THE VIRON CONSPIRACY (JAKE SCARNE THRILLERS #4) (7 page)

CHAPTER 11 - LIKE AT FIRST SIGHT

“I met Bryan at a technology conference in Silicon Valley. I was working for a small public relations firm in San Francisco that had some clients at the conference. He was a speaker on one of the panels. When I read his bio in the program, I thought he must have taken the wrong plane or something. I mean, what was the middle-aged head of a Midwest agriculture company doing hanging around with a bunch of long-haired, scruffy nerds half his age, let alone speaking to them? I was curious, so I went to hear him.  Turns out it was one of the most well-attended panels of the conference. Standing room only. He was terrific. He explained how BVM was already on the cutting edge of biotechnology and was investing heavily in the latest computers and software to insure that it stayed ahead of the competition. I could tell that some of the things he talked about — gene splicing, cloning, vaccines, biopharmaceutical engineering on the molecular level — was catnip to the scientists and engineers he addressed. He said he wanted to merge the knowledge from Silicon Valley with what BVM was accomplishing in Boone City. I didn’t understand a hell of a lot of what he said. I do now, of course. But back then all I knew was that he might need a good PR firm to get his word out. To spin his company to Wall Street as a tech powerhouse. That was all the money managers seemed to be interested in. I approached him after the speech. We had a cup of coffee and I pitched him. He was friendly and polite, but noncommittal. He said he’d think about it. It wasn’t quite a brush off, but I really didn’t expect to hear from him.”

Kate shifted in her seat and put her feet under her.

“God, I need a cigarette,” she said.

She picked up her cell phone and dialed a number.

“Aurielia, will you be a dear and bring us out the coffee. And my cigarettes. Yes, I know. They are no good for me. I will try to be good.”

Kate looked at Scarne.

“She watches me like a hawk.”

They waited while the maid set out the coffee and cleared the lunch plates. She reached into her apron and gave Kate a pack of cigarettes, a lighter and an ashtray, shaking her head in disapproval. When she walked away, Scarne said, “gimlet eye.”

Kate laughed and offered him the pack. He shook his head but lit her cigarette. She took a long draw and breathed the smoke out in a long satisfied stream.    

“Still, on the off chance he would call,” she continued, “I did some research on him, and on BVM. The more I found out about the company, the more I believed I could help it. As for Bryan, he wasn’t your typical third or fourth-generation layabout collecting a fat paycheck. He was well-educated and really had transformed BVM. I was rather surprised he had the time to build his reputation as a ladies’ man.”

Kate shook her head.

“Surprised
, and a bit annoyed. He never even made a pass at me. I mean, a damn cup of coffee? I began to wonder if I should take a Pilates class or something. What are you smiling about? I’m not a cup-of-coffee, or even first-date, screw, but I would have liked him to at least make an effort. And if you don’t think sex is part of every woman’s professional arsenal, you’re living in the wrong century.”

“More wine,” Scarne said, his face showing amusement. “Perhaps some coffee?”

“Oh, fuck you,” Kate said, but she laughed as she held out her glass. “Anyway, I put together what I thought was a terrific proposal, even though he’d never asked for one. All the bells and whistles. I sent it to him. Never heard a word. A few months went by and I moved on. Then, out of the blue he called me. Said he was in San Francisco. Would I like to have dinner? It was nothing like I expected. I never got the account. I got him. We married three months later.”

Kate looked off into the distance.

“In the beginning, I don’t think it was love, on either of our parts. We just liked each other tremendously, from the start. I guess you could call it ‘like at first sight’. He was ready to settle down and so was I. Sometimes it happens that way. I was in the right place at the right time, I suppose. And in case you’re wondering, no, it didn’t hurt that he was filthy rich and handsome.” She looked back at Scarne. “I did love you, Jake. But it wasn’t the right time for me. The closer I got to the altar with you the more I knew it. You were too intense. I was the center of your universe and I knew it. I couldn’t take the pressure.”

“This isn’t about me, Kate,” Scarne said. “You don’t have to explain yourself.”

She looked a bit startled.

“Yes. I’m sorry. Anyway, I grew to love Bryan, and I know he loved me. And trusted me. A wife knows. He would tell me things about the business. Sensitive things. Ask my advice. That’s why I’m sure they killed him.”

“Who?”

“Lenzer and the people working with him.”

Scarne tried to keep his face impassive. Kate thought the man who replaced her husband had him murdered. It was such an obvious, and unlikely, conclusion he was disappointed. Hollywood stuff. There were surely easier ways to arrange a corporate coup. Suddenly feeling depressed, he reached across to pick up the pack of cigarettes. As he lit up, he could tell from her expression that she knew he didn’t believe her.

“Why would Lenzer do that, Kate?”

“Because Bryan wanted to merge Lenzer’s laboratory into one of BVM’s larger divisions. It was part of a consolidation Bryan thought would create efficiencies of scale. He also wanted more oversight on the technologies involved. Some of the projects that Lenzer was working on involved genetic engineering, and there are legal ramifications.”

“You’re talking about ‘Frankenfood’.”

“Yes. Using genetically modified organisms to produce new strains of wheat, rice and other foodstuffs. Strains that are hardier and offer more nutrition per bushel or peck, whatever they call them.”

“What about animals?”

“Those, too. That’s more controversial, of course. People are nervous about eating genetically engineered salmon or other kinds of fish. Barnyard animals would be an even tougher sell.”

Scarne was still on the fence about genetically engineered food. The traditional manipulation of crops that had seemingly resulted in most tomatoes in the country tasting like cardboard was no great advance in his estimation. He avoided eating them except for a few weeks in the summer when he made a pilgrimage to small New Jersey farms to buy a basket of the still-delicious local variety. What a “Frankenmato” would taste like was depressing to contemplate. 

“There seems to be more of these things all the time.”

“And there haven’t been any problems,” Kate said. “Yet. But no one can be sure there won’t be. Bryan wasn’t against the research. In fact, he went against others in the agricultural community who saw genetically altered crops as potentially threatening their businesses. He argued that as the largest producer of soybeans and other crops BVM had the most to lose
, but that was not a reason to stop progress. Why not make a strain of wheat that was more nutritious, for example, it will save the lives of a million kids. But he didn’t want any mistakes to prompt lawsuits that would stop research dead in its tracks.”

“You seem to know a lot about this.”

“You mean, for a woman?”

“Don’t be an ass, Kate. You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Sorry. I’m teasing. Bryan was a great teacher and he gave me the run of all the facilities. I thought all of this stuff was fascinating. As you might imagine, there isn’t much to do in Boone City if you’re not a crop, so I spent a lot of time picking the brains of the scientists and researchers at BVM. I also did a lot of entertaining. Most of them were cooped up in their labs so much they enjoyed talking with someone not wearing a white coat. The only ones who were really reticent to talk, other than in generalities, were those who worked in Lenzer’s Black Hole.”

CHAPTER 12 - AGREEMENT

“Black Hole?”

“That’s what everyone calls it. A place where all sorts of information goes in, but very little comes out. Lenzer is very secretive about his lab. Claims that a lot of his research is unproven, theoretical, but potentially very valuable, so he doesn’t want BVM’s competitors stealing it.”

“That’s not so unusual, is it?”

“No. Corporate theft is endemic among high-tech companies. And, of course, Bryan was also worried about that, and the danger of the Chinese or other foreign governments hacking into BVM’s computers. But he was uncomfortable with Lenzer’s assurances that his research was secure. He also suspected that Lenzer was keeping things from him. He was worried about some of Lenzer’s people. Many of them came over with Roland from Europe. He’s an East German, by the way. Bryan wanted all of BVM’s research under one roof, so to speak, with uniform protocols and, perhaps, even some Government oversight. He used to say that one man’s altered strain is another man’s terrorist weapon.”            

Scarne poured them both coffee. Kate still preferred her sugar in lumps, and she went through the same routine he remembered. After adding cream, she dropped two lumps in her cup, then dipped a third in the coffee and bit off some before also dropping it in. He took his black.

“What was Lenzer’s reaction?”

“At first he balked. Threw a fit. Bryan told him his position was secure at BVM. Offered him a big raise and another title. Lenzer still threatened to resign. But after a few days he apparently calmed down. Said he’d thought it over and understood Bryan’s position. Asked for a little time to smooth things over with his staff, reassure them and the like. Wondered if Bryan could wait to announce the consolidation at the annual corporate retreat.”

“The one in Hawaii.”

“Yes. Where Bryan was murdered. Now Lenzer
has BVM. The people Bryan was counting on to handle the reorganization were phased out and Lenzer’s people run the show. Research was consolidated, but now Lenzer controls everything. The Black Hole is still the Black Hole, only now the research from other divisions goes in even more efficiently, and still nothing comes out. It was so neatly done.”

Scarne was far from convinced. Kate had told him nothing that couldn’t be explained by happenstance and bad luck.

“This is very thin, Kate. Corporate politics can be brutal, but they rarely lead to murder.” As he said it, Scarne knew that some of his recent cases put the lie to that statement. But those had involved massive fraud and mobsters, not soybeans. “What would be Lenzer’s motive? Pride? In my experience, money trumps pride. Even if he had resigned, I’m sure he could have landed an even bigger position somewhere. And taken a load of money from BVM with him in a non-compete agreement. And what about Bryan’s death? Surely with his expertise, Lenzer could have figured out something less dramatic. It makes no sense.”

Kate
ground out her cigarette, her third.

“But don’t you see? Lenzer was buying time. That’s why he asked Bryan to announce the consolidation at the annual retreat. He had to
arrange the murder fairly quickly. The skydiving event was probably a godsend to him and his people. They set up Campbell. Held his family hostage and then killed them anyway. It was perfect, I tell you, perfect.”

“Kate,” Scarne said gently, “where would Lenzer and ‘his people’ find such assassins. You can’t just Google them or go on Craigslist.”

“That’s what I’m paying you to find out,” she said angrily. “Are you going to help me out, or not. Or did you come here to see if you could get lucky after all these years. The vulnerable widow will spread her legs for her old boyfriend, the dashing private eye. I’ll fuck you if you want, if that will get you to help me.”

She was crying now, on the verge of hysteria. The change had been dramatic, and quick. The alcohol was partly to blame, Scarne assumed, but he also detected a rock-solid belief in what she said about Lenzer. He reached across and grabbed both her wrists.

“Stop it! You’re acting like a goddamn fool! You know I’ll help you. But if I start something, I’ll follow it to the end, no matter where it leads. If I find out that you’re wrong, you will have to accept it. Agreed?”

Her eyes bore into Scarne’s. A wave of desire almost overwhelmed him. For a moment he wanted nothing more than to pull her close and kiss her. Take her into his arms and possess the voluptuous body that had once been his. He took a deep breath, let go of her wrists and sat back.

“Agreed?”

Kate picked up a napkin and dried her tears.

“Yes. I’m sorry. Please forgive me, Jake.”

“There’s nothing to forgive.”

“What will you do now?”

He explained his cover as a writer.

“It would be only natural for me to interview you, as Bryan’s widow. So there should be no suspicion that you are behind it, no matter how it works out. If Lenzer or anyone else from the company contacts you, say that at first you were reluctant to participate but then thought it over. A book about Bryan would be a fine legacy. Tell them you hope they will cooperate. Don’t be enthusiastic, or too negative. Portray me as something of a necessary nuisance.” Scarne’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”

Scarne regretted the cheap shot. He saw the hurt in her eyes.

“I spoke to Winston Todd,” he continued, “and he’s on board. If contacted, he’ll say that he thinks a book is a fine idea, but he will keep a close eye on what I produce to protect your interests. It’s what any good lawyer would say. Don’t contact me. If I call you, it will be to talk about the book and I probably will be playacting. I’ll nag you to cooperate, that sort of thing. Maybe ask inane questions about Bryan or yourself. Just go along. If I want to see you, I’ll make it sound innocuous. Don’t talk to anyone else. Don’t trust anyone else. Don’t change your routine. If I have to tell you anything important, I’ll do it in person. Understood?”

“You sound as though you believe me.”

“Don’t think that way, Kate. Don’t get your hopes up. I believe you need closure, and I will provide it, no matter what form it takes. I think the only danger to you is legal, if it gets out that you unfairly suspected Lenzer of murder. But if I’m wrong, well, let’s just say it never hurts to be careful.”

“What will you do if I’m right?”

Scarne smiled coldly.

“Leave that up to me, Kate. There are many forms of closure.”

Kate Vallance looked carefully at her former lover, and wasn’t sure she liked what she saw. She felt a sudden chill. Jake was no longer the rather reckless but charming young man she had once been in love with. Now, beneath his casual demeanor and icy assurance, she sensed a ruthlessness that had not been there before. Had it been, she wondered if she would ever have had the courage to treat him so shabbily in the past. But in addition to a slight tremor of fear, she found herself aroused for the first time since Bryan’s death. She cleared her throat and drank some wine.

“What is your next step?”

“I’ll go to Hawaii and see what I can find out from the police. If I can’t prove that your husband’s death wasn’t a different kind of murder, there’s no sense in mucking about at BVM.”

“When will you leave?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Where are you staying?”

“I’ll get a hotel room near the airport.”

“There’s plenty of room here.”

Their eyes met.

“Thanks. The hotel will be fine.”

He saw the hurt again, or was it sadness.