“Nobody profits if the company is backing a bad drug, or a drug that fails to deliver on its promise,” she stated flatly.
“However,” Morgan pointed out, “if that particular shortcoming wasn’t brought to light, it would take a while, possibly even a long while, before people would find out that the drug wasn’t everything that it was saying it was, that it didn’t deliver or help maintain the status quo the company had led everyone to believe that it did. In other words, that it didn’t keep the cancer from progressing the way the company had initially promised that it would. They were undoubtedly hoping for enough of a gray area to make people believe that the drug was helping them.”
She nodded her head, stating the bottom line here. “What you’re saying is that Jacobs could have still been trying to get rid of me, but when other people raised the same point, he realized that he just couldn’t silence everyone and so instead, to look innocent of any wrongdoing, he came up to the podium and issued a statement saying that the company was holding off further production until such time as they could be satisfied that the drug was doing what it claimed it could do.”
That was it in a nutshell, Morgan thought. “Exactly.”
While she was glad that the company had backed off rather than capitalizing on selling false hope to the public, this still left her wondering if her initial premise had been wrong or had been abandoned out of necessity.
“Okay,” she said gamely, “so now what?”
He thought for a moment before answering. “Now I have Valri or one of her minions check Jacobs’s financials to see if there have been any unusual withdrawals made recently—just in case he did try to have you killed. Plus we also pay Jacobs another visit.”
Morgan looked at Krys as he rose from his desk. “And this time, I plan to go to his office as a police detective and not as your faithful assistant,” he informed her. “That should rattle the CEO’s cage a little—although I’d say that of the two of us, you probably are the one who’s more capable of striking fear into his heart,” he speculated.
Fredericks, who had been eavesdropping, took this break in the conversation to ask Morgan, “You want me to do anything?”
“Yes, I want you to go on looking for that so-called mystery woman who disappeared from the hospital,” Morgan instructed.
Fredericks looked rather disappointed. “Can’t we close that case yet? The guy’s dead and from all indications, he worked alone. This ‘mystery woman’ didn’t have anything to do with those deaths.” It was obvious that Morgan’s partner thought pursuing the case seemed like a lost cause, especially since the serial killer was dead.
“Maybe not,” Morgan agreed. “But something about this just doesn’t feel right.”
Fredericks sighed and shook his head. “You Cavanaughs and your ‘gut’ feelings,” he complained. The fact that some cases were solved strictly because of a Cavanaugh’s gut feeling was practically legendary in some circles. But that didn’t mean Fredericks had to like it.
Morgan looked at his partner. “Humor me.”
The other man frowned, but it was clear he wasn’t going to be the one who raised a protest. “Do I have a choice?” Fredericks asked his partner.
Morgan grinned. “Knew I’d get you to see things my way,” he said as he headed for the doorway. “Okay, let’s go and talk to your favorite person, Kowalski,” he said to Krys.
“I thought you’d never ask,” she said, pasting a tolerant smile on her face.
Lawrence Jacobs appeared far from happy to see her when she and Morgan entered his office.
“If you’re here to hound me, Ms. Kowalski, you’re too late,” he informed her. “I just made my statement to the press.”
Ivy, his secretary, entered breathlessly right on their heels. The woman looked distressed. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Jacobs. I told these people that you weren’t to be disturbed.” She looked obviously afraid of her boss’s reaction because his office had been invaded this way. “I’m calling security immediately,” the petite woman told Morgan and Krys, hoping that this would make them back off.
“Don’t bother,” Morgan told her as he held up his badge and ID. “I’m a police detective with the Aurora Police Force.”
“Moonlighting?” Jacobs asked with a smirk. It was obvious that the CEO didn’t believe Morgan was what he claimed to be. Jacobs picked up his phone, his manner indicating that he was going to place the call to security himself.
“No, that was undercover work previously,” Morgan informed the CEO. “And if this turns out the way I think it will, you’ll be entitled to one phone call. You really want to use it up checking out my identification?” he asked the older man.
Jacobs looked at the two people in his plush office with belittling disgust, but it was also obvious that he believed Morgan. Or, at the very least, he didn’t want to take a chance that he had made a mistake.
So instead of calling security, he replaced the telephone receiver in the cradle and glared accusingly at Krys.
“Why are you here?” he demanded angrily. “I said what you wanted me to say. We’re holding off putting the drug on the market until further testing can be done. That should have you dancing in the aisle,” he told her with contempt. “As for that woman you were so sure was going to lead you to the promised land—and didn’t—” he underscored “—her death wasn’t my fault, either. Her crazy ex-boyfriend confessed to killing her.”
The expression on his face turned positively ugly in Krys’s opinion.
“The way I see it, you’ve got nothing except egg on your face, so get out of my office before I have you arrested on harassment charges,” he threatened Krys, his complexion turning red.
“I’d watch my threats if I were you,” Morgan informed the CEO. “Someone who came within inches of hoodwinking a vulnerable public and making a profit on their very real fears
