Lethal Discoveries

by Erica Pensini

  “Mariam Avery?”

  “Yes, the detective”

  “So, what about her daughter?”

  “I met her on the lake where her previous babysitter drowned”

  “And?”

  “Nothing, but it seems like there’s a scheme behind all this, although I cannot see what it is”

  Jack didn’t reply. I knew he was thinking about Lisa and how she had drowned in the ocean. I lay my hand on his leg, but he didn’t react.

  “I’m sorry”, I said

  “Don’t be. We should stop thinking tonight. The stars are waiting for us. We’ll make a full load of starry peace and then we’ll go to bed, what do you say?”

  “I say it’s an awesome plan”, I smiled.

  Chapter 41

  I was lying in bed next morning, my eyes still closed, when my cell phone blipped to signal that I just received a text message. I moaned, retreating close to Jack and wrapping his arms around me.

  “What time is it?”, he asked

  I moaned again, before reaching for the clock on my bed table. 5:15, who was texting me at that hour? I got up swaying sleepily to the drawers where I forgot the phone, turned on, the night before.

  “It’s Brad, he’s telling me he feels sick and won’t make it to work”

  “But why is he texting you so early?”, Jack asked, pulling himself up on his elbows

  “Not sure…he knows I generally turn on my cell when I wake up, he probably didn’t expect me to read it now”

  “Ok. And why does he know you turn on your cell when you wake up?”

  “Because whenever he texted me late at night I would reply early in the morning, he joked about the ritual and I told him I turn on my cell when I wake up…why?”

  “Nothing, I was just asking”

  “Are you jealous?”

  “Maybe”

  I sneaked back in bed, and cuddled besides Jack, laughing.

  “There’s nothing wrong with Brad, but I would never get myself to see him that way…”

  “What time is it by the way?”

  “5.15, we still have 15 minutes of luxury in bed”

  He leaned back, sighting.

  “There’s times when I really wonder why I am doing this”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why I am running a bakery and waking up at this hour every day”

  “I thought you loved what you did”

  “I still do for the most part, but I feel I am sliding in the declining part of my love story with this business. When I started it I was mostly taking a stance, setting a distance from a past that hurt me so much, but I never thought I would be a baker for the rest of my days. Perhaps now it’s the time to stop”

  “And what do you want for the next phase of your life?”

  “I still have to think about it. It has always been easier for me to understand what I don’t want, rather than decide what I am after”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. And sometimes I decide what to do more by contrast to what I don’t want than because I am fully sure that it is the best choice”

  “I didn’t expect this”

  “Well, there are exceptions. I know I want you to be in the next phase of my life, and in this case I am sure this is something I really want, in itself and not in contrast to something else”

  “Thank you”, I said, pushing myself against him further. “This is what I want too”

  Jack turned me around and kissed me.

  “Really?”, he asked

  “Really”, I said

  “Thank you”, he said, and ley still for a moment, as if pondering my words

  “But for the time being I still have to get up and get the bakery going”

  “Ehm…”

  “Come on lazy dog, get up and let’s have breakfast together”

  Chapter 42

  When I got to the office I took a glance at my desk before sitting down. Everything seemed in the right spot, so perhaps nobody was trying to dig into my files after all. I told myself that the stress of the last days had probably plunged me in a state of paranoia. I turned on my PC in a tense mayhem of mixed feelings, oscillating between the hope and the fear to receive a message from Dr. Mori. A part of me wanted to get off the hook and leave the whole business to the police, forget any of this ever happened and go back to a life where my lab games had no major consequences in real life. After all I had invented the polymer, but I had never decided that it should be released. And yet another part of me needed to know what my polymer had done. Leaving aside all rationalizations, the polymer was my piece of art and I felt responsible for it. I had created the black potion, so I felt I was the one who had to break its spell. And deep down, in spite of all that was happening, I wanted to crack the mystery behind its effects, inspired by the same irresponsible and purely scientific curiosity that had led to its creation.

  I accessed my mailbox and there it was, the reply from Dr. Mori.

  Dear Iris,

  I had a look at the structure of your polymer and it has indeed some similarities with the compounds we tested. I suspect that it can have similar effects to the chemicals we used, possibly causing changes in some of the bacteria found in the intestine and eventually leading to malfunctions of the human body. Of course these are simple hypotheses, which need to be tested experimentally before drawing conclusions. We have great facilities here, and I would be more than happy to investigate the effect of your polymer on bacteria. Assessing its impact on the human body is not as simple, but we could begin by conducting preliminary tests using human cells and tissues to get some insights about what your polymer can do. If travelling is an option for you, we could conduct some interesting research together on the subject here at my research center in Milan.

  All the best,

  Mauro Mori

  My heart was pounding so loud its beat resounded in my thoughts. Thump, I cannot travel, thump, I really want to go, thump, isn’t it a strange coincidence that Mori lives in Milan, where my grand-grandparents were born and where I always wanted to go?, thump, what do I tell McMurrich?, thump, Do I lie to her and tell her this is about a family emergency?, thump, I need to talk to Jack, but let’s go see Alice first, thump.

  I heard someone coming from my back, minimized the window and turned around, trying to look casual. My ears buzzed and I wondered what my face looked like.

  “What is happening?”, McMurrich asked, looking annoyed more than concerned

  “Why?”

  “You look quite distraught”

  “Something bad happened, in my family”, I heard myself say, and I was surprised by how the lie flew out my mouth faster than my thoughts

  “I am sorry to hear that”

  “I might need to ask you for some time. I need to reach the hospital”

  “Sure, you can have the morning off”

  “Unfortunately the hospital is on the east coast, and I want to spend some days there”

  “Days?”

  “I will use my holidays this way. This is important to me”

  McMurrich frowned.

  “The authorities have called saying that they will pass by in the next couple of days for an inspection, I need you here. I don’t understand what this is about”, McMurrich said, eyes bugged

  “The authorities are coming?”, I asked.

  Mariam Avery acts fast, I thought. But was this her doing or was this inspection a coincidence? The speed of my heartbeat ramped up a bit more.

  “Yes”, McMurrich said

  “When?”

  “As I said, in the next couple of days, but they didn’t give me an exact date”, McMurrich replied, irritated

  “Perhaps I can leave Thursday night, but I cannot wait longer than that. I don’t want to get there when it’s too late. I hope…”

  “Yes, yes, I understand”, she said, cutting me short

  I thought it would have been good to have a few days to get organized, but I needed my departure to sound
urgent for my story to be convincing. I knew the whole set-up was insane, but I had gone too far to pull back. I wondered what Mori would think about my rushed trip following a couple email exchanges. Could I tell him what was happening? First rule, don’t rush when you are not lucid. I am not lucid, thump.

  “Let me know when you’ll be leaving as soon as you decide”

  “Will do”, I said, trying to match my tone to McMurrich’s

  McMurrich started to walk away, then turned around.

  “You haven’t told anybody about this polymer, have you?”

  “What do you mean?”, I asked, trying to sound casual

  “The question is: have you shared any information about the polymer?”, she reiterated

  “You haven’t discussed it with anybody except Mark from the DNA center and…I also went to get it analyzed at the cross cancer institute”

  “Yes, of course”, McMurrich said, corrugating her eyebrows.

  She would have been a pretty woman if only her facial mimicry hadn’t been so abrasive

  “From now on, don’t have anyone else analyze it”

  “Why, what happened?”, I asked, trying to sound as innocent and surprised as I could

  “Because I have been talking with people who are really interested in buying it, and I want to make sure its composition remains proprietary. MagnaSize, that’s how we’ll call it”

  “MagnaSize?”

  “Yes, do you like this brand name. I came up with it last night”

  Geez lady, is this how you spend your nights? You are a complete idiot McMurrich, and you even believed my lie, I thought so loud I wondered if she heard. No, she didn’t, she was too dry for that type of intuition. I sighted, relieved.

  “Of course, I understand very well that all this is confidential. And the name…sure, why not?”, I said

  “Good”, she said and walked away tic-tacking her stiletto heels.

  Chapter 43

  When McMurrich left I emailed Mori to tell him I could fly out as soon as Thursday night and kept in front of the computer, trying to read some papers, looking up plane tickets, minimizing and maximizing the mailbox window every minute. After half an hour I told myself I couldn’t sit in front of the computer for the whole day. Another ten minutes, then you go find Alice in the lab, try to be productive, I told myself. But five minutes later I received Mori’s email.

  Dear Iris,

  I look forward to having you here. Please let me know if you need any help to make arrangements, I can advise you about good hotels at affordable prices and help you find your way from the airport once you get here.

  All the best,

  Mauro Mori

  I maximized the webpage where I had been eying the flight I wanted to take. Click purchase. Click accept the conditions. Input your personal information, input your credit card information. Accept again. “Thank you for travelling with us”, said the screen and it was done.

  I was still sitting there, with “Thank you for travelling with us” printed on my screen when Brad walked in.

  “Hello”, he said

  “Hey”, I said, turning around. “I thought you were sick”

  “I was nauseous this morning, but after throwing up every single molecule I had in my stomach I felt better”

  “Thanks for the details”

  “Well, you asked…”

  “That’s what you think. Changing topic, there’s something I need to tell you, but not here”

  “Yes, we need to talk”

  “What happened?”

  “No, not here…”

  “Right. What about going to the cafeteria downstairs?”

  “I hope McMurrich won’t crave coffee while we are there. Anyways, that’s our best bet, we can’t go anywhere else without the risk of raising suspicions”

  The cafeteria was quite empty when we got there, with the exception of two or three people from another division of FoodTech labs and a cleaning lady wiping the floor. We found a table in a corner, and we sat there with smoking cups of black coffee.

  “What did you tell the police yesterday night?”

  “Everything. I told them everything”

  “That is?”

  “That I saw a journalist at the cross cancer institute who wondered why so many patients were dying, that Sandeep was scared…and that I was worried although I had no proofs that something is going wrong”

  “And what did the police say?”

  “Detective Avery, that’s who I spoke to. She said she’ll look into this. I gave her you name, she wanted to know who else was working on the polymer”

  “I should probably go talk to them too. Shouldn’t I?”

  “It’s up to you, but I think you should. You see that there’s something wrong in this whole story, right? You don’t want to be suspected or involved in a mess you didn’t cause”

  “I’ve wanted to believe all along that your worries didn’t have any solid foundation…”

  “I know”

  “But there are too many hints that something fishy is happening after all”

  “Ehm Uhm”, I nodded

  “So I’ll go see the police after work”

  “I spoke to Mariam Avery, here’s her phone number”, I said, taking from my wallet the card she had given me the previous night.

  “I’ll find a pen”, I said, going to the cashier to ask for them. I copied down the information on the back of a napkin and handed it to Brad.

  “Thanks”, he said

  “But this isn’t what I wanted to talk about”

  “No?”, he asked suprised

  “I am flying out to Milan on Thursday night to meet Mori”

  “What?”

  “You heard. I am flying out to Milan on Thursday night to meet Mori”, I repeated.

  “Are you serious?”, he exclaimed

  “Shhhhh”, I said, placing a finger on my mouth, “I had just finished purchasing the flight ticket when you walked in the office”

  “Did you tell McMurrich?”

  “I told her I had a family emergency, I hinted to a family member being about to die in a hospital. Can I count on you to back me up on this?”

  “Oh boy”

  “I want to understand what’s happening, don’t you? Mori can help”

  “And you’ll fly all the way to Italy”, he said, looking at me with an incredulous expression painted on his face

  “I trust my instinct”

  “I see that. And for how long are you going to be away?”

  “I’ll be back on Monday of the next following week”

  “Well good luck, we need it”

  I smiled.

  “I think we better get back to the labs now, or Miss Bossy Lady upstairs might notice. Go figure she was annoyed when I told her I needed few days off to see a dying relative, using up my holidays. She deserves the worst”

  Brad shrugged.

  “I’ll back you up”

  “Thanks”, I said, getting up and pushing my chair under the table.

  “You know I have the feeling someone tried to have a look at my desk, at my files…I don’t know”, I said

  “What do you mean?”

  “The other day, after you left, I found that my desk looked different”

  Brad stopped to look at me with a puzzled expression, holding the door of the cafeteria open. The lady who had been cleaning the floor approached us with her bucket of dirty water.

  “Sorry”, she excused herself, pulling the bucket past the door with one hand while holding the mop with the other.

  “Come on, keep walking”, I said, tugging him. “So yes, I had rushed to see Alice and found McMurrich in her lab. I waited for the boss to leave and then I told her about what Mori found about common intestinal bacteria, how they could change with chemicals and affect the human body…”

  “Really? He told you that?”

  “Yes, sorry, I forgot to mention it. So many things happened since your pipes leaked at home…”
/>
  “I can see that”

  “Mori’s research suggests that common bacteria can change and became toxic to humans, but his findings are still preliminary…”

  “Now I am starting to see why you are flying to Milan. And what about your desk?”

  “Well, I came back and the chair had been pushed very close to the desk, although I had leaped up from it and certainly left it in a random position”

  “Ok”

  “Nobody was around, so why would someone move the chair unless he or she – and I think it’s a she – went to have a look at my desk?”

  “What was on your desk?”

  “Nothing important, but I hoped the computer was locked”

  “I see”

  “Another thing I didn’t tell you. There’s going to be an inspection to the labs in the next coming days?”

  “Who told you?”

  “McMurrich. She was annoyed, and that’s at least in part why she wanted me around. I don’t know if the police has something to do with this…”

  “I see…Ok, I’ll be here a moment longer to call Mariam Avery”, he said, stopping.

  “But you start going upstairs, or else it might really seem like we’re up to something if anybody notices us”, he added

  I walked past the hallway to the elevators, where the lady was wiping the metal plates around the buttons with a rag.

  “Sorry”, she said, interrupting her cleaning to let me press the up button.

  Chapter 44

  When I walked in the labs I heard McMurrich’s voice.

  “If you let me know what you are looking for I can make your task easier”, she was saying.

  I decided to stay where I was and understand what was happening before making myself visible, and I lingered close to the entrance a while longer.

  “We just need to verify that the lab is safe and make a few checks on the chemicals you use and produce here”, a man said.

  So the inspection was here already. I felt a surge of disquiet cheerfulness bubble within me. I would phone Mariam Avery later on to tell her about the inspection and try to understand if she had sent these people. I pictured a scandal exploding around the polymer – the MagnaSize, what a name! - and the labs being shut down. I pictured being laid off from FoodTech and not having a stipend, and I felt strangely relieved rather than worried.

  “Not a problem. I can find the people who work in the different labs to help you with any questions you might have”, I heard McMurrich say.

  I headed back to my desk, trying to act casual. McMurrich was talking with her back to the door, but somehow she caught a glimpse of me while I was trying to walk past her unnoticed.