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“Dr. Cecil, I read that in your research using mice, rats, and fruit flies is common, but no such mention of the dogs and cats. Why are you using them?”
“Dogs and cats both possess certain qualities within their brains that humans possess. If we’re going to find a cure, we have to use what’s available. We’re not able to use monkeys, which would be ideal,” she said coldly.
Pork’s thoughts immediately went to Sema, and he had an unusual rush of protective instinct.
“Monkeys are protected, right?” asked Otto.
“To some extent. We could apply for the use of them, but they won’t allow analysis of the brain, which defeats the purpose of using them,” she said with a casual shrug.
“Forgive me, Dr. Cecil, but you seem awfully blasé about this whole thing. Those are living creatures you’re talking about. They didn’t volunteer for this study or any study.”
“No, they did not. They were bred in this lab specifically for these purposes.” The men could feel that they were slowly losing their grip. They respected what this woman was trying to do, but she showed no signs of remorse or concern for the animals.
“What do you do if what you breed isn’t what you want?” She stared at him with a perplexed expression. “I mean, what do you do with the animals if you’ve bred them and they’re not what you need? Maybe they’re born with a defect.”
“Impossible,” she said flatly. “We engineer the fetuses to be exactly what we need. These animals aren’t caught or bought and brought here. We breed them right here so that we have a constant supply of what we need.”
“You don’t buy animals from outside sources?” asked Pork.
“No, never. The risk is too great when you do that. Besides, you never know where people get their animals, which is probably why you’re here.”
“That is why we’re here. Do you have any thoughts on where we should look next?” asked Baptiste.
“Our HR department. We fired four men about six months ago. We found them neglecting the animals, even torturing them. They held matches to the feet of the mice and rats, dragged the cats and dogs by a rope, letting them dangle in the air and then letting them down again.
“We caught it immediately. As you can see, we have cameras everywhere, so clearly, they were not very bright. They were only supposed to be here to care for the animals at night when no one else was here. We hired them from an employment agency.”
She stopped in front of another door and knocked.
“William? These are the men I spoke to you about this morning. I believe they could be looking for our terminated employees.” She turned, staring at them. “Gentlemen. I’ll leave you with William.”
“Thank you,” said Baptiste.
“For what?” she asked with a confused expression. She walked away, and the three men just shook their heads.
“Please have a seat,” smiled William. “Now you know what my life is like here. It’s quiet, no one bothers you, but they are a bunch of very, very strange people. Introverts. Every last one of them, but they’re honest, hard-working, and brilliant.”
“Except the four men she mentioned,” said Pork.
“Yes. We hired them through an agency for night security in the labs. We recognize that they’re animals, but sometimes animal protection groups try to break in and take them or even damage the office.”
“Did they do their jobs?” asked Otto.
“Not at all. It was quite the opposite,” said William. He spread out some photos of the animals, their injuries visible to all three men. “Our security team outside watches the cameras on the inside. They saw what they were doing and immediately came into the building, but they’d already done so much damage in such a short period of time.”
“What did the employment agency say?”
“They were apologetic, offered to send four different men, but we terminated our agreement with them. I found two women and two men to replace them. They’ve worked out beautifully. All in the second half of their lives and careers. They seem to enjoy spending time with the animals.”
The men nodded again, looking down at the photos.
“Do you have names and addresses?” asked Pork.
“We have names, but their addresses were kept by the employment agency. I’ve written it all down for you here. However, I think the names were aliases. We filed charges against them, and the sheriff had no luck in finding them.
“I wish you luck. These men weren’t very friendly when they were here. We only had them one night, but I always stay and greet the new contract employees and show them around. I should have trusted my instincts and sent them on their way that night.”
“Did you have to put the animals down?” asked Baptiste.
