Chapter Fourteen Margo Angelhart #3
“I mean, he’s the one who told Devin to call her if he had questions about drug trials.”
“He knows a lot of doctors.”
“Well, he knew her very well,” Georgia snapped. “Considering that she’s his ex-fiancée.”
I glared at her. “What? Devin’s ex-fiancée?”
“Your father’s.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
Georgia shrugged. “When Devin first talked to her, I walked in near the end of the conversation. He didn’t wave me off, so
I stayed, but they were wrapping up. I heard him tell her he’d give her good wishes to Cooper. When he hung up, he told me
that Cooper and Nadine had been engaged in college. She was two years older than he was and when she graduated, she got cold
feet and broke it off because Cooper had always said he wanted kids and she didn’t. But they split on good terms, and she
got married years later. It was Cooper who told Devin to call her because she had worked with Neurovantix on a different trial
a few years before.”
I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to believe a word she said, but couldn’t figure out why she would lie about something I could
easily disprove.
My parents had a perfect marriage. Or was it? Did Mom come second? If Dad knew that Pierce had worked on a trial years before
with the same company, he must have kept in contact with her. How close of contact?
I shook it off. A lot of people dated before they found the one. Next year, my parents would celebrate their fortieth anniversary.
But it still bothered me that I hadn’t known.
Georgia looked from Luisa to me. “I left the VA because I was scared, but had no tangible information to give to the police.
Devin was dead. Your dad had been arrested. I knew if I stayed, I might be next. They might think I knew more than I actually
did.”
“They,” I muttered. “I hate the elusive ‘they.’ ”
“I don’t have a name,” she said quietly. “And I don’t see how only one person can be responsible for all this. Data was deleted.
More than one person had to be involved in that.”
“You mentioned Willa Blankenship. Who else?”
“That’s all I know. Willa ran the trial. Neurovantix sponsored it.”
Luisa tapped her phone. “We can trace them, find out who was in charge of the project at the VA. Someone who is still there
who was alerted when Liz Swanson accessed that particular file. And I’ll track down Blankenship.”
“We also need to talk to Nadine Pierce,” I said with a glance to my sister. She nodded. Good, we were on the same page.
“Thank you,” I said to Georgia. “We may need your help decoding whatever data we find. Lu’s a computer whiz, but we’re not
medical researchers and the little I know about medicine proves I don’t understand any of it. Will you take my call? Or do
I have to waste my time and drive back here?”
Georgia hesitated. “I told your mother I was out. I don’t want to lose my job. I loved the job in Tucson, and I’m beginning
to like my job here too. But mostly? I don’t want to die.”
“Do you think that’s still a risk? You just said you don’t know any real details.”
She stared at me solemnly. “Yet, Liz is dead, isn’t she?”
Yes, she was, I thought. I didn’t know why. Yet. But I would get answers.
“We’re going to put an end to this,” I said. “And I might need your help. But I won’t mention your name to anyone outside of my family, fair enough?”
She closed her eyes, nodded. “Fine.”
Georgia put her mug down on a coaster and walked us to the door. Luisa told her to keep her wits about her, lock her doors
and windows, watch for people following her.
“One more thing,” I said. “You tracked Liz down at a veterans’ shelter in February. She told me she volunteered there, but
she didn’t tell me the name.”
“Honor House,” Georgia said without hesitation. “A great program—shelter, food, drug rehab for homeless or struggling vets.
Liz and I volunteered at the Central Avenue location every month. That’s how I found her after I left Tucson. I’m so sorry
she was killed. If I had known this might happen, I’d never have told her to call you.”
“That wouldn’t have changed anything,” I said, though I still felt a twinge of guilt. “She saw something at work then called me.”
I knew of Honor House. It had been Dad’s favorite charity, and he’d been honored a decade ago for his financial and personal
contributions.
I glanced at Luisa as we walked back to the car. Our next step was clear. Willa Blankenship. Neurovantix. Nadine Pierce. Three
threads. We had to pull each one and see which unraveled first.
As we drove away, I said to Lu, “You should stay with me.”
“I’m fine.”
“I know you are. But we need to watch each other’s backs. Tess has Gabriel and Nate, Nico has Quincy, Jack is staying with Mom. You can go back to your apartment in Tempe, or you can come home with me. Even though we both are perfectly capable of watching our own backs,” I added.
Luisa cracked a smile.
“What about Cal?”
“He likes you.”
She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“He’s probably at his own place. I told him I would be late tonight.”
“Do you think so?”
I thought. “Fifty-fifty. But that doesn’t matter. I have a guest room.”
“Okay,” she said. “Thanks.”