Chapter Twenty-Six Margo Angelhart
Chapter Twenty-Six
Margo Angelhart
I was not above breaking the law when absolutely necessary, but I really hoped that Luisa wouldn’t get caught for hacking
into the VA.
I decided that I couldn’t stress about that at this moment; I had my own work to do, which, from my perspective, was a lot
easier than Lu’s job.
I didn’t actually need to find Mildred Maddox. Tess had already sent me her contact information for both Wyoming and Scottsdale residences, in addition
to her résumé that had helpfully been posted on LinkedIn. I had phone numbers, emails, and the name of her spouse.
Wyoming was cold this time of year, so I figured Mildred would be in Scottsdale, if she was a traditional snowbird who enjoyed
Arizona’s mild winters. I figured right.
I just hadn’t figured on a gatekeeper.
“Mrs. Maddox cannot come to the phone right now. May I take a message?” a female voice said very formally.
“This is Margo Angelhart,” I said. “I need to speak with Mrs. Maddox regarding a clinical trial that she oversaw at the VA.”
“I will give her the message.”
“I would like to speak with her now, if possible.”
“I’m sorry, she is unavailable. If you would please leave your number and spell your last name, I will give her the message.”
Irritating, but I complied. I’d give her twenty minutes to return my call. She should recognize my name. Yes, the VA is a
large entity, but most doctors don’t confess to murder.
If she didn’t call, I’d track her down in person. It could be a complete waste of time, but it had to be done.
I considered that she might be involved. Possible. Yet, she was retired. If she had been involved, then there would be something in her financial records that may show that. But getting them—legally—would be
virtually impossible, though I could find basic information through public records databases.
What should I ask her? I didn’t see how she was involved considering she’d retired more than a year ago and Liz Swanson had
been killed this week, yet I couldn’t make any assumptions. If she was involved in some way with the falsified drug trial, that didn’t mean she was guilty of murder or conspiracy to commit
murder. And just because she was de facto in charge of all research at the VA didn’t mean she was involved with the details.
Administrators administrated. They were, essentially, high-ranking bureaucrats.
Neurovantix wasn’t a publicly traded company, so I didn’t know if she was financially tied to them. She wasn’t on their board
of directors—Tess had already sent that information and none of the names were familiar—but nonetheless, I sent Tess a text
message asking her to look into Maddox’s financials. When she called me back, I would wing it—feel her out. If she was involved, I might tip my hand, but then I could watch and see what happened.
We were all on high alert.
Whatever you can find will help. Thanks, sis.
As I hit Send, my cell phone rang. It was Mom.
“Did you talk to Dad?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “I hope tomorrow. I just wanted to make sure you and everyone else were okay.”
Mom sounded both exhausted and worried.
“We’re good.”
“Have you learned anything?”
“We’re working on it,” I said. I didn’t want to give her a rundown because it wasn’t any information that she could use. “When
you talk to Dad, any name he can give us will help. We have a long list that we’re going through—we need a way to narrow it
down. Tess will send it to you. If he doesn’t have a name in his head, show him the list, it might spark a memory.”
My phone vibrated with another call, so I said, “Mom, Tess is calling. I need to go.”
“Be careful, Margo. I love you.”
“Promise. Love you too.” I switched over to Tess and let out a long breath. “Hey.”
“You okay?” she asked.
“I was talking to Mom.”
“How’s Dad?”
“She hasn’t seen him yet. Give me good news.”
“Not good, not bad, but I found some interesting things about two of the people I’m researching.”
“I love interesting things.”
“Mildred Maddox is on the board of Honor House.”
That was interesting, but I didn’t see how the information helped us. Mildred Maddox had worked at the VA for years; it wasn’t a surprise
she supported veterans’ causes.
“Maybe a coincidence, maybe not,” Tess continued. “Zachary Ames, the administrator, is retiring at the end of the year. They’re bringing in a person from outside of the VA.”
“Don’t waste your time,” I said. I couldn’t imagine someone who had no ties to the VA being involved in Klein’s murder. “What
about the other guy? The one who took over for Maddox?”
“Peter Stockman. Forty-five, divorced long ago, ex-wife and two kids live in Maine.”
“That’s a long way to go to get away from your ex,” I said. “Is that where they’re from?”
“Hmm,” Tess said, clicking. “No. They were married here in Arizona twenty-one years ago. They were both twenty-four. They
lived in Oklahoma for a while when he worked for a pharmaceutical company in their R & D department. Hollander & Wyck Laboratories.
That company has no connection to Neurovantix or their parent company, and was acquired by yet another company ten years ago.
Peter and his wife returned to Arizona, now with two kids in tow. He started working at the VA then, under Maddox. Wife filed
for divorce six years ago, moved to Maine. Kids are both girls . . . um . . . based on the wife’s social media they’re fourteen
and twelve now.”
“Bet the wife would have something interesting to say,” I said.
“Do you want me to call her?”
Tess sounded like I would be asking her to eat scorpions. “No, I wouldn’t do that to you. But get me all her information if
you don’t mind. I’ll call her, but I’d like more about Stockman’s background first.”
“I’ll send you everything I’ve found so far, and if anything else comes up I’ll let you know.”
“Great. I’m going to dig deeper into Maddox, see what I can find.”
I had nothing more to do in the office, and Luisa looked like she was deep into her computer. I walked to her doorway and stood until she said without looking up, “You can talk.”
“Find anything?”
“Not yet. But there’s a lot to go through, and I have to be careful.”
“I tried Willa’s daughter Annette, no answer. So I’m going to Scottsdale to talk to Maddox in person. I’ll set the alarm when
I leave, but you’re the only one here.”
Now Lu glanced up. “Do you want me to go with you?”
“Nope. You’re the only one who can do this,” I said, waving my hand toward her computer. “I’ll keep my wits about me. But
I’m taking Jack’s truck and you’ll be stuck here for a while. Are you coming back to my place tonight?”
She shook her head. “Staying at Gabriel’s. Your guest bed is seriously uncomfortable.”
I hid a smile. “Sorry about that.”
“You don’t sound sorry. Call me on your way back and I’ll let you know if I need a ride.”
“Will do,” I said and left.
I kept my eye on potential tails—nothing. I called Jack.
“I’m going to Scottsdale to talk to Mildred Maddox. I have your truck.”
“I’m going stir-crazy. Pick me up.”
I groaned. “Really?”
“Yes. Nate has this place locked up like Fort Knox and Tess has told me a half dozen times I’m slowing her down. She’s fine
here and promised she won’t leave. Please, Margo, I’m begging you. I need to get out.”
“Fine. Ten minutes.”
Eleven minutes later, Jack was in the passenger seat, grumbling that I wasn’t letting him drive his own truck. I ignored him.
Mildred Maddox had a two-million-dollar town house in the pricey Gainey Ranch. Gated, but there were always ways around that.
I parked outside the development, but didn’t make a move to get out of the truck. We could walk in through one of the pathways
that led to the golf course. Many of the gated communities in Scottsdale were like this—foot traffic was okay, but you can’t
drive your car on the grounds without being a resident or approved guest.
Technically, we weren’t supposed to walk in without a reason to be here, but no one would stop us.
Yet . . .
“Earth to Margo,” Jack said, his hand on the door.
“I already called and left a message with someone I assumed was her housekeeper. So she knows I want to talk to her.”
“And?”
“She hasn’t called. And why would she talk to us? If she’s not involved with any conspiracy, she would know that our dad pled
guilty to Dr. Klein’s murder. If she is involved, we’re tipping our hand. Either way, she’s not going to tell us squat, and we have no leverage to compel her to talk.
And anything we do say could put a target on our backs.”
“If she’s involved,” Jack said.
“Yes.”
“You’re making my head spin.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Well,” he said slowly, thinking, “if I were still a detective, I would ask questions. Some I had answers to, some I didn’t,
see what my suspect or witness said.”
“Stir the pot,” I countered.
“In a manner of speaking. But in this case, we need to be doubly careful.”
“Everyone is being careful,” I said.
“What are you scared of?” Jack asked.
“That I’m going to fuck this up and Dad will be in prison for the next eleven and a half years.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself. We go, confirm information, ask questions we want answers to, see what she says.”
“We need to give her a reason.”
“We were hired by . . . hmm.” Jack thought.
“Jim Novak?” I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to put a target on his back if Maddox is involved.”
“An individual who believes they were harmed in the drug trial,” Jack said.
I shook my head. “I think we should be more vague. Neither of us is well-versed in pharmaceutical investigations.”
“I don’t know if this will work, but what if we state that Dad came clean and said he didn’t kill Devin?”
“And put a target on his back?”
“He’s in prison out of state. No one is going to get to him right now. Didn’t you say this is the time to be bold?”
I did. But if I was wrong, it could get Dad killed.
But if I was right, Dad was still in danger.
“Okay. We’re investigating the murder of Devin Klein. Let’s see what happens.”