Lethal Discoveries

by Erica Pensini

  I turned towards Alice and looked at her. She was tense now, and yet her features still had the honest freshness that made her so good to talk to when the day was dull or the morale dim.

  “You know what’s good about this situation? We can count on each other”, I said smiling.

  “Sure, but it’s like blind leading blind”, she laughed, “none of us has a clue about what is happening. That’s why I am betting on this Dr. Mori you found. But if we cannot solve the arcane we will have to talk to the police…”, she said, and I nodded.

  Chapter 38

  When we reached my place Jack was sitting on the steps.

  “Is that your date”, Alice asked.

  “You like him?”, I asked, waving at Jack

  “Yes, but I consider my friend’s men off limit, so you don’t need to worry”, Alice teased me

  I shook my head laughing.

  “Thanks for the ride silly”, I said, getting out of the car.

  “Yup. See you tomorrow and try not to think about work tonight, ok?”

  “Yes mam” I said, giving her the military salute.

  When Alice drove away I ran towards Jack, with my arms open. He got up from the steps and stood there still, hands in his pockets, smiling his melancholic calm smile, his clear eyes squinting at the brightness of the sky.

  “I’m so glad you’re here”, I said, without letting go off him.

  “Hey, what’s happening?”

  “Nothing. It’s just that I am really glad to see you”

  Jack held me back, gripping my arms, and looked at me tilting his head.

  “So, can you tell me what is happening?”

  “More than I can handle”, I replied sighting.

  “Let’s go talk inside, ehm?”, Jack said, guiding me to my home by the hand.

  When Jack closed the door behind us the cool dimness of my place blinded me for a few moments, and I stood at the entrance, easing into the familiarity of the space. Jack slipped off his shoes, and took my hand again, taking me to the kitchen and pulling up a chair for me.

  “I’ll get you a lemonade”, he said, opening the fridge.

  “Dr. Mori replied to my emails. The guy who wrote about how the genetic patrimony of E. Coli could change in the presence of chemicals…”

  Jack laid the lemonade in front of me, and filled a glass for himself.

  “And what did he say?”

  “He found that bacteria commonly present in the human body can also change in the presence of chemicals. When that happens they can affect the functionality of processes occurring in the human body…”

  “So you think that somehow the polymer you brought at the cross cancer institute contaminated the environment, weird bacteria began to develop and people died?”

  “More or less yes…and Christine told me that at the NY cancer institute the same thing is happening. Isn’t this too odd to be a coincidence?”

  “But what does your polymer have to do with NY? Someone had to bring it there for it to contaminate places on the two opposite coasts”

  “Exactly. So what if someone actually brought the polymer on the other coast for reasons I don’t know? I told you the guy from the Cross Cancer told me not to bring more sample there…why?”

  “This is too far-fetched, and if you weren’t so scared and worried you wouldn’t come up with such ideas”

  I was silent for a moment.

  “Maybe you’re right. I want to call Christine though, I promised her”

  “Remember that journalists love scoops, so she will try to find one. Call her, but don’t rush to make conclusions”

  “I won’t…”

  I punched Christine’s number and sat there hearing the free tone on the line with one ear and Jack digging in the fridge and moving around pans with the other.

  “Come on girl, pick up the bloody phone”, I mumbled between my teeth, feeling anxiously impotent.

  I was about to hang up when Christine picked up the phone.

  “Finally!”, I exclaimed

  “Woah! I was about to miss you, I just walked in. You sound worried”, she said, her tone rushed and airy as usual

  “I sound worried because I am”, I said, with a note of bitterness I did not intend

  “Well, then hold on tight. I made my checks today and I found that the cross cancer institute and the NY cancer institute collaborate closely. There are pictures of an Indian guy and a red-haired disturbing geek shaking hands with a doctor from the NY institute, a big shot apparently”

  “Sandeep and Wilhelm…”, I whispered, the phone shaking in my hand

  “You know these people?”

  “I do…”, I said

  “Who are they?”

  “The people with whom I collaborated at the cross cancer institute to understand how my polymer could swell dairies”

  “Ah!”, Christine exclaimed, sounding as excited as I was faint.

  “When did the deaths start to happen at the NY cancer institute?”

  “The first patient died on July 16, and after that there were other 10 casualties in the next two following weeks, and another 21 deaths this month. And the dates when patients began dying at the Cross cancer institute are not too far from these. Too many coincidences for all this to be random, right?”

  My mouth was dry. July 16. I had met Sandeep at the Cross cancer institute around the beginning of June, and handed him a sample of pure polymer. After that Wilhelm got involved, and asked me for more polymer. “I would care to duplicate the analyses on it, to ensure that the results are reliable”, he had said. I remembered his words with the strange sharpness I often have in recalling details.

  “Are you still there?”, Christine asked

  “The dates match. Sandeep and Wilhelm could have very well passed my polymer some guy at the NY cancer institute”

  “Can you try to work the people at the cross cancer institute and try to get some hints as to what they are up to?”, Christine said

  “Ehm uhm. Nope, I cannot. Sandeep contacted my colleague and told him that we should keep away from him and Wilhelm, and avoid bringing more sample there. I want to go talk to the police”

  It was Christine’s turn to fall silent.

  “I must. If they are up to some dirty business with dead bodies involved you don’t want to be one of the suspects”

  “Christine, I will go tonight. Now”, I said, my heart pounding so hard I felt dizzy

  “Stay calm. You haven’t done anything wrong, so you will be fine as long as you tell the police all you know”

  “I’ll have to call the colleagues who are collaborating with me before going”

  “Sure. Let me know how things go”

  “Thanks Christine”, I said, and hang up.

  I walked to the kitchen and let myself fall on the chair. Jack saw my devastated expression and turned off the stove, wiping his wet hands on the jeans.

  “I’ll go to the police”, I said.

  “I know. Let’s go, you can call your colleagues on the way there”

  If only I hadn’t seen John Wheeler with another woman in his car while I was driving home I probably would have knocked on the Wheelers’ door that night. John was my neighbour and he was a detective, so it made sense to talk to him first to ask for advice. And yet I couldn’t get myself to talk to Mrs. Wheeler, and walk again in the odd atmosphere of their living room.

  “Sure, let’s go”, I said, and we drove off to the police station.

  Chapter 39

  “Have a seat, Detective Avery will be with you shortly”, the receptionist told us after I explained my case.

  There were rows of plastic chair along the walls, along each side of the room. “Homeland security” said a stemma hang on the wall opposite to the one where we were sitting. I sat with my legs slightly open, leaning my elbows on my knees, my head dropping. Then I looked up again. I read “Homeland security” over and again each time I raised my head, with the compulsive greediness with which I
intake every written word when I am stranded in a waiting room with nothing to do. There was a watch on the wall along which we sat, and I turned every now and then to check the time.

  “You’ll be fine”, Jack said patting my shoulder, “I’ll wait here when you go inside”.

  I nodded, wishing he could follow me in the detective’s office.

  Marian Avery walked in the room after a while. It seemed to me like I had been waiting for at least half an hour, but I caught a glimpse of the watch before following her along the corridor to her office and I saw we had been in the room for no more than 10 minutes. Jack smiled when he saw me turning back, with pleading eyes and pale, as he told me months later, recalling that night.

  “Have a seat”, Detective Avery told me when we got to her office. I landscaped the room, rolling around my eyes discretely, recording the shape and colour of the functional objects in the room: a phone, a window, a stapler, the neon lights. And a picture. I noticed the frame first, and then who was captured in the image. I gasped with surprise.

  “Is that your kid? I met her at the lake. She told me her name…”, I paused a moment, trying to remember it. “Mirth, that’s it. She was there alone, waiting for a dog. I dropped her home”

  Marian Avery looked at me hard and long, and I noticed her eyes had the same colour and shape as Mirth’s eyes, but they were harder, and defensive, and now they were studying me attentively.

  “She was alone, you say?”, she asked

  “Yes”, I replied, realizing a second after I answered that perhaps I had given away her daughter’s secret.

  Marian Avery sighted.

  “She’s a smart kid, but she shouldn’t be running around alone at night”, her voice softening

  I wondered how she knew we met during the evening, since I hadn’t said anything about the time. She kept her eyes down for a moment, lost in her own thoughts. Then she raised her eyes, unnerved for the briefest instant before recomposing herself.

  “So, Ms. Celati, what is bringing you here?”, she asked, hands joint, and her eyes locked again on mine as they had been when I told her about Mirth.

  “I am not sure about what is happening…”

  “Why don’t you start by telling me all the facts that made you suspect there is something wrong”, she said with a controlled tone

  I told her about the polymer, Sandeep’s strange behaviour, the journalist wanting to see someone to discuss the dead patients at the Cross cancer center, the deaths at the NY cancer center and the possible connection between the two.

  “I don’t have any sound proof that the polymer I synthesized has been misused, but there is something fishy in what is happening…”

  Detective Avery listened to me without interrupting, and was silent a moment longer after I finished. Her face remained plain, and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

  “Is the cross cancer center the only place where someone got a hold of your polymer?”, she asked at last

  “No, I also took it to the DNA research center to run some analyses”

  “Are you the only one who works with this polymer in your company?”

  “No, I am collaborating with some colleagues”

  “Can I have their names?”

  “Alice Spears and Brad Briggs are my closest collaborators. Mike Vanderbilt also collaborated with us on this project, although he is not fully involved”

  Detective Avery nodded, taking notes.

  “And what about your boss?”

  “Janna McMurrich”

  “Is that your boss’s name?”

  “Yes”

  “Did you discuss your concerns with the colleagues involved?”

  “Yes. Alice is actually the one who told me that we should talk to the police if we couldn’t understand what was happening. I spoke with her while coming here, she said she will drop by tomorrow. Brad also knows I am here. He is worried, but I guess he is still hesitant to accept that there is something wrong”

  She nodded again.

  “And what is your boss’s opinion?”, she asked

  “I don’t know too well. I try to avoid talking to her, and even if I did I wouldn’t learn much more regarding her opinions”

  Marian Avery arched her brows.

  “I don’t like my boss”, I said shrugging my shoulders and smiling apologetically

  “Why is that?”

  “She is the boss and I am below her, that’s how she conceives our relationship. I hope this part of the conversation can remain strictly private, or I’ll have to do some job-hunting very soon”

  “Every part of our conversation is strictly private, unless we bring this case to court. And even then nobody will be interested in knowing how you feel about your boss, unless you decide to threaten or kill her”

  Now it was my turn to arch my eyebrows.

  “What?”, I asked shocked

  Marian Avery smiled, looking amused for the first time since I met her.

  “But since I don’t expect you to kill or threaten your boss nobody except me will know you dislike her”

  I was tense, I had come here to receive help and I felt that this detective was messing me around instead. A surge of hostility rose within me. Marian Avery sensed it, her smile died on her lips and she looked at me seriously.

  “I always treat people respectfully”, she said, as if she had read my thoughts.

  I nodded, feeling empty and tired all of a sudden.

  “I also spoke about my polymer with a researcher in Italy, Mauro Mori”

  “So he involved in the project?”

  “No, my boss doesn’t even know I am in contact with him. I signed a disclosure policy when I got hired, and I could be fired for giving out information about our technologies. But I had to email this person, you see. He studies the effect of chemicals on bacteria, and I think he can help me understand what is going on, at least from a scientific standpoint”. I spoke quickly, almost defensively.

  “And has this…ehm…Mauro Mori helped you after all?”

  “Somewhat, yes. Our communication has just started though, and solving scientific questions takes time”

  Marian nodded.

  “Ok, thank you for taking the time to come here. I will look into this, call me if you notice anything else or remember details you forgot to tell me tonight”

  “I will”, I said. “So what should I do now? I mean, should I keep doing my research as if nothing happened?”

  “For the time being, yes. Avoid going to the cross cancer institute though. I will call you with further instructions in the next days, if I have any”, she said and stood up, shaking my hand

  She saw me to the hallway. Before leaving I turned around to thank her, and it was only then I noticed that her face was strained, and shaded by worries thoughts I hadn’t perceived earlier.

  Chapter 40

  Jack was sitting with his legs lightly spread, leaning his elbows on his knees, his head dropping like mine had, in what was half tenseness half boredom. He raised it when he heard Detective Avery and I talking in the hallway. There were questions in his eyes when I walked in the waiting room, but he looked at me without asking. I noticed his face was weary too, and felt guilty for having dragged him there.

  “Hey”, I said, touching his shoulder

  “Let’s go”, he said smiling and pushing himself up from the chair.

  We walked to the car without speaking. The night had plunged in the sky now, punctuated by the loud voices of the cicadas and illuminated by grains of light from far away stars. I raised my head a moment before stepping in the car, inhaling the air deeply, trying to take in the scent of the earth. I knew it was a beautiful night, but it was hard to feel it, oppressed as I was by the worries and the heaviness of the day spent at FoodTech labs. When I turned around I saw that Jack was already in the car, observing me from the driver seat.

  “Sorry…”, I said, climbing up on the truck.

  Jack lay his hand on my leg, and pat me smilin
g, then shrugged.

  “It’s all good. So what did the detective say?”, he asked while turning on the engine

  “That she’ll look into it”

  “And did she mean it?”

  “I think so. She looked worried at a point, or at least I think she did. Maybe she was just worn out, like you and I are now. I cannot tell what she thought, she was quite impenetrable”

  “But did she ask you to stop working with the polymer?”

  “I wondered if I should, but she told me to keep doing my job as if nothing happened, until further notice”

  “Until further notice?”

  “Yeah, she’ll contact me if she needs to”

  Jack shrugged.

  “Ok…”, he said uncertainly

  We merged into the provincial road, not speaking for a while, till I broke the silence.

  “But what is your gut feeling about this? I mean, about the polymer causing the bacteria to change…”, I asked

  “My gut feeling about the hypothesis of bacteria undergoing mutations and harming people, perhaps even killing them?”

  “Yes”

  “I don’t have enough elements to say, but I cannot say it’s impossible”

  “This means that you think my polymer killed somebody”

  “No, this means I don’t know. I’ll call Fred tomorrow, he’s a good one to talk to when you need science or life advices”

  “Your former PhD boss”

  “Him, yes”, he said

  “Do you want to look at the stars when we get home?”, Jack asked after a pause

  I smiled and nodded.

  “I was just thinking before getting in the car that it was such a waste to let a night like this be soiled by worries”

  “I know”

  “How do you know?”

  “I saw you looking up at the sky when I was in the car”

  “You know what Jack?”

  He turned around to take a quick glance at me. “What?”

  “I really love you. And maybe there’s a reason for all this”

  “I love you too”, he said, glancing at me once more before turning his eyes to the road, his face tired but the smile unfading from his lips

  “And for sure there’s more than one reason for what is happening”

  I shook my head. “I mean, a reason for what is happening with the polymer. Think about it. I met the daughter of the detective I spoke to on the lake and…”

  “Who?”

  “The daughter of the detective, Mirth. I saw her picture on the detective’s desk tonight, that’s how I know Mirth, the kid I saw on the lake, she is Mariam Avery’s daughter”