Join us here in The Bistro for a discussion on the entire Gamache series. Feel free to ask or answer any questions about any of the books or the series as a whole.
Located in the Equitable Building in Manhattan, Minotaur Books publishes bestselling and award-winning crime fiction ranging from thrillers and suspense to traditional mysteries. Minotaur has published Louise Penny since 2007.
3,660 replies on “The Bistro”
THE END
Thank you, thank you, Anna! I marvel at your amazing imagination and enjoyed every bit of the story. You certainly have a bright future in writing!
Hugs,
Nancy
Therese, Freddie, Julie, Frank Hamill and Marcus Collier were deposited with the custody sergeant at the local police station. Fox was less certain that Doreen was part of the plot. It was likely that Frank had kept her in the dark. She was busy making hurried calls to Kenmore and Associates. There were a few missing parts but Marcus was able and willing to fill in those details. The one person they hadn’t been able to tie to the Whitmore was Therese Longley.
“She was a childhood friend of Timothy’s. Therese met Brendan at Timothy’s funeral and they stayed in touch. I am not very comfortable with the thought that Brendan recruited her but then he didn’t tell me who his helpers were going to be. He set it up so none of us really knew who else would be involved except where necessary.”
“Who gave the NAX13 to Freddie?” asked Fox.
“I don’t know for sure but I suspect Brendan did that directly and instructed him on what to do. He wouldn’t have left the handling of a dangerous chemical to chance. Freddie played around with liquid nitrogen in his cooking. It is quite trendy with chefs, all that experimental molecular stuff. Maybe that is why Brendan chose him. Or it could be because he knew he could really trust him. Freddie had quite the crush until Julian came along.”
Fox and Collie took Amelia to their favourite pub for dinner as thanks for her part in solving the murder. She laughed when she saw the name of the detectives preferred haunt.
“The Fox and Hounds! How appropriate.”
Collie didn’t blink. “Really? In what way?”
“The toxin that killed Evangeline acts rapidly which means she ingested it on the bus but there was no way anyone had access to her water bottle, the source of the toxin, during the morning she died,” Fox summarised. “That was the ingenious part of Whitmore’s plan, delaying the activity of the NAX13 so he could protect you all from suspicion. I daresay Mr Whitmore was hopeful that Evangline’s death would have been deemed non-suspicious, which it possibly might by a lesser pathologist, one unaware of the existence of the nerve agent and unfamiliar with its presentation. There we were in luck. Dr Ngige is both thorough and well informed having heard about the NAX13 from an equally excellent pathologist, the one who had examined Brendan Whitmore.”
“We have Ms Dinthorpe to thank for working out exactly how Evangeline was murdered,” Fox informed the room. “Whitmore’s death also gave us some clues. He used his own suicide as a trial run, I suspect to ensure that the delivery method would work. What he couldn’t know was that NAX13 would be implicated in his death given it was a toxin that so few people knew about. He didn’t foresee that the pathologist who examined him would be so unhappy that a man with a healthy heart and brain had died without obvious cause that he would keep digging until he found one. Do you want to explain your theory Amelia?”
“Certainly Inspector although I don’t think I am telling this group anything they don’t already know. NAX13 freezes and melts at the same temperature as water but its density is slightly lower and its heat of evaporation is higher. All are important for the method of delivery. When Whitmore died he was drinking scotch and ice, just as you did with Evangeline Therese. The police recovered a thermos perfect for transporting specimens in liquid nitrogen. Frozen NAX13 would certainly be safer to carry around than the liquid form which would be rapidly fatal if spilled on skin or allowed to evaporate. Even better if the toxin is frozen and encased in water as an extra barrier.”
“The poison was in the ice?” exclaimed Doreen Hamill which suggested to Fox that she was more intelligent than she looked and possibly not aware of the plot to kill Evangeline.
“Yes,” said Amelia. “It is my suspicion that Brendan Whitmore created ice cubes with a miniscule amount of NAX13 at the core. The toxin has a lower density than either water or scotch. When the ice melted the toxin would have floated to the top of either drink and thus been consumed. The greater heat of evaporation of the NAX13 means it was less likely to turn into a vapour quickly at cold temperatures, as when mixed with ice water so would be unlikely to present a risk to anyone else in the bus. In fact the amount of NAX13 used was probably so small it was swallowed by Evangeline in one gulp.
Fox nodded. “Dr Ngige concurs. There was only a molecular trace of NAX13 in the water bottle, not even enough to be a threat. Mr Whitmore would not have wanted anyone else to be at risk from the agent. I suspect there was only one ice cube involved and we know how that came to be in Ms Purdue’s ice cube tray, or rather Freddie and Julian’s.”
There were tears in Freddie’s eyes but he didn’t confirm or deny the accusation. He was tougher than Collie would have credited. She thought he would be confessing like a Catholic at Easter.
“The ice tray in Evangeline’s hotel freezer compartment was empty when we recovered it. It had her fingerprints but also a set belonging to Freddie. The ice tray in the boys room was also empty and had an identical set of prints, the victim’s and Freddie’s. There is not much ice in those little trays is there?” Collie said conversationally.
Julian made an attempt at an explanation. “Evangeline ran out of ice when she was making drinks. We offered to swap her tray with our full one.”
“Of course you did. Very chivalrous,” Collie commended him. “It was also a very convenient way to slip the doctored ice cube into Evangeline’s room. Afterwards you dumped the thermos in a rubbish skip behind the hotel. You cleaned the outside but Freddie must have slipped and left a fingerprint just inside the flask which you overlooked. I am surprised you weren’t wearing gloves.”
“I was,” Freddie said in a small voice. He was obviously exhausted from hiding his guilt. “Brendan’s instructions said to use the thick rubber ones as protection from the liquid nitrogen but they made me clumsy. I got scared that I would drop the ice cube’s little holder and that it would smash and leak toxin or something. I took them off.”
Julian nudged him to make him stop. “We would like our lawyer now, Calli Wong.”
Hope to have the rest up in a few more minutes. Stand by…….
“It was a very clever plan in every regard but then Brendan Whitmore was an intelligent man,” Fox said looking around the room. They had tied the boys and Hamill to Whitmore but neither Mrs Hamill or Therese looked surprised by the name. “He had to be in order to enact his meticulous scheme from beyond the grave. Of course he also required a lot of help, but that was not difficult to acquire. Whitmore was a gregarious man, kind to his friends and generous with his considerable wealth. It also wasn’t hard to find people who despised Evangeline Purdue, otherwise known as Marissa Collier, nee Brownlea. Two years ago she was going by the name Mrs Maya Hall and working at Whitmore’s factory. Now she is dead and I think we know how and why.” Fox paused briefly and considered the latter. Money was the simple explanation but he was actually lying when he said he understood the reason behind her actions. “Freddie called Evangeline a very nasty woman. Marcus Collier, who was married to her, described his ex wife as a psychopath. Maybe she was that. It would explain how she could steal samples of a material she knew to be a highly toxic from Whitmore’s company and sell it to a terrorist group to be used against innocent men, women and children. And she did so knowing her own son would be endangered. Whitmore confirmed this through his own private investigations. I think he was horrified that a product he helped create had been used to kill. Even more so because NAX13 had taken the life of his friend Marcus’s only child. Unable to live with that knowledge, he took his own life and in doing so practised the means by which he would take revenge on the perpetrator of that horrific act. Evangeline Purdue died because of what she did but also because she stirred anger and loathing in people prepared to act on those emotions.”
Collie took up the narrative. “Evangeline Purdue received the bus tour as a prize in the mail from the Nexus charity. She probably assumed her details were entered automatically when she purchased something or she was so greedy she didn’t care why she had been chosen or whether it was a mistake. Nexus was established by Whitmore with the help of his lawyers and his old friend Frank Hamill.”
“Helping a friend is not a crime,” interjected Hamill.
Collie ignored him. “When Evangeline claimed the prize the tour company notified Nexus which is how Frank knew she would be part of this group. Frank also notified Whitmore’s law firm as he had been instructed to do when this whole plan was begun. We spoke to the firm, Kenmore and Associates. They were less than helpful but a warrant freed up their records. One of the associates, Calli Wong, emailed the details of which tour Evangeline would be on to three other people, Therese, Freddie and Julian, and they subsequently booked places on the same trip.”
Therese and Freddie were both looking green. Collie hoped they weren’t going to be sick. She really hated mess.
Just doing a quick edit on the last bit. It’s written as of late last night.
Anna, more, more, more, please!
Collie spoke to the hotel where the tour stayed for the two nights before Evangeline died. The Carrisbrooke had CCTV footage of the third floor where their victim had been staying and the digital images were emailed to Toni. It took a while to go through them but it was fruitful in its own way.
By early evening Fox and Collie had tracked down enough information to piece together most of the story. They entered the sitting room where the tour guests were waiting. Amelia Dinthorpe was sitting by the fireplace reading. She looked up and nodded at the detectives. The Hamills were occupied with a game of cards at a table by the bookcase. Therese and the boys were seated in a cluster of armchairs next to the window sipping on gin and tonics. They looked tired, which was not surprising thought Toni, the events of the preceding two days were likely weighing upon them. The police officers settled themselves upon a couple of straight backed chairs which they moved into the centre of the room and cast their gaze upon the remaining suspects.
“It is getting late so we thought it might be easier to talk to you all together given what we now know,” Fox announced. Julian and Freddie both looked particularly uncomfortable at that pronouncement but Collie began the conversation with Therese.
“It appears that you were the closest to Evangeline on the tour Miss Longley.”
Therese was wide eyed. “Really? I suppose I tried to be nice to her but then I try to be nice to everyone.”
“The afternoon before she died you all returned to the hotel from the day’s activities at half past three. What did you do in the hours before the buffet dinner?”
Fox watched Therese’s reaction to Collie’s question. She wasn’t a seasoned liar and it was easy to note the twitching of her eye muscles and the small anxious movements of her hands and fingers.
“I ironed some clothes to wear to dinner and took a shower.”
After some deliberation Therese added a little more detail.
“I also connected my tablet to the hotel wifi to check my emails and write one to an old friend.”
“Even a long newsy email wouldn’t fill all the hours in question Therese. I suggest you tell us about the hour or so you spent in Evangeline’s room….or perhaps we can ask the boys?” Collie suggested. A sharp intake of breath from Freddie had Toni making a mental bet on who would crack first. “We have footage from the hotel camera’s showing you entering her room shortly after four and leaving about sixty minutes later.”
Therese glanced briefly at Freddie and Julian before answering.
“Of course, that was the afternoon she invited me over for coffee. I thought it was the night before.”
“Was that usual, that you and the victim would have coffee together?” Toni had chosen her words carefully. Therese flinched when she heard Evangeline referred to as the ‘victim’.
“No. That was the only time. We were both traveling alone so it was nice to have a bit of quiet company.”
“You didn’t think to invite Amelia, seeing as she was also on her own? Or were you and Evangeline particular friends?”
Therese seemed a bit taken aback, possibly not sure what Toni was suggesting.
“No…ah…it was Evangeline’s idea. Perhaps she felt Amelia wasn’t that fond of her so she only asked me.”
“I wasn’t at all fond of her,” Amelia interjected quietly.
“And I really don’t think it was Evangeline’s idea,” countered Collie, “Everyone we spoke to seemed to agree that she had little time for female company, quiet or otherwise. On the video Ms Purdue looked quite surprised when she opened the door, like she wasn’t actually expecting you. I can bring up the footage on my computer and show you if you wish.”
“Why did you go to Ms Purdue’s room Therese’s?” Fox pressed more sternly.
The young woman was pale. “Just for someone to talk to. We had a drink in the end. She kept a bottle of scotch in her bag.”
“How do you like your scotch?” asked Collie. “With water or with ice? You don’t look the straight up type.”
“Ice,” squeaked Therese.
“What time did the boys join you?” Fox inquired pleasantly. When Freddie and Julian looked like protesting, Fox added, “I am presuming that is the innocent explanation for how their fingerprints came to appear in Ms Purdue’s room.”
After a moment Julian nodded his head slightly and Therese looked up at Fox.
“I suggested to Evangeline that they would liven up the party and I knocked on the connecting door.”
Collie spoke with a sharp edge to her voice. “What did you do at this party?”
Therese finally looked frightened. They were not treating her as the naive young woman she had first appeared to be.
“Nothing much. We had a couple of drinks and a chat. Evangeline was full of stories about being an actress and all the famous people she had met. It was all rubbish but she could be entertaining.”
Fox cast his passive eye over the boys. “Scotch and ice for you both was it?”
Freddie shrugged but there was a slight tremor in his voice. “She was offering and it was cheaper than tapping into the minibar. It’s not my preferred, more of a G and T man,” he said picking up glass on the table. They both stared at the telltale ring of liquid left behind where the condensation had pooled. Freddie’s hand shook and he could not meet Fox’s eyes.
“Most of what we have heard about Evangeline has been less than flattering,” Collie said. “I am having trouble picturing her at this little party. Was she a good hostess? Generous with the drinks…or did you help yourselves to her scotch and ice?”
Therese shrugged. “Therese made the drinks. I guess she was a little stingy with the scotch but that was fair, it was her bottle.”
Unexpectedly, Frank Hamill’s voice erupted from the side of the room. “Really officers, I am not sure what you are getting at. The young people sound like they were being kind to Ms Purdue, trying to draw her out and involve her more with the group. She died on the bus the next day. Are you implying they somehow poisoned her scotch? Is that what she was drinking on the bus?”
Fox shook his head but kept his gaze on Therese and the boys. “ No. Scotch is not what we found in the bottle.”
Ohhhhhhhhhhh here it comes!!!!!!!!!!!
For those still with me….the end doth approach!
Amelia outlined her thoughts on how the killer might have done the deed.
“But they would need access to Evangeline’s room,” Amelia finished.
“From what we know, Evangeline was in her room up until the moment she left it to go to the bus,” commented Toni Collie. “Certainly no-one saw her at breakfast that morning. One of the hotel porters met her at the room and escorted her down with her bags.”
“So it was done the night before, while we were all at the buffet,” Amelia thought out loud.
“Who left the dinner before Evangeline?” asked Collie.
“We all left together after Sherry finished giving her usual evening speech outlining the next day’s events. Nice girl but she does like the sound of her own voice. I went in the lift up to my room with Evangeline, Therese, Freddie and Julian. We were all on the same floor.”
Collie looked thoughtful. “Do you happen to remember who was next to Evangeline?”
“Freddie and Julian. Therese was next to me across the hall. Why?”
“I was just wondering if the rooms connected?”
Amelia nodded. “Sure. It was one of those twin door arrangements so each party would have to undo one door from inside their own rooms. You would need a key to get into Evangeline’s room, well one of the credit card thingys they call keys. They don’t even have your room number on those cards so it’s easy to mix them up.”
There was an easier way thought Collie. “Or you could just score an invite to Evangeline’s room. She was fairly friendly with the men by all accounts.”
“You might look a bit odd turning up to an assignation with a thermos flask in tow,” Amelia pointed out.
Fox tapped the table thoughtfully. “This story is one of many moving parts.”
Fox and Collie took a break and went over what they knew. Brendan Whitmore had likely committed suicide with the same agent that had been used by terrorists to murder Timothy Collier and the others in the village in Africa. He would have seen it has poetic justice given his lab had produced the substance.
“It also meant he had access to a sample of NAX13, a portion of which he used on himself and the remainder he saved for the woman who became Evangeline,” Fox concluded.
“We still don’t know how it was administered or by whom. We can tie Hamill to Nexus and the ticket but nothing else.” Toni was frustrated.
“He didn’t do it alone but he was involved,” Fox insisted. “Someone put the toxin in the water bottle in such a way that it didn’t take effect until she was on the bus.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I need to talk to Amelia Dinthorpe.”
Amelia was both confused and fascinated as Robbie Fox outlined what they had discovered. Evangeline was murdered by a nerve toxin of all things. Replaying the events on the bus in her mind, Amelia was awfully glad she had stuck to cardiac massage and fore sworn mouth to mouth. It was the current thinking in resuscitation and it had saved her from exposure to the deadly agent. She felt the same sense of thrill and chill that struck her when a bullet had parted her hair in the Middle East.
“It wasn’t any agent I was familiar with,” ventured Amelia.
Fox slid across the paperwork the Army had provided which detailed the characteristics of NAX13 and waited while Amelia read through them. The former doctor sighed.
“In one way it is good to know that she was beyond any saving. I can stop wondering what else I could have done.”
“I am seeking your opinion as one with medical knowledge,” Fox told her. “How was Evangeline poisoned?”
“Inhalation, ingestion or transdermally….skin contact. They are the traditional means of exposure.”
“We found just a trace of NAX13 in Ms Purdue’s water bottle so we are going with ingestion. I just can’t work out why a toxin that acts almost instantaneously took so long to have an effect.”
Amelia pondered the possibilities. She asked to see again the papers showing the chemical properties of the NAX13. While she was reading Collie arrived, having been dispatched by Fox to collect another article from the lab. It had already been swabbed and examined.
“You were correct sir, the lab found a bare trace of NAX13 inside and we have a possible match on the fingerprint,” Toni informed her boss as she deposited a plastic evidence bag on the table. Inside was a smooth metallic flask, wider mouthed but similar in appearance to Evangeline’s water bottle.
Amelia placed her hand out to examine the object. “May I?”
Fox nodded. “It matched the description of the ones that went missing from a lab at Whetton Hills where the NAX13 was manufactured. We found in a rubbish skip behind the Carrisbrooke Hotel.”
“That’s a special thermos used for storing samples in liquid nitrogen, like sperm for artificial insemination. They were keeping the toxin frozen for shipment,” Amelia mused. “Maybe they thought it was safer that way. The stuff is certainly deadly as a liquid or vapour. Mind you it melts at room temperature according to the specs you gave me so it seems a lot of bother.”
Amelia turned the flask over and a curious look passed over her face.
“I have an idea Inspector.”
I think I would like to read TNOTB too. I will get to that as soon I am done.
I love the description of the garden and the flowers Julie, thank you. I am lucky to live in an area that is very beautiful in autumn. I love all the colours at the moment and the different feel in the air. It was supposed to be sunny today but it isn’t, not cold though.
Now what were Fox and Collie up to…..
Spring and autumn are my favorite times of year. Spring with the new growth, the buds on the trees and the wonderful scents of mown grass and dark earth being turned over for planting – it really feels like a re-awakening. The autumn SHOULD therefore be a more gloomy time, as things are preparing to die off for the winter, but what I have found is that everything, before it dies, gives one last big burst of energy into making something beautiful. Whether it’s the glorious colors of the trees, or a late blooming, it seems wonderful to me. Plus the quality of the light that shifts in mid-August in this part of the world. That quality gets me every year, and the first day I see it is bitter-sweet. I know it’s a harbinger of the end of the year, yet it’s so beautiful on it’s own.
Now I see there’s a new installment! (I’m so glad we’re not getting this story in monthly installments of a magazine – I wouldn’t have the patience!
Anna, how I would love a Fox and Collie series! I think for just dashing this off to amuse us, it’s a very good story all round! A nice big edit after you’ve finished the second of the Cove series would do it, I’m sure…
I am thinking of rereading, but just TNOTB, as I don’t really have time for more this summer – I need to reread Emma with an eye to leading a discussion in early August. Rereading brings out so much, though…
I am anxiously awaiting to see what the next recipe will be. I got Louise’s newsletter last night and am once again reminded of her amazing strength. I’ll miss her doing a full tour, but I certainly understand.
Our winter here has been cold and wet, but so far, the spring has been glorious. We’re experiencing our third sunny day in a row with temperatures around 70 degrees, which is my perfect temperature! It feels nice to go out without a jacket and feel the sun on my face for a bit before it becomes too hot and punishing! We actually found we had too much bedding last night for comfortable sleep, so I’ve taken off the big blanket – I’m sure it will come back before we change to summer sleeping arrangements, but for now, it’s nice to have a lighter covering!
I completely missed our crocuses this year, as it was always so dark and gloomy and wet, I didn’t feel like going out to look at them… they finish by early February, and then we move into the bluebell stage. Weeds seem to be choking them out, though, so they’re not as plentiful as before – too bad, I used to love seeing them. Even our forsythia has finished blooming already, and the hyacinths by the back door, though at least I got to see them whenever I got home from somewhere. I love their scent wafting in the door as you enter. We have the odd daffodil and tulip that will come up next, but they are dying away, too… fewer each year. Ah well – our dogwood trees have come back from a devastating prune a few years ago, so we could get close enough to the house to paint it. They’ve just started flowering again last year, and I’m hoping they’ll be lovely this year, too. Cherry blossoms of our neighbors are all done, but the apple blossoms are yet to come, and the many beautiful magnolia trees in our neighborhood should be blooming soon. I love the spring flowers. Our neighborhood is filled with rhododendrons, too, which are glorious to see! By summer, things calm down a bit and we are not so colorful in every garden, but the spring is beautiful here!
I would need to rewrite it for that but perhaps the first in the Fox and Collie mysteries.
Beautiful autumn weather here with cool nights followed by sunshine and a light breeze. How is spring for those in the north.
New recipe next week. I am tempted to do a reread but I would never finish the writing! Is anyone else rereading? Was it you Cathryne? Any new thoughts or insights?
In some respects it does feel as though the world is heading for a great reckoning.
Oh, it’s getting good! 10,000 words – my goodness – maybe it should be a book!
Once they heard all that Marcus had to say, Fox told Collie to release the tour bus after lunch, apart from the six key suspects who were cooling their heels in the lounge room while a search was undertaken of their luggage. A constable had also taken samples of their fingerprints. Marcus was taken to a separate room to wait while Fox and Collie spoke with Frank Hamill. Faced with documentation showing his link to Nexus and the admission by Marcus that the charity was Whitmore’s baby, Hamill admitted he knew the man.
“I have known Brendan since University. He called on me at times to help with his business but he soon outgrew the services of my small accounting firm.
Fox peered at Hamill who looked like what he was, a bookish accountant. He was also a key figure in their murder investigation. Frank Hamill had registered Nexus in Switzerland.
“Did you send Ms Purdue the prize letter?”
“Nexus did. It is a real charity. Of course Evangeline hadn’t bought a ticket in one of our lotteries but she was happy to take the prize opportunity. When she registered with the tour they sent notification to Nexus, which was normal when the prize was claimed.”
“Then you let everyone know it was time to take a holiday?”
“Everyone Inspector? I don’t know what you mean. I booked the holiday for my wife and myself.”
“You didn’t kill Evangeline by yourself.”
“I didn’t kill anyone. I was with my wife the entire tour apart from bathroom breaks.”
From what Fox and Collie discovered that was true, but Hamill had already admitted his involvement through Nexus and his association with Whitmore. While neither connection was illegal, conspiracy to commit murder certainly was.
“If you didn’t kill Evangeline why did you have Nexus send her the trip as a prize?”
“Brendan asked me to. When we set up the charity he said that there would be times when I would be given the names of people who deserved a holiday and I should send them a prize voucher. I received Evangeline’s name in an email from Brendan’s lawyer saying he had been asked to pass it to me.”
Timothy Kildare, née Collier, was listed as one of two aid workers who died in the NAX13 attack in Africa. Fox had not made the connection immediately and the Army had not figured it out at all. It was only after they had identified Evangeline as Marissa that the police tracked her marriage to Collier and the birth of their son. Timothy had ultimately been adopted by Marcus’s sister and her husband, Ralph Kildare. They were lucky the records had been computerized. In the old days the connection would have taken days, if not weeks to uncover.
“Brendan and I discussed at length my fears for Timothy given the known terrorist activity in the region where he was working. When Brendan was convincing Adam that they needed to destroy the NAX13 he actually used Timothy as an example. What if such a chemical was used there, he said. Marissa overhead the discussion and, in her inevitable twisted style she must have got the idea to do exactly what we all feared. Brendan was devastated when he learned what had happened to Timothy,” Marcus admitted. “Almost as wretched as I was. We both felt responsible.”
Neither Fox nor Collie had to point out that it was hardly their fault that a normal conversation could lead anyone to sell a nerve agent to terrorists. It took a twisted mind to do what Marissa had done and risk her son in the process.
“She was a psychopath,” Marcus said, as if he had read their minds. “When Brendan worked out what had happened, he set a plan in motion to find Marissa and take revenge, for all of us. He gave the money to an old friend, he didn’t tell me who, to set up Nexus and had private detectives track down Marissa under her new name.”
Thanks Peg. Nice to see you posting. Hope all is well in Wiscosin as we await A Great Reckoning…the novel and not a judgement per se! Anybody been basting a turkey from the first recipe?
Don’t worry Julie, the big reveal is almost upon us. Has to be as I topped 10000 words. Really it was going to be a short story…..
Phew! At least three new suspects! Hahaha – we’re going in the wrong direction, as I don’t think we’ve definitively cleared anyone yet. Yikes! As bugs bunny used to say “The plot sickens!”
“Do you think she knew you worked for Whitmore when she took the job?”
“Probably. She seemed to keep better track of me than I did of her and it would suit her perverse mind to take advantage of my life, to somehow mess it up.”
“You think that is what she was doing? Taking revenge on you?”
Marcus shook his head. “No, she was making money. Any negative effect on me was just happy sideline.”
“What did she do to make money?”
“She groomed Adam Rockwell, Brendan’s right hand man and head of scientific developments. He and Brendan worked closely and quite secretively on new pesticides that were more effective and less toxic, to boost crops in the developing world. One of the compounds they developed was very effective but toxic to humans, a nerve agent. Brendan ordered all of the compound and any records to be destroyed but Adam kept samples. He thought he could improve it, make it less toxic. When Marissa came along and worked her way into Adam’s trust he must have told her what he was doing. He was not a bad guy and I am sure he never intended for Marissa to use the situation to her own advantage. She took some of the samples Adam had hidden and found a buyer.”
The agent had found its way into some very bad hands. Brendan Whitmore worked it out when he heard about the tragedy in Africa, recognizing the pattern of death from what had happened to their trial animals.
“Marissa disappeared before the Army showed up and the factory had been cleansed. The Army were so thorough they established that a couple of the vacuum flasks used to hold certain types of chemicals was missing from the inventory but that was put down to an auditing issue. Brendan became profoundly depressed, worried that whoever had their hands on the NAX13 would manufacture more of it. Even when there was no evidence that they had, he continued to slump. He couldn’t get away from the fact that a compound from his factory had killed children. He loved children.”
“But Whitmore never married or had kids of his own?”
Collier shook his head again.
“But you did, have a child I mean,” Fox clarified. “You and Marissa.”
“My sister raised him. Timothy was a lovely boy, not like his mother at all.”
“And she killed him?”
Talk about a cliff-hanger! Well done, Anna!