she said he might be home before then. I looked at the grandfather clock. Quarter to ten. An hour and a half.
The waiting was difficult.
'Shouldn't we call Mahoney?' Lisa said.
'I don't think so. I know Phillips. He'd definitely want me to speak to him first.'
'But we've proof it was Daniel!'
'I know. And I'm sure Phillips will want us to pass that on to the police. But I've screwed this up before, I don't want to do it again. Let's just wait till he calls back, shall we?'
'All right. But I'm not hanging around here,' sa
id Lisa. 'I'll go crazy. I'm going for a walk. Coming?'
'No, I'll stay here, just in case he does call back early.'
Lisa grabbed her coat and walked out the door. Through the sitting-room window, I could see her tramp along the edge of the marsh to the right of the house.
I went upstairs to make sure the storm windows were securely fastened, my ears listening out for the ring of Frank's ancient telephone.
Instead, I heard the front door bang.
'Lisa! Did you forget something?' I ran down the stairs. 'He still hasn't called . . . '
I stopped short. There, standing in the middle of the living room, his hands thrust deep into his city raincoat, was Daniel.
'Hello, Simon,' he said casually.
My initial reaction was to bolt back up the stairs, but I fought to compose myself. 'Hello, Daniel,' I said in feigned welcome, as coolly as I could manage. 'What brings you here?'
He wasn't obviously carrying a gun. But he wasn't taking his hands out of his pockets either. I wasn't sure what effect a gun would have if fired from within a coat pocket like that. But from a foot or two's range, I didn't want to risk it.
'Oh, I'm meeting some people for lunch at Woodman's in Essex, and I thought I'd drop by on the way,' he answered. An extremely unlikely story, I thought. 'Where's Lisa?'
'She had to go into the lab,' I replied. 'She'll be there all day.' If the worst came to the worst, I didn't want Daniel hanging around waiting for her to come back from her walk. 'Can I make you some coffee?'
'Sure.'
I moved past him to get to the kitchen. He backed off, keeping his distance. For some reason he didn't want to show his hand yet. Why could that be?
As I fiddled about with coffee and filters, I thought it over. Another murder now would blow the case wide open again, something Daniel would want to avoid. He was here to check up on how much I knew. If I played it right, he might leave again.
'It's still quite warm for November,' I said.
'Yeah,' said Daniel. 'And October was quite pleasant too.'
In different circumstances, I would have laughed at Daniel's weather small-talk. It wasn't his style at all.
We moved back into the living room, Daniel still keeping his hands in his pockets, and his body a few feet away from mine. We sat in chairs opposite each other. I had decided not to jump him, but hope that he would talk and then go.
Final Venture Page 33
