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“The dates line up for a missing vial. It went missing two days before Lionel and Amanda left for the Java Sea island. Then they have the new photos.”
“One vial,” Piper said. “You’re sure it’s only one.”
“Yes. It was one vial. In your notes, you said what you anticipated would be the proper dosage, separated by weight and gender. One vial would have been appropriate for Lionel and Amanda.”
Piper blinked. “And only Lionel and Amanda. So they didn’t destroy a population experimenting on others. Okay. That’s good.”
“How’s that?” Chanti asked.
“I had enough supply to finish up our current study. Because it expires, I didn’t make a new batch. I was waiting to see what the executives said about the FDA funding. I think I’ve gone as far as I can without the FDA weighing in.”
Chanti lifted a spoonful of ice cream. “Why are you saying that?” she asked before putting it in her mouth.
“Amanda Harcourt came to town for the party, then I was told she flew right back out. If she thought she was going to snag more formula, there was none.”
“The vial went missing in the Alabaster lab from a batch that you made in January.”
“Okay.”
“Two days later, the Harcourt jet flew to the island in the Java Sea. Three months after that—beginning of April—we started seeing these pictures of Lionel and Amanda looking young and lovely.”
“That’s circumstantial. And, to be honest, sci-fi.”
“How’s that?” Chanti asked.
“Because … I understand the mechanism of molecular change in someone with, say, my genetic makeup. If my dad took the formula, it wouldn’t have suddenly made him twenty years younger. It would, in effect, counter the genetic mutation. Right? It would have been regressive, mitigating the negative effects of his condition.”
“His physical appearance wouldn’t have changed?”
“That would be hypothetical. Possibly anecdotal based on mouse observations. We weren’t studying that. So if this did something to the Harcourts, I don’t understand it. Everything I might think about that aspect of this formula would be speculative. And I believe that what you’re saying is impossible. The only intelligent conclusion that we could draw is that the Harcourts have a master plastic surgeon.”
“I don’t think so,” Chanti said, digging up another bite. “I had AI analyze the age of their arms and hands.”
Piper took a bite of ice cream. “You lost me.”
“If the Harcourts were rejuvenated by plastic surgery, it would be their faces and necks. They lost their age spots. Their hands have fat under the skin, so they don’t look veiny and bony. I looked at pictures of Amanda in a swimsuit in the before times and the after. It’s improbable that their whole bodies were made younger by surgery.”
“They’re going to die,” Piper said, feeling the wash of fear douse over her. “January, you think they took it? So they might have until July or August. There’s nothing to be done.”
“I know,” Chanti whispered. “I saw the data.” She tipped her pint over. “I ate it all. Stress.” She set the spoon and container on the side table. “I contacted some hacker friends of mine. They gave me a lawyer’s name who handles whistleblower protection. They’re hackers, so they whistleblow a lot. I made an emergency meeting with one of them for Monday morning. I assume you want to move fast.”
“I can’t prove anything. I have nothing to tell her,” Piper said, turning to put her pint down, too, then grabbing up the throw blanket and wrapping herself up tight.
“We don’t have nothing. Lionel has been in your computer files. When he badged in, the code says where he went to look and what he downloaded or printed. He downloaded the most recent formula and all the data about the mice growing younger.”
“You’ve been busy,” Piper said. “I’m so grateful.”
“I was working on this when your phone told me someone stole it, and then I got the call to meet you at the hospital. You have no idea the dark places I went in my mind. It was motivation. One of the things I looked into was that woman fawning over Lionel, the pregnant one?”
“Yes?”
“I found her on the socials. She looks young for Lionel to play with.”
“The before Lionel, I would agree. But now he looks age-appropriate,” Piper said.
“My first thought was that she doesn’t look anything like your mom, so that marks her as safe.”
“Eww.” Piper made a stink face.
