She’s afraid,Rachel said.
Was she warned not to talk, or is she trying to protect her role at the clinic?
There’s no way of knowing. But we do know what the clinic was doing. Trying to increase the intelligence of the children conceived there.
If it’s the truth,Jake answered.
It makes sense–with all that IQ Testing.”She stopped and thought for a moment. But wouldn’t all that be illegal?
He answered with a mirthless laugh.The government and private research groups have done a lot of things that are illegal--or stupid--in the name of experimentation. You’ve heard about soldiers lined up to watch nuclear explosions. Or doctors who deliberately didn’t treat a bunch of black men with syphilis to find out what would happen to them. Somebody paid a lot of money to fund Dr. Solomon’s research. Would a small town doctor have that kind of resources? I think we have to assume someone with deeper pokets was footing the bill. The government or a pharmaceutical company, maybe. But I think they were dissatisfied with the results. I mean back when Solomon had a working clinic. Maybe the money man sent Evelyn Morgan to check on the doctor’s progress. And she reported that there wasn’t anythingunusual about the children’s intelligence. The experiment was a big failure.
And when her boss didn’t like what she found out, he told her to burn the place down,Rachel added.Which is kind of extreme, don’t you think?
Apparently he’s an extreme kind of guy. He didn’t just come asking you or me questions. He sent a thug after us. Probably to find out what he could before killing us.
Rachel winced.
But that still leaves us with one big question—why did Evelyn try to get us together?
Suppose she researched children from the clinic and thought they might have developed some kind of special talent when they were paired up?
Of course, there’s another question,Rachel said.We don’t know if Dr. Solomon is really alive. He could have died years ago, and Maven’s not remembering correctly. Or he could be nearby keeping an ear out for anyone who talks about the clinic.
And then what?
Jake shrugged.It could even be that people have heard about Evelyn’s death, and that’s got them worried.
Rachel nodded.Do we look for Dr. Solomon?
That could be dangerous.
As they walked past the front desk, Jake nodded to Ms. Dalton. “Thank you.”
“Did you have a nice visit?”
“Yes.” He waited a beat before asking, “Is Maven often confused?”
“Sometimes her memory is a little shaky.”
“Thanks,” he said again.
In the parking lot, he started the car but didn’t immediately drive away. “We have to find a place to stay,” he said.
“And this time, we don’t mention anything about the Solomon Clinic.”
“Unless word about us has already spread around town.”
She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “You think people are talking about the nosy couple asking questions?”
“No. It was just my frustration talking.”
They drove away from the facility and headed toward the downtown area. They’d just passed the site of the old clinic when Jake made an angry sound as he caught sight of a man sitting in a car in the bank parking lot.
Rachel stiffened. “It’s him. Smithson. The guy from New Orleans. He’s found us.”
“Yeah.”
“And we’ve got to do something about it.” Rachel’s brow furrowed. “Let me think. What about . . .”
