Chapter 81
Avery walked out of the room and when a moment later she opened the door I looked at her with a blank face. I felt emptied.
“So it’s over”, I said
“Not really”, Avery said
“But clearly the man is guilty”, Jack objected
“Sure, he killed McMurrich, but I have reasons to believe the circle of people involved in this affair goes beyond Gill and the cleaning lady, who, by the way, is most likely getting ready for the next move”
“She is still around…I think so and…”, I said leaving my sentences suspended in midair
“And we need to find what the people at the Cross Cancer Institute have to do with your polymer, and if they are also involved in McMurrich’s murder, although my instinct says the aren’t”
“Why?”, Jack asked
“Because Mark Gill was McMurrich’s lover, while Sandeep Raman and Wilhelm Larson were strangers to her”
“But Gill killed McMurrich because he had his own interests and placed them first”, I replied
“Not necessarily. My experience tells me that whenever passion is involved the game is never as simple as it looks”, Avery replied
I pondered what she said, perhaps she was right
“And there is another piece involved in the game”, Mariam Avery continued
“That is?”, I asked
“I haven’t told you before, but now I need to ask you some questions about it”
I looked at Jack. He was observing Mariam Avery with focused attention, and a hint of anger. I wondered what was going through his mind.
After a moment he said, “We are in this story from head to toes, don’t you think we deserve to know all the details of what is happening?”
“Not if the details are just suspicions I have and they involve the life of someone else”, Avery replied calmly
Jack sighted
“I am sorry…I am so strained though, it is just impossible to live like this, on the edge at every moment”, he said, running a hand on his forehead and on his hair.
I felt a pungent sense of guilt for having dragged him in the mess I had caused. When he raised his head his eyes met my frown.
“It will be fine though”, he said smiling, and I smiled back, sadly.
“You know that your neighbour John Wheeler left the police and is now moving to a different state. I don’t know what job he will be starting, but his abrupt move seems strange to me”, Avery said, interrupting our diversion
“Oh please, don’t tell me John is involved, please don’t”, I said, shaking my head.
A part of me thought all along he was, but I didn’t want to hear Avery confirm my suspicions
“My daughter had a baby-sitter, she was about 22, a young girl”, she begun
I nodded
“Yes, you know already. One day she mentioned she couldn’t come at the usual time because she had a doctor’s appointment. Our conversation had been vague, but she told me she had a mild allergy to some flower that grows around here. Essentially she was healthy. Later on I asked her about her allergy, and she told me they gave her a medicine. She told me it was new, “experimental” she said, but that it was supposed to work better than the other ones out there. I had objected that experimental meant that it was not tested thoroughly. She told me there were no risks associated with it, or so said the doctor. One night she was supposed to come for my daughter but didn’t. She was punctual, and when I phoned and got no answer I knew something had happened. John and I looked around her for her for the whole night, and found her floating on the lake in the morning. Dead. John took on the investigation, they said I was too involved to take the lead on it. He found some pills at her place, they were not commercial. He went around the hospitals to trace down her medical records, and found the doctor who was in charge”.
Avery paused and sighted.
“Was it Sandeep? Wilhelm?”, I asked, and thought, was it me and my polymer?
“No, they are not doctors”, she replied
“So?”
“But John found that the doctor who was taking care of her was in contact with Sandeep”, she said
“And Sandeep passed on experimental pharmaceuticals to this doctor for him to test them on his patients”, Jack concluded
“That is a possibility. John thought so. He was investigating about this to find out, but one day he walked in the office and told us, I’m quitting. No explanation, nothing. He remained in charge of the investigation for a while longer, but I could tell he wasn’t really working on it anymore”
“And who is investigating on this now?”, Jack asked
“I am”, Avery said
“You think Sandeep menaced John?”, I asked
“I am sure he did”, Avery replied without hesitation
“Do you think my polymer has something to do with this?”, I said abruptly
“Nobody knows what they gave the girl”
“But did you try to talk to John about it? If he was menaced maybe he knew more than he should have…maybe he discovered what they gave the girl…”, I insisted
“Of course I tried to speak to John, but he won’t talk”
“He was elusive with me too…”, I remembered
“When was he elusive?”, Avery frowned
“I’ve told you everything already…he was acting odd when I had gone over to dine at the Wheelers place and when I had met him after getting out of the hospital”
“Nothing else?”, Avery insisted with a suspicious tone
“Well, he was driving with a woman during work hours…”, I said shyly
“With a woman?”, Avery asked, her eyebrows arching
“Well, I assumed she was his lover so I never told you…”, I begun wishing I hadn’t
“Did you see them together only once?”
“Yes”
“And why do you say she was her lover?”
“I don’t know…she was leaning very close to him as he drove, and it seemed like she was crying although I cannot say for sure, I didn’t have the time to look that well”
“What was she like?”
“Blond, pretty, with large breasts, and she was wearing a flowery dress…”
Avery bugged her eyes
“Ok, let me know if you remember anything else”, she said, with a half reproachful note in her tone
“Will do”, I said, annoyed now by her tone
After all she is keeping things from us too, right?, I thought
“Can we go home now?”, Jack asked
“Let me speak to my colleague to tell him what to do with Gill and I will drive you back”, said Avery
“I should phone Brad and understand what is happening at FoodTech labs, perhaps go there now. Also…”, I started, remembering all of a sudden
“Yes?”, said Avery
“What happened to Mike? I know for sure he never got to FoodTech labs…”, I said
“We have been looking for him with no success”, Avery said
“But he cannot just have dissolved…”
“No, and we will keep looking for him”, Avery told me
“Sure…I need to know…”, I said, almost talking to myself, my head dropping and my thoughts lingering around flecks of images, of moments together at FoodTech labs. I still couldn’t believe Mike was capable of making profit in shady ways, although so far everything pointed in this direction.
“Anyways, if you could figure out the dynamics at FoodTech labs that would help”, Avery continued
“Help?”, I asked, wondering what exactly she expected of me
“Well, we need to know how things are evolving. I have people sitting outside the FoodTech to monitor any movement there”
“You do?”, I asked surprised
“Of course. And if I could have an insider it would be even better”
“But don’t you think Iris needs a break?”, Jack said, with an edge in his tone
“I want to do this”, I said, taking his hand
He shrugged, surrendering at my insistence
“Ok, but call me”, he told me.
Then, addressing Avery, “Will you drive her back?”
“Either I or someone else will go pick her up”
“Ok”, Jack replied dryly
“And what will you be doing?”, I asked Jack
“Get my shop started again, I suppose”
“Ok guys, give me a moment and then I’ll drive you where you need to go. All right?”, Avery said, and got up without waiting for our answer.