“What sort of tissue samples?” said Lisa’s father.
“Oh, the usual,” said Graham. “I brought you a list.”
Lisa wanted to scream. She covered her mouth with her hands and looked at Josh, but he wasn’t paying attention to her. Graham removed a piece of paper from his suit with a flourish. Lisa’s father glanced at it before crumpling it up and throwing it away in disgust.
“This is crazy,” he said. “Some of these procedures are painful, and none of them have any therapeutic value. Sabrina may be desperate, but she’s not stupid. There’s no way she’s going to consent to any of this.”
“It’s your job to convince her,” said Graham. “Just tell her the third dose is probably the turning point and that you’ll be able to find evidence at the cellular level if she’s getting better—both true statements—and she’ll agree to whatever you have in mind.”
“What about Richard?” said Lisa’s father.
“That’s not my problem,” said Graham. “You never should have told him we were working together. I’m sure you’ll think of something to say. How hard could it be? He’s old and feeble.” He picked up the piece of paper, smoothed out the wrinkles, and gave it back to Lisa’s father. “You should keep this for future reference. We’re at a critical juncture, and my boss would be livid if you messed everything up.”
He patted Lisa’s father on the shoulder and hurried away. Lisa’s father tucked the paper into his pocket and trudged off in the opposite direction until he disappeared into the distance. The sun dipped below the horizon. Lisa sat down with her back against the tree and tried to gather her thoughts.
“There must be some mistake,” she said.
“My poor mom,” said Josh. “She’s just trying to survive. Your dad is disgusting. Who does he think he is? He’s completely responsible for this. He probably planned the whole thing as soon as he found out she was sick. I bet he told her the drug was her only hope, even though he knew it wouldn’t help her.”
“No, it was her idea,” said Lisa.
“Oh, sure,” said Josh. “She was so curious about Peterson’s research that she actually got cancer so she could experience the effects of the drug personally. Do you have any idea how crazy that sounds? Look, I know you don’t want to admit this is your dad’s fault, but there’s no other explanation.”
“Yes, there is,” said Lisa. His anger scared her. “Would you please stop jumping to conclusions and listen to me? My father didn’t have a choice. Your mother blackmailed him.”
“You can’t possibly be serious,” said Josh. “You’re blaming her?”
“Josh, I was there,” said Lisa. “She showed up at my house with her medical records, and when my father told her how sick she was, she insisted on being treated with the drug. He said it was a terrible idea, but she refused to change her mind.”
“Well, I’m not going to let him get away with it anymore,” said Josh. “I’m going to tell my dad as soon as we get back to the house.”
“You can’t,” said Lisa. As he turned to go, she grabbed his arm. “If you do that, both our families will be destroyed.”
“Exaggerating much?” said Josh, pulling himself away. “My family will be just fine once it gets away from yours.”
“No, you don’t understand,” said Lisa. Desperation filled her mind, and she decided there was no point in concealing the truth. “My father and your mother are keeping a terrible secret, and if anyone finds out, nothing will ever be the same.”
“What secret?” said Josh. There was no hint of gentleness in his eyes. Lisa’s courage failed her. She got up and stumbled across the grass toward the barrier that held back the river. Josh seemed to recognize she needed time to collect herself, but she knew he was waiting for an answer. Her heart pounded violently in her chest.
“It happened last year,” she said. “My grandmother had a heart attack. She managed to survive, even though she wasn’t supposed to, but she was really messed up. My father thought she wouldn’t want to live like that, so he gave her too much pain medicine, and she died. He told your mother for some reason, and she used it against him.”
“Wait, you mean he did it on purpose?” said Josh.
Lisa couldn’t speak, so she nodded.
“They’re covering up a murder?” said Josh.
“Yes, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Lisa in desperation. “Please, Josh, it’s not what you think. My father isn’t a bad person. I’m sure he thought he was doing the right thing.”
“How can you defend him?” said Josh.
“For the same reason you can defend your mother,” said Lisa.
“My mom never killed anyone,” said Josh.
“Well, congratulations,” said Lisa, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “She’s still a criminal. It’s against the law to threaten people like that, so stop acting like she’s perfect. They’d both get into trouble if the police found out what they did.”
Josh didn’t seem to have heard her.
“Let me see if I’ve got this right,” he said, looking straight into the depths of her soul. “You’ve known about this for months now, and you haven’t done anything about it?”
“What was I supposed to do?” said Lisa. “I didn’t have anyone to advise me, and I was afraid of making things worse. I don’t need you second-guessing me. You don’t know how difficult this is.”
“Actually, I do,” he said. “My mom is dying, and your dad is scheming to cut her up into little pieces to keep himself out of trouble.”
Lisa stopped trying to control her misery. She climbed onto the barrier and sat there with her head buried in her arms,
