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Aaron laughed. “Don’t worry. That is one thing I will make sure happens. I won’t interfere with your wedding.”
Jemi tucked her head through the door. “Sydney, Aaron, dinner’s ready.”
The two walked into the kitchen to find a couple of stacked sandwiches on the table with tall glasses of water.
“This looks amazing.” Syd sat down and took a bite.
“Jem is the best cook I know,” Aaron said. “But I’ll come back to mine in a sec. I need to make a call. Jemi, does Peter have any spare burner phones in the house?”
“He does. I’ll get you one.”
* * *
Aaron took the phone and moved into a small sunroom at the back of the house.
“Hello, this is Special Agent Patrick Lewis.”
Aaron could hear a commotion in the background. “Lewis. It’s Pritchard.”
“Pritchard?” A muffled crackle filled the phone, then the noise was quieter. “Where are you? Knightly has lost it. He’s close to starting a manhunt.”
“He is?”
“He’s close. He is really mad. I think he’s got a lot of pressure coming from higher up. You need to come in.”
“I can’t yet, and I need you to do me a favor.”
“Pritchard. I like you, but I am a by-the-books kind of guy and I’ve worked hard for this job.”
“I’m not asking you to do anything illegal.”
“I shouldn’t even be talking to you right now.”
“Why not? You’re trying to talk me in. That’s completely legitimate. And I want you to fully cooperate. Do you know if Knightly had Dr. Pallon brought in?”
“Pallon?”
“Yeah. He’s the one who tried to murder Sydney and he stole the fungus.”
“Oh.” His voice had an empty quality to it.
“I don’t know if you’ve been briefed about all of that, but — wait. What do you mean ‘oh’? Has something happened?”
“No, well, yes. You remember how you asked me to look into who accessed Popov’s room at the hospital?”
“Yeah.”
“I spoke to the doctor on call and he said he could vouch for everyone there. Doctors, nurses, everyone.”
“Did you ask him for a list anyway?”
“I did. Everyone checked out.”
“But?”
“But Pallon was on that list. When I asked about it, the doctor said he was assessing Popov for his suitability to be used in research he was conducting on trauma patients.”
“When was that?”
