‘Good security,’ Sean remarked. ‘Gates, ten-foot fences. Razor wire, not what you expect for Connecticut, but nice … welcoming. And hear that hum? They’re electrified.’
The guard returned with plastic badges, one had Frank’s picture and name, and the other said VISITOR. ‘You’re good to go. Wear this at all times,’ he said to Sean. And then to Frank, ‘Yours lets you in everywhere.’ He passed him a small black binder. ‘If there’s anything you need, all the numbers are here.’ He opened the front page to display a laminated card of extensions. ‘And on behalf of UNICO, Doctor Garfield, let me be the first to welcome you aboard.’
‘Thanks,’ he stared at the guard’s tag, ‘Brett.’
‘You’re welcome. I hope you like it here. Don’t know much of what goes on inside, but for my part, sitting out in this beautiful country forty hours a week and catching a paycheck … no complaints.’
‘Right.’ Frank, feeling at sea, took the binder, passed it to Sean, and waved back at now-friendly Brett.
‘Welcome to Stepford,’ Sean said, as they rode down a winding two-lane road. ‘They’ve got acreage.’
‘And fences, and lots of privacy,’ Frank added. They crested a hill and got the long view of a gleaming Brutalist cement, steel, and glass structure that sprouted strangely from the rolling wooded hills.
‘Nervous?’ Sean asked.
‘Yeah, lots happening.’
‘It is,’ Sean said. ‘And I’m probably not helping things.’
Frank slowed the Element and looked at Sean. He epitomized the all-American guy, so out of my league. And Dalton’s question from the other night, Why don’t you have someone? Not the first time he’d been asked. And at thirty-two, not an easy answer. Sure there’d been guys interested, but the couple times he’d let down his guard and given a prospective boyfriend his sad history, or worse, a taste of the shit that ran between his ears, they’d not stuck around. He doesn’t need to know any of that … he’s a cop … he’ll find out. ‘I’m glad you’re here.’
‘I hope that’s true, cause I’m glad to be here,’ he smiled.
Frank’s gut went soft. ‘Good.’ He remembered something Stein had told him. ‘No one can see the crazy in your head. The only way they find out is if you tell them.’ He wondered, when, and if that time came with Sean, how long he’d stick around.
Without further talk Frank pulled into a circular covered drive made of free-form bronze-patinated arches that cascaded from the building’s roof to the ground.
‘Very Downtown Abbey,’ Sean quipped, as a row of UNICO employees in various uniforms assembled to welcome them.
‘Yeah, a lot to take in.’ And it was, all of it – the enormity of what he’d agreed to, the beautiful man next to him, his mother’s attack … don’t think … just breathe.
As they got out of the car, a balding man in his forties approached. ‘Dr Garfield, we are so happy to have you here. I’m Melvin Carter, Program Officer for Hollow Hills. Would you and your guest like to use the facilities before we start? Some water? Coffee? Something stronger?’
‘I’m good.’ He looked to Sean.
‘Same.’
The tour started with a rapid meet-and-greet the employees. Everyone from maintenance, to the technicians in charge of the different laboratories, then onto ivy-league PhD researchers who seemed less happy to see him.
‘Melvin.’ Frank reached into this pocket. ‘You have a microbiology lab that can culture a sample?’
‘Of course,’ he looked over the employees who had broken ranks and milled about in the bright spring day, ‘Lynette.’
A young woman with a ponytail in scrubs and a lab-coat came over. ‘What’s up?’
Frank pulled out the package with the cotton swab folded into its wrapper. ‘Can you culture this and tell me what grows?’
‘Easy peasy,’ she said with a smile. ‘Anything else?’
‘No, just let me know everything that grows at twenty-four, forty-eight, and seventy-two hours.’ He scanned her nametag, Lynette Halpern, PhD.
‘Both aerobes and anaerobes? I’ll check for spores, as well. I mean, if you want.’
He nodded, glad that she’d asked, and that she knew her job, having initially assumed – incorrectly – she was some lab grunt. ‘Thanks.’
‘If it grows anything, do you also want antibiotic sensitivities?’
‘Good thought. And yes, please.’
‘And if there’s anything else, don’t hesitate.’ She pulled a card from her lab-coat pocket. ‘If you don’t hear from me, this is the best number.’ And off she went with the proof of whatever his mother had attempted.
Sean watched. ‘And that was about?’
Frank could not find the words. ‘Can I say nothing?’
‘As opposed to lying?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Sure,’ Sean said, his tone disappointed.
It was a discordant note, and Frank knew it. He hated lies and liars. He knew that Jackson would have been disgusted by today’s turn of events. Pimps and whores … which am I? And he’d already lied to Sean about his parents, going for the simple one his Grandpa Harry told him was OK, ‘Just say they both died when you were young. Your truth is too much for strangers and acquaintances.’ And is that what Sean is? And a detective. What if he already knows? And what if this isn’t a date … then why is he here?
‘Gentlemen.’ Melvin beckoned them towards the glass doors. ‘Let’s see what’s what?’
Sean whispered, ‘And here we go from Downtown Abbey to Willy Wonka.’
Frank blinked as they entered the three-story vaulted foyer. Light streamed and refracted into rainbows that danced around the soaring interior with its potted citrus trees, some in bloom with scented white flowers, and others, tricked by the building’s endless summer were laden with out-of-season grapefruits, limes, and Meyer lemons.
‘Wow. Not what I’m used to,’ Frank commented, comparing this architectural pastiche to the dingy, cramped, and hotly contested lab space in Cambridge.
Melvin rattled off a narrative of the building’s history. Its famous New Haven architect, its unique features, which allowed the entire facility to be repurposed at nearly a moment’s notice. ‘Half the walls are modular, but also soundproof. We configured most of the lab space for your arrival. Last night was busy. It’s not often we get marching orders from Dr Lang herself. It’s so exciting.’
‘And the existing labs? The work being done …’ Frank asked.
Melvin lowered his voice, ‘Some of the grumpier hands you shook. We had to do several relocations to give your work priority. But Dr Lang was explicit, nothing is to be held back. So please, if there’s something you need, ask. I’m serious about that. You ask, and we’ll find it.’
‘I have some pets I need to bring and accommodate.’
‘I’ve been told; I’m quite excited about the Galapagos tortoise. I will personally insure we have perfect accommodations for everyone,’ and to Sean, ‘including guests. I had some ideas that with the children spending so much time here, perhaps we could bring your tortoise and the parrot here.’ He gestured to the atrium.
‘Nice thought,’ Frank said. ‘But those kids have all been through horrible chemo. None of them have immune systems that can handle anything.’
‘Understood,’ Melvin said. ‘I was thinking plexiglass and this room is equipped with reverse airflow. Less a petting zoo and more of a habitat exhibit.’
Frank thought of Jen, Ben, Lakeesha, Tara … ‘That could work. Harvey swears.’
‘So I heard; we can do things to muffle the sound, maybe a water feature. You also have a pair of pet rats, or so I was led to believe.’
‘Yes, they’ll stay with me.’
‘I could easily—’
‘No,’ Frank interrupted him. Something about all the Lang’s knowledge of his menagerie tripped his paranoia. Caesar and Lavinia might prove too much of a temptation for Leona’s inquisitive mind. ‘They stay with me.’
&n
bsp; ‘No problem.’
‘You guys have thought of everything,’ Sean said, as they rode up in a glass elevator that offered views of the indoor citrus orchard below and the Litchfield hills beyond.
‘We try,’ Melvin said. ‘Dr Lang was clear. She’s immensely interested in this project.’
As they were shown not one, but two sparkling new high-speed DNA sequencers, an electron microscope with higher resolution than anything at MIT, Frank’s excitement grew. Sweet Jesus, it’s all here. Everything I need. The realization that he was about to take theory and make it flesh pressed in on him. Without Jackson, he saw no downside. Why was he so against this?
He noted the building was all arranged around the lush atrium. Then, as they exited an odorless rodent lab, fitted out with floor-to-ceiling cages, he saw a flurry of activity below as two BMWs pulled up. Leona exited the white one, and Dalton, the black.
‘You guys make yourselves at home,’ Melvin said with a nervous edge. He motioned them towards an employee lounge that overlooked the atrium. ‘I’ll be right back.’
‘The famous Langs,’ Sean said.
‘Not the best date,’ Frank said and then thought. If that’s what this is.
‘You’re doing OK,’ Sean said. ‘And the glass elevator … like I said, Willy Wonka with rats and microscopes. But what I don’t get … and maybe on a first date you don’t go there, but … just a few days ago you wouldn’t even take a call from these guys and now …’
Frank looked from the Lang’s three-stories below, back to Sean. ‘I think I can make a difference in some children’s lives. Possibly a big difference.’
‘That’s a good thing. Those kids you treat at St Mary’s?’
‘Yeah. It’s just—’
‘Strings attached.’
‘I’m not sure where to find them,’ Frank admitted. ‘Look at all this. It’s perfect, but kind of too much.’
Sean now focused on Dalton and Leona thirty feet below as they chatted with some UNICO staff who had stayed to enjoy the outdoors. ‘The dragon lady and her pup.’ Sean mused aloud. ‘Strings are another way to think of motive. What’s in it for them? Answer that, and you’ll see the strings a mile away.’
‘Life extension,’ Frank said, and immediately wished he hadn’t.
‘Seriously? Your telomere stuff.’
‘Maybe.’
‘For how long?’
Frank thought of Cesar and Lavinia, twice as old as average Norwegian rats, and randy as adolescents even though he’d spayed and neutered them. ‘A long time.’
Sean’s tone turned serious. ‘How many people know this, Frank?’
‘Grace, me … now you. Jackson.’
‘And them.’
‘Yes, although …’
‘What?’
‘They don’t have proof. Neither do you. You just have my word.’
‘And once they have proof?’
‘You ask a lot of questions.’
‘You interest me.’
‘Like a perp?’
‘Like a hot, super-smart guy who’s sitting on a game changer and doesn’t know if he’s just made the best, or worst, decision of his life,’ Sean said.
Dalton looked up at them and waved.
‘We’ve been spotted,’ Sean said. ‘You didn’t mention that the pup is an underwear model.’
‘He’s aware,’ Frank said, as Leona and Dalton headed towards the elevators.
‘Do I have competition?’
‘For what?’
‘Good answer,’ Sean said.
‘I just missed something.’
‘Don’t sweat it. When do you get to work with your kids?’
‘Soon, that’s the deal … Hopefully this week.’
‘Huh? Isn’t that kind of fast? Don’t you have to get approvals and … I don’t know, not a researcher here, but I’m thinking …’
‘It is fast. But they said they could and would do it.’ His voice trailed. ‘Said they could pull strings.’
‘Something starting to smell funny?’ Sean asked.
Their conversation was halted by the elevator doors and Melvin’s animated voice. ‘Been showing around our new R&D director. Everyone is super excited.’
Leona, in a deep plum suit, was all smiles as she walked past Melvin. ‘Frank, and Detective Brody.’ She took in the scratches on Frank’s face. ‘Do you need antibiotic cream?’
‘I’ve got some, but thank you.’
Dalton smiled. ‘Not even one day into a new venture and we’ve got bloodshed and the police.’
Frank watched Sean’s gaze narrow.
‘No,’ Sean said. ‘It’s a date.’
‘Sadly,’ Leona said, ‘it’s got to be a working one. And Frank, not to get off on the wrong foot, anyone you bring into this facility needs security clearance.’
‘I can disappear,’ Sean said.
‘Please don’t,’ Frank said.
‘No need,’ Leona said. ‘I got a call from the gate. It’s fine. Done.’ She waved her hands and turned to Melvin, ‘How far did you get?’
‘Pretty much showed him what there was to see.’
‘Excellent.’ And then to Frank. ‘You have everything you need?’
‘I think so. Those sequencers are amazing, and the administration is a simple infusion.’
‘Just intravenous?’ she asked.
‘Yes, but slow,’ he said.
‘How slow?’
He paused and studied her. He remembered that last talk with Jackson. He’d said she was the most brilliant student he’d mentored. And here she was, decades out of the lab, asking the right questions. He glanced from her, to Melvin, to Sean, Dalton and the milling employees among the citrus below. ‘It’s like Velcro,’ he said.
‘Your telomere compound?’ Leona asked.
‘Yes, it attaches to the ends of DNA.’
‘Fascinating … and once it does, it pulls everything into a tighter configuration.’
‘Yes, exactly.’
‘And because the telomeres have a sequence which is preserved through most of evolution you don’t have to worry about compatibility.’
‘Correct.’
‘Isn’t that something,’ she said with a sense of awe. ‘That the most-important discoveries are the most elegant and simple ones.’
‘True.’
‘But,’ she added, ‘until we make this thing happen in humans, it’s still just theory. What about dialysis machines?’ she asked.
‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ Frank said. ‘It’s not a bad idea. And … it’s actually a really good one. We could do a slow infusion over four hours to insure a consistent rate, essentially bathe them in the compound. The goal is to get every nucleated cell in the body to incorporate the compound.’
‘But there’s a trick, isn’t there?’ Leona said. ‘That’s why no one has beaten you to this. You’ve figured out a way to have not only the cell take up a complex molecule, but also to get it into the nucleus.’
‘Yes.’
‘And?’ she asked. ‘What’s the trick?’
‘Let’s make sure it works first.’
‘Fine.’ The corner of her lips twitched as if she’d tasted something gone sour. ‘So dialysis machines it is. We’ll retrofit them however you’d like.’ She turned to Melvin. ‘Get eight dialysis machines, make them kid friendly.’
‘The first experiment is just with six,’ Frank said.
‘Something always breaks,’ Leona said. ‘Make it ten, Melvin.’
‘Of course, Dr Lang.’
‘Anything else, Frank?’ She looked him in the eyes. ‘Anything at all?’
‘No, I think you’ve got this covered.’
‘Excellent. Now we’ve got a few places lined up for you. I hope you like one.’
‘For?’
‘Your house. You didn’t think we’d lock you in the lab. And I don’t know about you, but I love to look at properties. Problem is, I tend to buy them.’
They piled into Leona�
��s car, Frank and Sean in back, Dalton in front. She first took them to a condominium complex a quarter mile from Hollow Hills that would also house the six test children and their parents.
‘These are so much better than my place in Brookline,’ Sean said, as they walked through one gleaming marble back-splashed kitchen after the next.
‘No comparison,’ Frank said, having handed over the keys to his tiny apartment, and given clear instructions on how Killer, Harvey, Caesar and Lavinia were to be handled and transported.
‘I’m so glad you recruited Dr Lewis,’ Leona said. ‘If you see something you think would suit her, we might as well go ahead and lease it.’
‘I didn’t say I had,’ Frank said.
A quick look passed between Leona and Dalton. ‘You didn’t did you?’ she said. ‘I just assumed.’
‘You assumed correct,’ Frank said, as he tried to remember what he might have told the Langs about Grace. I didn’t tell them anything …
From the condos it was on to a series of beautiful colonials, many eighteenth century when Litchfield was Connecticut’s capital. ‘I tasked the handlers with ensuring that all details were managed,’ Leona said, as they walked through a property off the town green.
‘Handlers?’ Frank asked.
‘Subject navigators. We have a lot of variables to control, and in a study with only six subjects, I thought it best to attach a handler to each of the children and their families.’
‘To do what?’
‘Whatever you need them to do. Make sure they’re where they need to be when they need to be there. You’ve never done a study with human subjects, Frank. I’ve overseen many. A lot can go wrong. This is too important to risk any screw-ups.’
It was during a tour of a spacious modern home with long views over the hills that he found himself alone with Sean in a walk-in closet. ‘Bet you regret coming up here.’
‘You’d lose that bet.’ Sean said, ‘But if you’re getting a new house, I want one thing.’
‘What’s that?’
Sean closed the space between them. He gripped Frank’s hand and drew him close. ‘May I?’ he asked, his breath hot against Frank’s lips.
‘Yes.’
They kissed.
Sean pulled back slightly. His voice deep, ‘That’s what I want.’ They kissed again.
Elixir Page 12
