CHAPTER ONE
Daphne
Iperched on the armrest of my garage sale sofa, chewed on a hangnail and wondered if I would die today.
“Pull yourself together, Ms. Dupree.”
Easy for him to say. His boss didn’t want him dead, his co-worker was still alive, and he wasn’t about to lie to federal agents.
Amazing what could happen to a girl in a single afternoon.
Agent Mulder gave me a stern look over his black horn-rimmed glasses, while Agent Scully checked her notes. Not their real names, of course, but given the amount of stress I was under, I couldn’t remember what they’d told me when they showed their badges. This was just easier.
Scully cleared her throat and consulted her notes. “So, you learned the test results for a drug your company is developing weren’t good? And you believe that Mr. Griffin is covering this up?”
I knew it for a fact. Although I wouldn’t call itmycompany.I’d only been working as a lab tech at Griffin Pharmaceuticals in Atlanta for a few months.
I nodded. “Let’s just say that for men using Staminax, an erection lasting more than four hours would be the least of their concerns.”
Mulder grimaced and took a step back as if he were about to be kicked in the balls. Scully didn’t have the same visceral reaction. She was as stoic and unaffected as…well, the real Agent Scully.
Being a lab technician wasn’t my dream job by any stretch of the imagination, but I liked being around test tubes, raw ingredients, measuring scales…and having a good medical plan.
Problem was, the CEO was this smarmy whiz-kid who treated his female employees as if they were dying to blow him. A few days ago, he’d called me into his office, promptly hit on me and told me how hot I was. When he leaned back in his executive leather chair and put his hand on his belt, Inopedthe heck out of there.
In my haste to leave, I’d inadvertently grabbed a few things I shouldn’t have.
I rubbed my eyes, still watery from the news that Deanne was dead. She was more than just my supervisor at the lab. Newly divorced, with a popular beauty channel on YouTube and a fondness for teriyaki, she was my friend too. Her car had been found at the bottom of a steep ravine, her latest Ulta haul and teriyaki takeout strewn everywhere.
Agent Scully continued. “Let me get this straight. You gave everything you discovered to your supervisor, and she planned to address the issue with Mr. Griffin.”
I opened my mouth to say,No, not everything. There’s a really strange book I accidentally picked up too. But when I tried to tell this to the agents, no sound came out of my mouth.
Okay, that was weird. I tried again.
Still nothing.
The words hung on the tip of my tongue, but I literally could not say them. Shaking my head, I tried to loosen whatever brain fart I was having, but I couldn’t make any sort of sound that resembled the English language. Just a series ofuhhhsandggggs. I sounded like a total nutter.
And then, without warning, I vomited.
Horrified, I ran to the kitchen and rinsed out my mouth. Then I grabbed a towel, some cleaning spray and a carpet scrubby thing. My cat barfs up hairballs on occasion, so fortunately, I kept these items close at hand.
As I cleaned up my mess—thankfully, it was a fairly small amount—I could feel Scully and Mulder staring at me. No doubt trying to decide if this chick was sick, on drugs or just plain weird.
Sick? I felt fine a minute ago.
Drugs? No.
Weird? Debatable.
“Are you okay, Ms. Dupree?” Agent Scully asked, clearly as perplexed by my antics as I was.
Since both agents were still waiting for an answer to Scully’s original question, I knew I had to tell themsomething.And since the opposite ofnowasyes, I blurted that out instead. And wouldn’t you know it? That worked. My temporary brain-to-mouth blockage was gone, along with the urge to toss my cookies again.
“I’m…uh…just rattled about Deanne, that’s all,” I said with my wobbly, newfound voice. “Yes, I…I gave her everything.”
I hadn’t planned to lie to Scully and Mulder. I wanted to share what I knew, which included telling them about the ancient-looking book with its strange markings and elaborate metal clasp that I’d found under the manila folders in Pharma-Douche’s office. How I hadn’t realized I’d grabbed it was beyond me. The thing was fairly heavy.
