She walked towards Sandeep, Luke was already there. Sam was walking towards the body of the cleaning lady, a camera in his hands. Click, click. Lest we forget.
I opened the car door, got up. Sam saw me, making a vague gest. I felt I could hear his unspoken words, “It doesn’t matter anyways”
“Did you pay these people to try and kill Iris Celati?”, Avery asked Sandeep
A moan of pain
“Did you?”, she repeated, her voiced rising
A fumbled no.
“What do you have to do with these people?”, she kept on hammering
Another moan of pain
“What?”, she asked again, keeping at him ruthlessly
Sandeep’s head dropped on the side. He leg and wrist were bleeding, although the rest of his body was intact. Avery bent on him and reached for his pocket. She produced a small chain, with a charm dangling from it, and her face darkened. She placed the charm back in his pocket, leaned on her knee a moment longer.
“Fuck”, she whispered.
Then she stood up, and in this erect position her traits seemed to harden.
I looked at Sandeep, my mouth glued by dryness. It felt like I would never speak again. I asked silent questions.
You were scared and you wanted your charm, is that so? You prayed for your own life, but how many people have you killed with a mint clean coat and powdered gloves?
I cannot say if what I felt was hatred or cold satisfaction.
“He passed out. Screw it”, Avery grunted, kicking the grass.
Sirens lacerated the air. Nurses walked fast with folding beds. The bodies were cleansed off the grass, but their red stains soaked the soil, uncleansed.
You can’t erase it all and get away with it. Fresh starts do not exist
The sirens moved away, fading, and there silence again.
I breathed, and heard my breath. In and out, loud and rhythmical.
“Let’s go find the treasure in the forest”, Sam said
The policemen started walking, and I stood behind, waiting.
We won this match. But watch us closely. Don’t we all look like a team of shipwrecked losers?
Chapter 83
I leaned on the car, while thoughts about the future refluxed in me inconsequentially, punctuating long intervals of mental emptiness. Pure feelings: the hot air, the smell of the grass, the vision of the trees and of the three policemen digging something from the ground, the sound of insects and of their voices coming from a distance. The events happened moments earlier became a remote bad dream, maybe not even that. All of a sudden my brain refused to fully acknowledge what had happened. Perhaps this is how dissociative amnesia starts.
But then Susan Avery walked towards me and brought me back to reality. She had a small glass vial in her hands, sealed in a plastic bag.
“Does this look like your polymer?”, she asked
I opened the vial, looked at it, smelled it, and nodded
“Did you give it to them?”, she asked
“No, I never gave anyone this much sample…”
“Then how do they have it? Is it possible that someone else in you lab is passing it to them?”
I shook my head no.
“I don’t believe so. I think they reverse-engineered my sample and learned to synthesize the polymer themselves”
“So now it could be extensively used for unknown applications”, Avery said, with just the slightest question mark in her statement
“I suppose so…”, I said, shuddering at the implications
Luke and Sam had been inspecting the rundown hut while Avery and I had been talking, and now they were coming back with an expression of mixed boredom and disappointment, as that of a hunter who comes back without a prey
“There’s nothing in there”, said Sam
“Ok guys, let’s go then”, said Avery
“So what’s the white stuff? Is it the chemical?”, he asked in his coarse voice, tugging up his pants from the belt loops
“Looks like it is”, said Avery, and looking at me for confirmation
“Ok, we’ll keep this as evidence”, Luke said
Avery handed him the plastic bag with the vial
“If you guys can hold on to this on your way back to the police station, I will drive Iris”, said Avery
“Where to?”, Sam asked, slightly arching his brows, still holding on to the belt loops
This guy must have been a bully in his teens, I thought
Avery looked at me, with a confused expression shading her face for a brief instant like a fast cloud crossing the sky
“Do you still want to go to FoodTech labs?”, she asked after a pause
There was nothing I wanted, but all I said was, “Well, that was the plan. We might as well stick to it”
“Let’s go then”, she told me, opening my door as to make sure I followed up with what I just said, before slipping in the car herself
“See you guys at the station”, she called from the window, raising a hand in farewell.
Chapter 84
I phoned Brad on my way to FoodTech labs, and from the tone of his voice I knew something was wrong even before he told me.
“Are you all right?”, I asked
“When will you get here?”, he asked in return, instead of answering my questions
“We had…issues on our way there, you see. But I’ll be there in about 20 minutes, I would say”
“Ok, I’ll go get Alice and we can drive out somewhere, talk over lunch”, he replied, obviously too preoccupied to notice the oddness in my tone
“Ehm…”
“No?”
“Avery doesn’t want me to drive around alone…”, I explain
“Ok then, she can be our driver and eat with us. I think she should know what’s happening”, he replied curtly
“But what is happening exactly?”, I insisted to know
“They told Alice and myself that we should leave in two weeks, and they’ll probably tell you the same as soon as you step in the office”
“What?!”, I exclaimed
“You’ve heard”
“And what is the rationale they gave you?”
“Vague crap”
“That is?”, I pressed
“Our company has been having some difficulties and we need to do some restructuring, that’s their excuse”
“I see. And I bet the restructuring plan affects only three people”, I replied plainly
“Bingo”, said Brad
“They are laying us off”, I said, turning to Avery
“Who are “they”?”, she asked
Good question, I hadn’t thought about it. “Who spoke to you about this? Who is the new boss?”
“A guy…”
“Thank you Brad. And what’s the guy’s name?”
“Michael Gill”
“Michael Gill”, I repeated for Avery. “That’s the new boss and he wants to lay us off. Do you want to have lunch with Brad, Alice and I?”
“Gill?”, Avery asked
“Yes”, I said, wondering why she asked
“Gill as in Mark Gill…”, she commented, almost talking to herself
“Yeah, that’s right…”, I said, all of a sudden realizing the odd coincidence, if it was a coincidence
“We’ll have to keep lunch short, but I’ll join”, Avery said abruptly, answering my previous question
“If you don’t have time to come…”
“I do, but then there are things I want to check, among which who is this Michael Gill”, she cut me off before I could finish my sentence
I nodded to her and said,“Ok Brad, we’ll be there is a short while”
“Call me when you are few minutes from here and we’ll come meet you at the entrance”, Brad told me
“Sure thing”, I said, and hang up.
Chapter 85
We went with Avery’s car to a Thai restaurant 20 min by car from FoodTech labs. It was small and we were the only custome
rs. I wondered how Avery knew about it. It certainly wasn’t one of those spots you notice, and I couldn’t even understand how the owners of the place could support themselves with their business.
While waiting for our food Brad and Alice had been doing all the questioning, and Avery and I all the talking: Italy, the last events, the shooting. They seemed to be reluctant to say what had happened to them, the same way I was reluctant to recall what had happened to me. I looked around, wishing I could be elsewhere.
An Asian girl came with what we had ordered almost immediately, she seemed happy we finally gave her the chance to do something. The food was tasty and cheap, and the service good in spite of the vaguely desolate feel the place had to it. We began eating, and there was a pause in our conversation.
A break, finally, I thought
Then Avery asked, “So you said they kicked you out of FoodTech labs?”
“So it seems”, said Alice
“I think they want to bury the whole polymer episode, make sure nobody remembers about it so that they can move on”, Brad added
“Is ‘they’ Michael Gill?”, asked Avery
“Yes”, nodded Alice
“You think this is his decision or someone else’s?”, asked Avery
“What do you mean?”, replied Brad
Instead of answering the question Avery took her cell and dialed a number.
“Hello Luke, can you run a search for me?”
Something was said on the other end of the line
“Michael Gill”, Avery replied
Another question from Luke
“What do I want to know? I want to check if he is Mark Gill’s brother or relative in general”
A pause
“Yes Mark. Mark Gill. The guy I’ve interrogated the other day”, Avery said
Luke said something, chunks of his words were audible to us but it was hard to decipher what he was saying
“I’ll tell you later. I will be back to the office soon, now I am in a restaurant”, replied Avery
“Around 2.30. I have to drive back Iris Celati first”, she said then
Another pause
“You found him?”, Avery asked, a pitch of thrill in her voice
Luke said something
“They are? Bingo!”, Avery exclaimed
They were…brothers?, I wondered
“Thanks Luke, see you later”, Avery said and hang up.
“Michael Gill is Mark Gill’s brother”, said Avery, looking at us with the adrenaline marking her voice with a high pitch
“Now, Mark Gill is involved with McMurrich’s death. That I am sure about, although I still don’t know how things went and why he killed her. Is Mark Gill involved with something that has to do with the polymer? Did he just run analyses for you or did he go beyond that?”, she continued, speaking quickly
“So you think Michael Gill wants to close the polymer business and get rid of us to cover up his brother?”, I asked
“I don’t know, I’m trying to understand this”, she replied, then added, “We have two brothers, the lover of one of them, a murder and a chemical that’s killing people. What is the connection?”
“Maybe McMurrich was trying to sell the polymer and Mark Gill wanted it for himself. Maybe he kept our sample when we brought it to him for the analyses. McMurrich found out and he killed her”, said Brad
“Or maybe he found out that she wanted to sell it, they had a fight and he killed her”, Alice said, reversing the perspective
“Or maybe Mark Gill didn’t kill McMurrich himself but knows who did. Maybe it was his brother”, Avery added. Her tone was enigmatic and doubtful at once
I bugged my eyes, trying to read her thoughts
“How so? Wasn’t Mark Gill at McMurrich’s place when she died?”
“Yes, but there were traces of other tires too around the house”, Avery told me
“You hadn’t mentioned it”, I frowned, wondering how many other things Avery had not told me
“I know…but now I am curious to know when Michael Gill came in town, and what was he doing the night McMurrich was killed”, said Avery
“Are you guys done here?”, asked the waitress, seeing that we had all stopped eating although our dishes were only half empty
Yes, we said, because none of us was hungry anymore. So we paid, leaving a big tip, and drove away.
Chapter 86
During the drive to FoodTech labs Avery was abstracted in her own thoughts, and none of us wanted to talk anyways. We let the road roll behind us, steaming hot under the summer sun.
When Avery dropped us at Food Tech labs she told me she would either come or send someone for me at six.
“If anything happens, call. If you want to leave before or after 6 let me know, but don’t go around on your own. Clear?”, she said
“Yes ma’am”, I replied teasingly, making the military salute, and Avery drove away fast, barely having said goodbye.
When I walked in the building it felt like the last time I saw the place I was in another life and in another century. I knew where everything was, but it was as if I was holding in my hands a floor plan that allowed me to move around, but without any sense of personal familiarity with the environment. In the elevator I looked at the numbers ramping up with a regular blipping sound, my sense of anxiousness increasing at each floor.
“I wonder what I will do today…”, I wondered out loud
“I would do my best to make myself invisible to the boss”, Brad replied, smiling bitterly
“What’s the point? If he wants me out I might as well learn it today”, I shrugged
When the elevator opened to our floor we found a man in suit waiting for it. He looked familiar, although I couldn’t locate him. But before I had the time to browse my memory’s archive further, I understood from Brad’s and Alice reaction that this was the new boss. I looked at him with a dumbstruck face for few seconds, before managing to put up a lopsided goofy smile and say, “Good morning”.
“You must be Iris”, he said
“Yes, why?”, I replied, stunned by the fact he knew.
Had he been looking up my picture on the employee profiler to make sure he knew me at first sight?
“Michael Gill, good to meet you”, he said smiling an overly-confident smile and tending his hand, fingers straight, palm open, wrapping me with the net of his inquisitive gaze
I took his hand and kept smiling, without talking
“I would care to speak to you. Come to my office in 15 minutes”, he said, blocking the elevator door that was about to close.
Then he stepped in and the door closed before I could reply.
“Ah well, if you wanted to meet the man soon you’ve totally succeeded”, said Brad, chuckling with bitter irony
“But from the way he approached Iris it didn’t seem like Gill wanted to dismiss her”, Alice intervened
“These people are assholes, not humans. You can’t understand what they have in mind using the criteria that apply to you and I”, Brad answered
“Ok anyways, let’s go inside and wait to see, eh?”, Alice said, patting my shoulder
We did, and by the time I had turned on my PC and started to familiarize myself with my work folders 15 minutes had passed.
“Good luck”, Brad said when he saw me walk away
“Yeah…ok, I’ll be back”, I said, all of a sudden carefree, because I didn’t care to keep this job anyways.
No matter what happened in Gill’s office, I knew I would make a change in my life. I still didn’t know where I would be going, but wherever that was it had to be far, very far from where I was now.
Chapter 87
I knocked the door and Gill said, “Come on in”
But when I did he didn’t take his eyes of the screen, and kept typing at his computer. I was standing at the door, stupidly waiting, and got very close to walking away. Who do you think you are, Mr. Big Shot? I had come here ready for manipulations and psychological tricks,
and I was hostile even before I felt the disrespect. I was tired too and my patience was ice-thin.
“Should I come back at a later time?”, I asked coolly
“Please, have a seat”, Gill said raising his eyes, as if realizing for the first time I was standing there, then looking quickly at the screen again before giving up his task
Finally he looked at me with undivided attention and smiled.
“Thanks for passing by”, he told me
“Not a problem”, I said, a bit softer than a moment earlier, but keeping my guard high
“I called you to discuss how we can proceed with the next stage of your project”, Gill begun
I nodded, clueless about where all this was going
“I am aware that there are issues with the polymer you synthesized”, Gill continued and then paused, giving me a long stare
He was expecting me to say something, but I didn’t. I had no intention of exposing myself without knowing the aim of his moves.
“I know you’ve been talking to some people about it”, he went on, then stopped again.
I waited for him to continue but this time he didn’t. He just looked at me, and there was a long silence between us.
“Once a new product is engineered it is good practice to have it tested with respect to a number of…aspects”, I said at last, trying to be defensively vague
Gill nodded.
“Of course, I am aware of the fact that you are a good scientist”, he said
There was another pause
“So what do you have in mind for me?”, I asked bluntly, unnerved by the tense slowness of the conversation
“I want you to modify the polymer so that it does the same job as he one you produced, while ensuring that the product is safe for humans”, he said
Is this what he really wants or is he just pondering my reaction?, I wondered
“But maybe the one I synthesized is safe for humans, we just need to test it further to make sure”, I replied, playing dumb
“Ehm…”, he hummed unconvinced
So Gill knew the polymer wasn’t safe, but how? Had they tracked down my activities in Italy and found out about our discoveries? Or did he just know about the police investigation?
Gill looked hard at me for what seemed like eternity, then he smiled and said, “Team work works only when the communication between team members is transparent”
Sure, I thought, so why don’t we start by you telling me what you know?
“We’ve seen the polymer acts strangely on cells, but we don’t understand what is happening. We really don’t”, I said, and this was true
“Well, we want something that doesn’t act on the cells at all. We just want it to act on the food”, Gill replied