Chương 5
“Did she work in a laboratory?”
“The Vale lab.”
“Who runs it?”
“Dr. Simon Vale. He’s famous, I guess.”
“What kind of research?”
“Medical materials. Sealants, wound stuff. Lily explained it better.”
“Did she tell you she’d found a problem there?”
Tessa stopped crying.
“Tessa.”
“She said some test results didn’t match.”
“What results?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she say she was in danger?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Daniel sat down in the hallway chair.
“I’m not the police,” he said.
“I know.”
“I’m also not going to yell at you.”
“You yelled at the dining hall manager because they charged Lily twice.”
“They charged everyone twice.”
“You were still pretty intense.”
“Fair.”
Tessa gave a wet, frightened laugh.
Daniel lowered his voice. “Tell me what Lily told you.”
“She thought someone changed files. Not regular files. Machine files. Like the original test data. She showed me numbers that were different, but I didn’t understand them. She said the lab’s new material was supposed to be safe after it hardened, but there was something left in it.”
“Something harmful?”
“She didn’t know. That was the problem. She wanted them to run more tests.”
“Who is ‘them’?”
“Dr. Vale and Grant.”
“Grant who?”
“Grant Ellison. He manages the lab.”
“Did she report it?”
“She sent an email to somebody in research compliance.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
“What happened?”
“They asked her to meet.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me after that.”
Daniel heard voices in the dormitory hallway. Tessa went silent until they passed.
“Did she have evidence?”
“I don’t know.”
“Tessa.”
“I really don’t.”
“Did she leave the dorm last night to meet someone?”
“Yes.”
The word barely reached him.
“Who?”
“She said security.”
Daniel stood.
“What exactly did she say?”
“She got a text and said somebody from campus security had found video from the lab hallway. She thought it might prove who went into the data room.”
“Did you see the text?”
“No.”
“What time did she leave?”
“A little after eleven.”
“Was she wearing the blue hoodie?”
“Yes.”
“Did she take her laptop?”
“No. Just her phone.”
“Did she seem frightened?”
“She was angry.”
“What did she say?”
Tessa breathed in slowly. “She said, ‘If they finally want the truth, they can hear all of it.’”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Did she tell you where she was going?”
“Carver.”
“Why didn’t you go with her?”
The question came out harder than he intended.
Tessa did not answer.
“Tessa, I’m sorry.”
“I asked if she wanted me to come.”
“And?”
“She said I had an exam.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“I went back to studying.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“I heard rain against the window and thought she’d come back soaked and steal my towel again.”
Her voice broke completely.
Daniel sat down again. “Stay in your room. Detective Rachel Soto will contact you. Tell her everything you told me.”
“I already deleted something.”
Daniel’s hand tightened around the phone.
“What?”
“Lily sent me a picture around ten thirty. She said to keep it. After campus security called the dorm, I got scared. I deleted it.”
“From your phone?”
“Yes.”
“Recently deleted?”
Tessa was quiet.
“Don’t touch anything else,” Daniel said. “Not the phone, not your laptop, nothing. Call Detective Soto now.”
“What was the picture?” he asked.
“A freezer label.”
“What did it say?”
“I don’t remember all of it.”
“What do you remember?”
Tessa whispered, “No human use.”
Lily’s surgery lasted almost five hours.
Dr. Shaw emerged with another surgeon shortly after noon. They had stabilized the fractures with titanium plates. Lily would remain closely monitored because of swelling. She might need additional procedures. Infection, nerve damage, chronic pain, and difficulty speaking were all possible.
“Will she speak again?” Daniel asked.
“We expect her to,” Dr. Shaw said. “But recovery will be long.”
Expect was not promise. Daniel heard the distinction.
Karen arrived at three that afternoon wearing yesterday’s clothes and carrying a canvas bag from an airport bookstore. She looked smaller than Daniel remembered, though she was not. Her hair had more gray in it. She walked directly past him, touched Lily’s ankle beneath the blanket, and sat down.
For ten minutes they did not speak.
Then Karen opened her bag and removed a paperback mystery novel, a package of gum she could not offer Lily, two phone chargers, and a wooden knitting needle.
“Where’s the other needle?” Daniel asked.
“TSA took it.”
“They let you keep one?”
“I don’t think they understood knitting.”
“You don’t knit.”
“I bought the kit at the airport.”
“Why?”
“I panicked.”
The yarn was orange.
“Lily hates orange,” Daniel said.
Karen looked at him. “I know.”
They both laughed once, quietly and without humor. Karen covered her mouth afterward.
Daniel told her about Wade Rusk’s badge and the missing camera footage. He told her what Tessa had said. Karen listened while twisting the orange yarn around her fingers.
When he finished, she asked, “What are you going to do?”
“Find out who did it.”
“That’s what the police are doing.”
“They lost Rusk.”
“They didn’t lose him. He left before they could arrest him.”
“That’s a generous interpretation.”
Karen put the yarn away. “Don’t turn this into a contest.”
“A contest with who?”
“Anyone who tells you no.”
Before Daniel could answer, Lily stirred.
Her open eye moved first to Karen, then to Daniel. Karen leaned over her, speaking softly about the flight and the confiscated knitting needle. She did not mention the attack. She told Lily that the man beside her on the plane had eaten tuna salad at six in the morning and should be prosecuted.
Lily’s eye creased slightly.
May you like
It might have been pain. It might have been an attempt to smile.
A speech therapist named Priya Nair arrived with a laminated board. It contained the alphabet, numbers, and common needs such as PAIN, WATER, COLD, HOT, YES, and NO. Lily could point only with difficulty, so Priya asked her to blink once for yes and twice for no.
