AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is there somewhere we go inside to talk?”
Calloway nodded and started for the door again. Frowning and close to crying, she again said: “I’m really very sorry. After Molly didn’t call and I heard that man’s voice on her phone this morning—your partner, apparently—I just freaked out when I heard the FBI was here.”
“I think we can let that slide for now, as long as you’re cooperative from here on out.”
Calloway led Rachel back into the building, but they only went up two flights of stairs as opposed to the three they'd come rushing down. As she followed, Rachel texted Sullivan to let him know she’d stopped Calloway and they were heading somewhere on the first sublevel to talk. His response was immediate and brief: be there in a second.
“We can go in here,” Calloway said, heading for the first door she came to along the hallway. Her face was tight, her eyes still gleamed with tears, and her bottom lip was trembling, but she also seemed determined to make it through the next few minutes before allowing herself to break down.
Calloway opened the door and let Rachel in first. It was a small conference room of sorts, maybe a bit too casual for business. There was an elegant yet small table in the center, a couch along the back wall, and a few chairs around the table. When Calloway flipped the light switch, the room was bathed in a soft, ambient light from overhead.
“I’ll make this as quick as I can,” Rachel said. “In your message, you told Molly to keep an eye out…to be careful. It seemed like you knew something was going to happen.”
“Yeah…the day after Jane Adler died, someone had left a note on my car. It literally just said, ‘Do you want to join Dr. Adler?’ And then that night, I would get calls from a blocked number. No one ever said anything on the other end and I tried to call back but it was always a dead line.”
“Were you and Molly close to Jane Adler?”
“Not close, no, but…”
She stopped as the door opened, and Sullivan stepped in. He gave them both a tentative smile, not quite sure what was going on. "We good?” he asked Rachel.
“Yes. She’s telling me why she left such an ominous message on Dr. Stevens’ phone.” She then turned her attention fully back to Calloway and asked: “Did you have any reason to believe that the killer who went after Adler would be coming for you and Dr. Stevens?”
“Not at first. I thought the threats against me were just some sort of sick prank…maybe by one of the interns here at VexoCorp. But when Emma Willis was killed, too…”
“Did all of you ever work together?” Sullivan asked.
“Not closely, no. In fact, I think Dr. Adler ever visited us here a single time. And I only ever had email communications with Dr. Willis.”
“Were you ever working on the same projects?”
“No. Whatever working relationship we all had among one another was research-based. I think we would have eventually needed to get together to sort of join forces, as some of the medicines we’re developing here share a lot of similarities with a few of the stem-cell therapies Willis and Adler were involved with.”
“Dr. Calloway,” Rachel said, “can you think of anyone at all who might have wanted these four women dead?”
“No…no, not at all.”
“Do you still have the note you found on your car?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know if Dr. Stevens ever received those same sort of threats?” Sullivan asked.
“I don’t think so. If she did, she never told me. She had seemed pretty nervous ever since Dr. Willis died, though.”
“And what about those calls to your phone?” Rachel asked. “Would you mind if we had a local officer try to track them?”
“Not at all. That’s fine.”
On the word fine, Calloway’s voice broke. It was followed by a gasping sob that she’d apparently been holding in ever since Rachel had told her about Dr. Stevens’ death. Quietly and with as much care as she could muster, Rachel said, “We’ll give you some time…”
Slowly, she and Sullivan left the room. With the door closed between them and Sherry Calloway, they could still hear her crying.
“Well, the timing of her call and this genuine show of sadness seems to suggest she’s not the killer at all,” Sullivan said.
Rachel hated dealing in absolutes, but she agreed. And though it felt like just another dead end, Rachel realized they now had a few important details. First of all, of the deceased women had at least communicated with one another in some capacity—all of it having to do with anti-aging or, at the very least, medicines that might assist. And maybe, if they were lucky, they’d catch a break with these blocked calls that had come in to Calloway’s phone.
“You know,” Rachel said, “I think it might be a good idea to have some sort of security detail set up for Dr. Calloway. And I also think it’s time we compile a list of doctors in the area that are working in the field of anti-aging research of any kind.”
