Annabelle worked in the cereal grass laboratory, but lately she had been spending a few hours per week at the lab that tested some of the worst of the preservatives being pumped into the nation’s milk and meat supply. Borax, benzoate, and formaldehyde were supposed to extend the shelf life of dairy and meat, but none of them had ever been proven safe. There were no laws against the sale of adulterated food, and cost-cutting methods were shockingly creative. Butter was often only beef tallow steeped in yellow food dye. Chalk powder was used to disguise milk diluted with water. Children’s candy was colored with lead dyes.
And sometimes coffee was adulterated with chicory and chemical flavorings, leading to three dead people in Philadelphia.
He looked at Gray. “What’s your problem with the study? We ought to be dancing in the streets now that someone is finally doing something about this.”
Gray’s face was somber. “They’re planning to use human test subjects,” he said quietly.
Luke glanced at Annabelle. “True?”
“True,” she confirmed. “But Dr. Wiley will be overseeing the experiment, and surely he wouldn’t do anything to harm the volunteers. He’s a medical doctor, after all.”
“He’ll be feeding people borax!” Gray said. “Formaldehyde. How does one safely consume formaldehyde?”
It looked like he wanted to say more, but Luke interrupted him. “Who will the test subjects be?”
“We’ll be looking for twelve healthy young men,” Annabelle said. “They’ll get free room and board in exchange for participation.”
Luke sagged back in his chair, a world of possibility opening up. For five years he’d been tormented by his role in the death of those people in Philadelphia. This could be his chance to repay his debt. His chance to strike a blow at the Magruders and any other food producer who pumped chemicals into their food. If he served as a test subject, he could cover the story as a journalist from the inside, and it would make news around the world.
“Where do I sign up?” he asked. He was suddenly on his feet.
“Oh, for pity’s sake!” Gray roared. “Sit back down. You’re not going anywhere.”
“I’m going to sign up,” he repeated, looking at Annabelle, who seemed as stunned as Gray. “Tell me where I go to volunteer.”
“Luke, I don’t think you’re healthy enough to volunteer,” she said.
“You’re sick and underweight and not thinking with a clear head,” Gray said.
Luke took his bowl to the stove, adding two more heaping scoops of meaty stew. “I won’t be underweight for long.”
A new field of combat in his war against the Magruders had just opened, and he was going to be on the front lines.
Four
Vera Magruder was sobbing as she dragged a trunk out of the storage closet and toward her bedroom.
“Mama, please,” Marianne urged. “Please put the trunk back. Papa will be home soon and will be able to explain everything.”
At least she hoped he would. Clyde had been in Baltimore to meet with his constituents and was supposed to have returned last night, and Vera suspected the worst.
Her mother opened the lid of the trunk to throw a handful of Clyde’s shirts inside. “He’s with that woman,” she wept. “I called home twice last night and the butler had no explanation for where he was. He’s with her! Her and that child.”
“Shh,” Marianne said. “Sam might overhear.” Her nephew was visiting them again, and he was too young to learn about Clyde’s infidelities.
It was impossible to know why Clyde had overstayed his visit to Baltimore, but it might well have been to see his young son, who was now eighteen months old. Clyde refused to cut ties with the boy’s mother because of the child they shared. He swore the affair was over, but he set Lottie O’Grady up in her own house and paid monthly support for her and the baby.
Vera normally insisted on accompanying Clyde whenever business called him to Baltimore, but she had been feeling poorly last Friday, and Clyde swore on a stack of Bibles that he would behave himself. His failure to return last night awakened all of Vera’s fears.
Vera threw some trousers atop the shirts, then dumped Clyde’s shoes into the trunk. “I won’t raise another illegitimate child. I won’t! I shouldn’t have agreed to it the first time.”
Marianne looked away. She loved her mother, but sometimes Vera could be so thoughtless, and it hurt. Vera noticed and immediately switched tones.
“Not that I regret it, darling! Come, give Mama a nice big hug.” She dragged Marianne into her arms. “You know I don’t mean anything by it. I love you like one of my own.”
Marianne had always known Vera adopted her. As a child she had been told that her real mother died, but that wasn’t true. Her real mother had an affair with Clyde and had been paid handsomely to surrender the baby to the Magruders. Clyde wanted more children, but the doctor warned that Vera could never carry another baby after the trauma of her only son’s birth. Clyde never asked Vera if she would accept another child, he simply presented his wife with the three-month-old baby from his short-lived affair with an opera singer. Although Clyde doted on her, there was always a hint of tension where Vera was concerned. They could go months in loving harmony, but then something could trigger Vera’s insecurities, and the coldness returned.
And that “something” had reared its head eighteen months ago when Clyde was caught in another affair. This time there was a little boy named Tommy as a result. At first Clyde tried to hide Tommy’s existence from Vera, but she found out, and their entire family had been walking on eggshells ever since.
