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“I can’t believe it,” she said. “She was such an incredible woman.”
“She’s not dead, yet, right?” he clarified.
Janet flushed. “Oh my, you’re right. I shouldn’t talk like that. But I heard that it doesn’t look very promising.”
Cole shook his head. “Speculation and rumors are never reliable. Let’s just pray and wait. And work, I suppose.”
“How can you work at a time like this?” Janet said, appalled.
Cole tensed. “It’s not like the FBI needs my help, nor the doctors. I’m going to focus on what is under my control, and that is this company and my work. I suggest you do the same. Draft a note to our staff recommending they take a moment to pray but that our work is as important as ever.”
He frowned as Janet shook her head. “I don’t know, Mr. Kensington. I don’t think there will be much work happening.”
She was probably right. He exhaled and ran a hand through his hair. A glance at the clock told him it was nearly 3 pm. “Fine. Send a note and send everyone home, but tomorrow we come back ready to work.”
Janet nodded. “Yes, sir.”
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
Cole pressedhis fingers to his eyes as the beginning notes of a migraine began to form there. Stress. He shut the newscast off and glanced at the proposal still open on his computer. Even if everyone else in his office was leaving, he would be staying.
A knock on his door interrupted him about an hour later. He glanced up. “Joey. What are you doing here?”
He looked around at his office for any witnesses, despite knowing it was empty. “You can’t be here, Joey. Someone might see you.”
Joey just stared at him. “You know the entire building is empty, right?”
“Not entirely,” he said with a pointed gaze.
She stepped through the door. “Yeah, well. I figured you’d still be here, so I came up.”
“I’m really glad you did.” He wasn’t sure he was ready to analyze the depth of that statement, but seeing Joey at his door had lifted the weight of the rest of the day.
She sat across from him and crossed her legs. A red stiletto heel caught his eye. “How do you walk in those?”
She laughed. “Practice. And strong calves.” She waited. “And I keep a pair of sneakers in my purse. But I figured if I was coming to the boss’s office, I should look the part.”
“Even if no one sees?”
She nodded. “You saw,” she said with a smirk.
Heat rolled up his neck, and Cole tugged on his already unbuttoned collar. “Everything in place for the false report?”
“Uploaded this morning. Now we just need you to hint at it in your meeting with the directors. We’ll see who bites and falls into the trap door I left behind.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know anything about all that, but I sure hope it works. I’ve got the FDA breathing down my neck, and I don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t prove the project still has merit.”
Joey frowned. “Can they just shut it down, or what?”
“Kind of? The whole process is super long, but yeah, they could hold up any further trials if they think the results don’t seem to warrant further study. And if our results are radically different from the same research at other places, even if I’m pretty sure those results are bogus, then it calls all of our trials into question. And,” he continued as the realization struck, “it won’t just put a damper on this project. It’ll make all of our trials circumspect. We’ll be under a microscope for everything.”
“Aren’t you already?” Joey leaned forward. “Like, they’re already looking at everything super closely, right? They’re not just approving things willy-nilly.”
“That’s true. But it’s different when they trust you. We’ve got a reputation for upholding the highest research standards and objective trials. I don’t want to jeopardize that.”
He stood up and paced behind his desk. “I know why they have to play gatekeeper. But sometimes… The entire process is so frustrating. It takes months to analyze data. Months to hold a meeting to vote. And meanwhile, everything we’re doing is essentially paused.”
“Yeah, but they’re keeping people safe. Protecting them from companies who might be tempted to rush a drug to production to start earning back their research costs.”
