The Lives Between Us (53 page)

A black cervical collar circled her neck, she wore flats instead of her usual high heels, and she carried herself gingerly. A couple of Steri-Strips at her temple held a cut closed, and a sling cradled her left arm.

Eileen hesitated when she noticed Ed. “Sorry. Am I interrupting?” She consulted her watch. “I thought you said nine, but...”

“I did.” Mark’s eyes widened. “Holy cow. What happened to you?”

“Here, take my seat.” Edward jumped up and offered her his chair, then shut the door.

“Car accident.”

Mark looked at Ed to see if this was news to him, but his expression remained neutral. “What happened? Should you be at work?”

She eased into the chair Ed vacated. “I was going stir crazy at home. I was stopped at a light waiting to make a left turn and some car plowed into the back of me, shoving me into on-coming traffic.”

“You’re lucky you weren’t killed.”

Ed stood next to Mark. “Wow, that’s crazy. Was he drunk? Texting?”

“Don’t know; he didn’t stop.”

Hit and run? “And the police haven’t found them?”

“No.” She shook her head slightly. “I doubt they’re looking very hard.”

Mark frowned. “Why’s that?”

She looked at him out of the corner of an eye. “One of the officers on the scene just happened to be Sheriff Lynch.”

Mark pushed aside a smile and glanced at Ed.
Karma’s a bitch
. “I doubt that has anything to do with it. The Lynches are generous people.”

She raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes, then looked up at Ed. “Senator. I checked on your wife this morning. She’s in good spirits.”

He smiled. “Noelle’s happy to be out of the hospital and back at Fisher.”

Eileen folded her hands and sat with her knees crossed. One slim foot gently bounced back and forth in a constant, rhythmic motion. She looked from Mark to Ed. “So what can I do for you, gentlemen?”

Mark walked around the front of his desk and then sat on the top. He picked up a manila envelope and toyed with the edges. “In light of your accident, this seems a little callous, but you’ve really left us no other recourse. Eileen, you’re a very talented and dedicated researcher, but in your enthusiasm to help the Hastingses you’ve broken several laws and jeopardized this company.”

“How so? What is it you think I’ve done wrong?”

“Playing stupid doesn’t become you. You stole money from this company to buy black market embryos for Noelle’s stem cell line.”

Eileen raised immaculately sculpted eyebrows over wide doe eyes. “There’s a black market for embryos?”

“Shocking, I know,” Mark agreed. She would not goad him into losing his temper and making a mistake.

“You can’t prove anything.”

“I wouldn’t be here if I couldn’t. I never authorized a fifty-thousand dollar purchase for any equipment, yet you supposedly bought a digital confocal that we
don’t
have.” He paused. “We tested Noelle’s cell line from our lab; they’re ESCs—not CBSCs. Ed signed a consent for CBSC treatment.”

Eileen’s bouncing foot slowed a few seconds before resuming its previous tempo. “So? So what if I did? She’s better. It worked.”

“It’s illegal. And you stole from this company and switched the cells. I suspect you did it with the best of intentions, but you cannot continue working here.”

Eileen’s leg stilled. “You’re not going to fire me. What would become of the Lynch twins with their parents in jail? I’m certain Skye’s playing mommy to them would put a crimp in your love life.”

“What?” Mark frowned at Ed, who shrugged.

“The Lynch’s ESC line. The line
they
asked me to create for their daughter’s treatment. The evidence that’ll put them in jail for five to ten years each.”

Mark opened his eyes wide. “Don’t know what you’re talking about. What I
do
know is that Serena wanted to do a thorough inspection of the facilities before agreeing to replace you—”

Eileen’s eyes lit in amusement. “Serena?” She laughed. “Replace
me
? Funny.”

“Serena might be a little blunt, but my sister’s definitely smart. Brilliant, in fact. And she has a few qualities you don’t appear to understand. Like loyalty, integrity, honor… Anyhow, after she inspected the Ann Arbor facility, she demanded a substantial signing-on bonus for cleaning up after your sloppy techs. She’s going to have to rewrite our policies and protocols because some of the bags had been contaminated—”

“Contaminated? That’s absurd.”

“That’s what
I
thought, but Serena showed me several vials of stem cells frozen within bags of cord blood. She’s not sure how they got in there, but she suspects it’s a systemic problem since she discovered the contaminated bags in several different tanks.”

The blood leached from Eileen’s face, leaving her ghostly pale. Her eyes darted back and forth as she took it all in and as if desperately trying to think of a way to salvage any of this. Mark was certain she was biting her tongue to keep from asking how many vials they’d found. After Serena unearthed the first and cracked Eileen’s identification code, he was pretty confident they’d found them all. “Have any idea how that could have happened?”

Eileen’s face tightened. She thrust the papers back at him. “I’m not leaving.”

“After doing some research, I’ve a creative solution to offer you. You’ve heard of New South Wales Reguvinen?” He rotated the envelope between his thumb and forefingers.

She nodded.

“I made a few phone calls and got you a job offer. Today will be your last day with Aviva, and your new position at Reguvinen starts in three weeks. Don’t worry about the two weeks’ notice—consider it waived.” Mark handed her the envelope. “I think you’ll find that their offer is more than generous, and they’ll pay all moving expenses.”

Eileen took the envelope and held his gaze. “And if I choose to decline?”

“You won’t.”

She raised her chin. “If I do.”

“The penalty for embezzlement is five to ten years of jail time.” Ed said. “Switching the cells is intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud and misrepresentation, and malpractice—easily one to three million dollars and probably an additional five to ten years.” Ed let that sit and sink in a few seconds before pulling the PI’s report out of a manila envelope and pretended to scan it.

“I believe it’s just you and your son, Oliver, right? Your husband died five years ago from bronchial carcinoma. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to embarrass your only child with this prosecution. You’ve acquired no other romantic entanglements. You have no close friends. What do you have to lose?” Ed nodded. “Take the job, Eileen.”

Anger glittered in her eyes and the envelope creased in her curling, white fingers. “That’s blackmail.”

“Who you gonna tell?” Mark asked, suddenly feeling light and amused.

“Maybe I’ll take my chances in court. If I go down, I’ll take you all with me.” She shifted in her seat to look at Ed. “Your precious career, Senator, would be over.” She turned back to him. “And Aviva would be destroyed. Your reputation would be ruined.”

Mark nodded. “True. But we won’t be broke, despised by our children, and in jail.” He nodded to the envelope lying in her lap. “Look at the offer. It’s a good one.”

Scowling, Eileen flipped open the envelope and yanked out the documents inside. The men sat silent as she scanned the contents. She flipped through the pages. “Not much of a salary—I’d want more money.”

“Sorry; that’s nonnegotiable. Once you prove your worth you might be able to negotiate something more acceptable.”

Eileen continued reading.

“Ten years?” Eyes wide, she stiffened and glared at him. “If I sign this, I’m committed for ten years.”

“It’s not iron clad—I believe you have an out.”

“Not a realistic one with that penalty.” The papers crinkled in her grasp.

Mark shrugged. “Your choice. At least we’re giving you a choice—that’s far more than you did either of us.”

Eileen pursed her lips. “I’ll think about it.”

Mark pushed back his sleeve, uncovering his watch. “You have five minutes.”

Eileen’s mouth dropped open and angry redness flooded her cheeks. “You’ve got to be kidding. I can’t make this decision in five minutes.”

“Yet you will,” Mark said. She’d sign because she wouldn’t want to go to jail and because she cared what her only child thought of her.

“Sign the papers, Eileen,” Ed urged.

Eileen looked at Ed. “My son’s here in the States.”

“Convince him to move with you.”

“He’s happy here. He’s a teacher. He’s got a job. If I move to Australia, I’ll never see him.”

“You’d see him less from prison.” Mark handed her a pen. “By the way, what’d you do with the other Lynch embryos?”

“
If
I’d ever had any in my possession, I would’ve destroyed them.” She raised her eyebrows. “We had no use for them at Aviva.”

Ed crossed his arms and tilted his head. “A smart, enterprising lady like you?” Ed tilted his head and frowned. “I doubt it.”

Mark looked at Ed. “I agree.” He turned back to Eileen. “You’re too smart to waste an asset like that. We know they’re not at Aviva, and you’re not storing them at home, so what could have become of them?”

“Perhaps you should tell me, as it seems you have all the answers today.”

“You’re not altruistic enough to give them away, so stands to reason you’ve either sold them, traded them, or someone owes you a favor.”

“A smart lady like our friend Eileen here would have sold them and made a tidy little profit.”

Mark frowned. “Where’d she hide that kind of money?”

“Aw, shoot, it wouldn’t be hard. He’s being naïve, right Eileen?”

She glared at them.

“She’s right about one thing… It isn’t at all hard to find people willing to sell embryos for a price.”

Mark raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

Ed nodded. “They’re discrete, but if you know the right people,” he looked at Eileen, assuring her, “and I do, they’re quite easy to locate.” He frowned. “Funny thing though, they like to keep their activities…confidential, wouldn’t you say, Eileen?”

“They like to remain in the dark—do their best work that way, uncensored. I really think they get quite upset having their business disclosed. In just a week, using a candle, you’d be amazed at the information my people have uncovered for me. Just imagine what they could do with a big ‘ol governmental floodlight. An investigation a senator could very easily initiate.”

“That would certainly put a crimp in their business.” Mark couldn’t resist taunting Eileen with her own words.

“It would. But more importantly, I bet they’d be pretty upset with whoever brought them to my attention.” His eyes narrowed on Eileen. “And upset people are dangerous people.”

Eileen fingered the brace around her neck as if it was suddenly too tight. “You’re not scaring me with your little story. You’re bluffing.”

Ed handed her a sheaf of papers. “I don’t bluff. Ever.”

Mark craned his neck and squinted to see what Ed handed her. It looked like cell phone records for the month of December. One particular number had been highlighted in canary yellow.

Eileen scanned her cell phone records, and held out her hand for his pen. She scribbled her name, in triplicate, took her copy, and stiffly stalked out of the office.

As soon as Mark closed the door behind Eileen, he turned to Ed. “Were those really her cell phone records?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“You have anything to do with her accident?”

Ed raised an eyebrow, grabbed his coat, and headed for the door. “How could I? I was in D.C. See you and Skye for dinner.”

“We’ll be there.”

Edward took out his phone as he walked to his car. He waited until he was inside to make the call. A man answered on the third ring.

Skye threaded her fingers through Mark’s, appreciating how her marquee diamond engagement ring glittered in the sparkling early summer day. She surveyed the thirty or so reporters and cameramen loitering around the Hastings’s front yard.

Skye leaned into Mark. “He’s really going to do it?”

“Doesn’t have much choice.”

She looked up and shaded her eyes from the bright sunlight. “You always have choices—maybe not good ones, but they’re there.”

“Not when you’re Ed. He has to live with himself.”

She lowered her voice to just above a whisper. “You can’t fault him for what happened. He loves Noelle.”

“I don’t fault him for anything. I’d have done the same. But as Senator, he’s accountable to a lot of people—especially the pro-life organizations that supported his campaign. As a private citizen, anybody questions his morals, and he can tell them to go to hell.”

“But nobody knows.”

Mark glanced at the house where Ben strode through the front door, followed by Edward and Noelle. “He knows.”

“Hey, guys.” Serena strolled up and squeezed between them, pushing Mark to the side.

“What’re you doing here?” Mark asked.

“Taking an early lunch.”

“Did you get your parents settled?” Serena had picked them up at the airport last night. They’d enjoyed a family dinner, but had wound the night up early as his parents were exhausted from the travel. Serena was to check in on them this morning.

“I did.” Serena turned to Skye. “How’re the last-minute wedding plans coming?”

“Swell. Faith keeps sneaking in all kinds of fancy stuff that I then have to cancel—it’s a real kick. If it was up to me, we’d elope, but my sister would never speak to me again.”

Who knew, maybe if Niki’d been alive, Skye might have embraced a more formal wedding with a flower girl and all. Niki would have been adorable all dressed up in a poofy yellow dress, and she would have loved tossing fresh rose petals all over the path. But Niki wasn’t here, and Skye and Mark opted for a less formal wedding.

“I wouldn’t speak to you again either—unless the reception was someplace great like Hawaii?”

“I
knew
we should have eloped,” Mark said.

“It’s a thought.” She put a hand on Serena’s arm. “Are your parents offended that we’re having the rehearsal dinner at the bar? Mark says they’re not, but he doesn’t really care if they are.”