Expectation (Ghost Targets, #2) (10 page)

"You know...." Theresa said, rising slowly and stepping up to Katie. "I understand you now, Agent Pratt." She was only a few years older than Katie, but she spoke like a mother comforting her child. "I understand why you're here, why you're so concerned about the case. Because you're searching for some reason behind your pain." She smiled, but her eyes were sad. "You'd be better off learning to live with the grief."

"No, Mrs. Barnes—"

Now she chided. "Child, don't drag my husband's name through the mud just because you're suffering."

Katie tilted her head, confused at the sudden hostility, and she shook her head. "No, you totally misunderstand me."

"I don't think so," Theresa said. "You're not going to find your answers here, and I've already told you I don't want answers. If I'd understood, if I'd known about your situation, I would never have met with you at all."

Katie gaped. "You really believe that's entirely up to you?"

"If you're talking about the police chief and her idle suspicions—"

"Idle? They're anything but," Katie said, bristling. "Mrs. Barnes, she is set on bringing you in, and my boss would be a half step behind her. I'm your only champion here."

"Oh, please," Theresa said, rolling her eyes. "I'll take my chances."

Her patience gone, Katie shouted, "Why?" Theresa fell back a step, eyes wide, but Katie chased after her. "Why do you insist on making yourself a suspect? Why won't you give me anything to work with?"

Theresa stopped retreating and stood her ground. "Because I have nothing to hide." She took a deep breath. "Because I won't let them bully me. Let them say what they want, let them do what they can, but I won't help them stomp on my husband's legacy. They owned him, everything but the
shred
 he reserved for me. He gave himself up for them, and now they want to take what was left."

"They will," Katie said, her voice barely more than a whisper. She couldn't make herself meet the other woman's eyes. "Mrs. Barnes, I don't believe you could have done anything to hurt him, but they won't listen to me, and you have given me nothing." She saw Theresa stiffen, stubborn, and knew she was no closer to agreeing now. Katie sighed. "They have...what they believe is evidence against you. I wanted to shield you from it—"

Theresa interrupted her. "My husband lived his life in secret, Agent Pratt, but I have not. I'm not afraid of anything they've got."

"They...." Katie's shoulders fell, her breath escaped her. Then she looked Theresa square in the eyes. "They believe Eric and Ellie Cohn were involved in an affair."

Theresa flinched as though Katie had struck her, but she gave no other response. Katie raised her hands, helpless. "They think you may have discovered it and lashed out in jealousy. They think it means motive. I'm sorry, Mrs. Barnes, I wanted to keep this—"

"Stop," she said, and there was a gentleness in her voice that surprised Katie. She raised a hand. "Just stop. I...I already know. You can stop explaining."

Katie fell quiet, unsure what to say next. Theresa broke the silence.

"I do know about it, but I've known for a long time. I...could probably find some evidence of that somewhere. If that would help. But, God help me, if this information gets out..."

"I understand, Mrs. Barnes," Katie said. She saw her opportunity there and knew what she was supposed to do. "You have worked so hard to protect your husband's reputation." She could use that. Reed would expect her to. "But if they have to bring a warrant against you, if they have to present that information as evidence to the court, it won't be a secret for long." She said it matter-of-factly, unwilling to press the threat. If Reed wanted to play dirty, he could come here and do it himself.

Theresa's mind was on something else, though. Katie looked up to see if she had considered the implications of her words, and just caught the other woman's eyes grow wide. "Ellie!" she said.

Katie frowned. "What?"

"It's...if there
is
 something amiss, Agent Pratt..." She trailed off, unable to complete her sentences. She fell down on the couch, her eyes unfocused. "I still can't believe..." She faded away again, then looked up at Katie suddenly. "Agent Pratt, if someone is responsible, it could well be Ellie Cohn."

"Under the circumstances," Katie said, "we're going to need a lot more than just your suspicions. Do you have anything specific in mind?"

"He...he was with her the day before his accident." Katie's eyes grew wide, and Theresa looked away. "He has his weaknesses, Agent Pratt, and I was not willing to give him up over a little indiscretion." She sighed. "I wasn't willing to let him go away, either. So I...kept an eye on him."

"You hired a service?"

She nodded. "Snoopy. It's a local company, designed by a guy I knew in college. It's...discreet. I didn't have to listen in on...everything." She shuddered at the thought of it. "But it flagged certain conversations. It's designed to track significant changes in the relationship, and I just kept waiting for it to message me and say he was ready to run away with her."

Katie sighed. "Please tell me it didn't."

Theresa shook her head and reached up to wipe away a tear. "No." The word escaped her like a squeak. She took a breath. "No, and I couldn't even be satisfied with that, because I knew he did most of his carrying on at the clinic, out of sight of Snoopy and everyone else." She rose, and came back to stand close to Katie. "But sometimes they met in a hotel room, some dirty dive. And they were there the day before his accident. I got a message then."

She choked up, and Katie couldn't control herself. "What was it?"

"He broke it off. He told her it was over." She took a deep breath, and let it go. "I knew. I got the message almost immediately, and I'd heard the recording from his own mouth before Eric even got home that night. And when I got the call the next day, about him being hurt, I just thought how unfair it was. I never even considered—"

"She might have been angry."

Theresa nodded. "I knew. I
knew
, even then, but I couldn't put the two together." A tear escaped her eye, and then a stream. "God, how could I have been so stupid? I should have done something. I should have said something."

"There's no reason you should have suspected—"

"Pshaw!" Her voice was rough now, her grief raw. "She's a violent woman, Agent Pratt. Just look at her record. I certainly did. When...when it first happened, I was obsessed about it. When I first found out, I mean. And I dug up everything I could about her."

"When was that?"

"Three years ago." Katie gaped, and Theresa nodded through her tears. "We had a fight, and he said it was over, and we went on with our lives. Then a few months later it just sort of happened again. He still had to work with her, and neither of us was willing to risk news getting out by pressing for that to change."

"And you just learned to live with it." Katie had seen that more than once.

"How many people get married at all anymore, Agent Pratt?" Theresa cried. "I thought we could make it work. Even afterward I thought we could make it work."

"But he kept going back to it," Katie said.

"It wasn't his fault." She reached for the tissues again and blew her nose noisily, but she couldn't stop the flow of tears. "They did it to him. He was famous. He was one of the most special people in the world, and they locked him up in that place, and they just kept erasing everything he did, trying to pretend he didn't exist. He was their prisoner, and anything he could do to feel free...."

"Mrs. Barnes, you realize everything you're saying—"

"It's not fair!" Theresa wailed. "We gave up so much for them, for
her
, and then she did this? And I just kept quiet. I knew. I
knew
 what she was capable of. I knew what had happened, and I didn't say a word."

Katie stared at her, fascinated, and the word escaped her, "Why?"

"Because that's what we did. Both of us. We kept their secrets for them." She wiped away her tears, sniffled once, and then fell silent, though her chest still heaved. She met Katie's eyes, and hers were blazing bloodshot. "I've done it for so long, it never occurred to me to do anything else."

"Mrs. Barnes," Katie said, her voice soft, "what are you saying?"

"I'm saying it's a sham." Theresa's breath escaped her as she said it, and then she looked around sharply as though she expected soldiers to come bursting in through the windows. She lifted her chin, though, and met Katie's eyes. "All of it. It's a lie. He gave up everything to help them maintain it, and then they let her throw his life away." She stepped away, up into the dining room where her handheld was resting on the corner of the dining table, and came back with a look of serenity on her tear-streaked face.

"I'll give you medical access. I'll give you anything you want. I'm not protecting them anymore."

Katie hesitated for just a moment. Then she stepped close and pulled out her handheld. She checked on the protocol, which she already had bookmarked. "Here's what I need you to do," Katie said. "Just say, 'Hippocrates, grant the FBI full investigative access to my husband's records and condition.'" Theresa shook her head, exasperated, but she repeated the exact phrase. Katie nodded. "Good, good. Now, I also need a copy of that recording—"

Theresa placed a hand on Katie's arm, and caught her eyes. "Agent Pratt, you need to slow down and think about what you just heard." She cocked her head to the side. "In fact," she said with half a smile, "I'll give you a minute to do just that. I could use a cup of tea."

She slipped past Katie and headed to the kitchen. Katie watched her go, confused, then followed her a moment later. Clouds filled the sky outside, leaving the bright room a murky gray. Katie felt lost. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Theresa called over her shoulder as she dug for a teapot in a bottom cabinet, "that I just let you in on one of the biggest secrets this world has ever known, and all you're interested in is your case."

Katie frowned. "You said they used him—"

"I said it's a sham." Theresa
tsk
ed. "I guess you thought I meant the working conditions. No, no. I mean all of it.
All
 of it. Gevia is a lie."

Katie just stared. Eventually, she said, "Gevia?" She thought back to her trip to the doctor earlier that year. It had been a big to-do, three shots over the course of nearly two hours, and then an entire afternoon waiting around at the hospital for observation. It was supposed to be good for ten years, though. Her jaw fell open, her eyes wide. "The life extension is a lie?"

Theresa pointed a finger at her. "Not...not exactly." She nodded toward the breakfast nook again. "Why don't you have a seat, dear. I think you're going to need a little something to drink, too."

She came to the table a few minutes later with two delicate china teacups on saucers. She sank down opposite Katie, and Katie was surprised to see new tears welling in her eyes. There was no trace of them in her voice. "There's sugar in the little wooden box by your hand there, in case you need it."

"Mrs. Barnes," Katie said, "are you...are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said with a little sniffle as raindrops began to patter against the window. Theresa put a reassuring hand on top of Katie's as she met her eyes. "Dear, I've been holding this in for years. I've never told a soul. It's terrifying, in a way, but like I said, I'm done helping them."

"But what are you telling me?"

"Gevia doesn't do anything." Katie opened her mouth to ask for more explanation, but Theresa held up a hand to stop her. "
Gevia
 doesn't do it. Our other medicine does."

Katie furrowed her brow, trying to find meaning in those words, but she finally shook her head. "I don't—"

"Look, it's like this. The worst effects of aging are what? Mental deterioration, physical decline, and eventually a general susceptibility. There's...lots of things that go into making those happen, but the worst effects are pretty apparent, and they've received a
lot
 of attention over the years." She sat back. "You remember Alzheimer's. You're not too young for that. Alzheimer's used to be the bogeyman waiting in the dark for old people. Total mental decay."

Theresa shook her head. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not making light of it. I lost my mother to it, and that was barely a year before they started human trials for Recollex and Zinafin. But when they got those working, they didn't just cure Alzheimer's. They improved brain function." Katie nodded. She knew where this was going.

"I get my shots," she said.

Theresa nodded. "Everybody does," she said. "And you get your strength booster. That started out as a preventive against geriatric frailty, which used to constantly cause the elderly to suffer broken bones from minor trips and falls. But everyone takes it now. It improves coordination, muscle response, and encourages bone regeneration. Makes you stronger." She laughed. "Like Popeye's spinach, my dad used to say. Eric got him into the early trials for that, and it probably saved his life. Now you and I take it to save on gym memberships. But it works. It keeps us strong."

"Yeah," Katie said. "But it's no Gevia."

Theresa's lips tightened. "That was the start of it," she said. "Then they started digging deeper. It was the third cancer vaccine that really cured aging. That was the
real
 Gevia, and Eric is the one who made it happen." She smiled more earnestly this time, though the tears were back. "You saw the picture."

"I did," Katie said.

"This you may be too young for, but Eric remembered. The first cancer vaccine came out nearly thirty years ago. It was...clumsy. It helped, but we're talking statistical probabilities there, not a real cure. Not a pill that makes a person better. But before that first vaccine even entered human trials—and you can bet it did, and it made somebody a real load of money—before it even entered trials, everyone was calling it the 'first cancer vaccine.' Everyone knew there had to be something better."

Katie nodded. "I do remember this. I studied it. And the cure came out in the twenties, but it..." She trailed off, trying to remember her history, and her eyes grew wide when she did.