She shook her head.
“It’s not that. I just realized I haven’t told you what I found out yesterday.”
And that was when James learned about Wynonna Harrison and her brother’s past with Damon.
“Before I left, Wynonna told me that even though Damon helped raise her with Lloyd, Derrick only visited on occasion,” she added at the end of the retelling. “Derrick and Lloyd were friendly but not at all like Damon and Lloyd. Theywereclose enough, though, that when there was a position open after Lloyd was hired into Camden Pharmaceuticals, he reached out to Derrick, who was looking for a job. That’s how the two of them came to be on that bus five months ago while Damon wasn’t around.”
“And no one knew about Lloyd’s relationship with Derrick’s brother?”
Rose said no.
“I’m guessing they probably wanted to avoid any conflicts at work or about how Derrick got the job. Though I guess I don’t know for sure. Just like I’m still not sure why the two of them were fighting on the bus, especially during a tornado.” Rose’s face scrunched up. “Or why Derrick would look so hateful at a man that his brother obviously loved very much.”
She fell into a silence while she probably was thinking about the possibilities.
James, on the other hand, realized he had reason to apologize now.
“At the time I thought keeping it quiet was the right play but I’m not sure that’s the case anymore.” Rose’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry I should have told you this sooner.”
It was James’s turn to recount a conversation. His was all about Lloyd, up in that second-story room before he had taken his own life.
Rose wasn’t angry at his omission. She seemed to be enthused by it.
“The day Derrick died he stopped calling Damon a hero,” she paraphrased. “It wasn’t my fault that Derrick died. It was the storm… The generator.”
Rose rocketed upright.
It was so sudden James sat up next.
She turned to him and spoke fast and with her hands too.
“The generator. The damned generator. It was supposed to be the top-of-the-line and kick on no matter what. But it didn’t that day. That’s why they got on the shuttle in the first place. ‘One single point of failure’ that messed up everything.”
James started to pick up what she was putting down.
“Lloyd was doing something and the power going out messed it up. That means he was probably doing something he shouldn’t have at the research annex? And Derrick found out?”
“Something that must have included Damon andthat’swhy he was so mad at Lloyd,” Rose jumped in. “That’s why he stopped calling Damon a hero.”
Rose didn’t wait to finish the conversation. She was scurrying out of bed in her underthings, quickly searching out a fresh pair of clothes.
James followed suit, though he didn’t know exactly what they were going to do next.
Rose continued once she had a pair of jeans in hand.
“If Damon and Lloyd were working together to do something illegal at the drug trial, then them turning on one another like that would make sense, if theybothhadn’t been ready to die.” She pointed at him, jeans waving through the air in the process. “Butwhat if there was a third person in on it? Someone who knew enough to know where to hurt them.”
James found a shirt and tugged it on, heart starting to beat a little bit faster. Her excitement at a possible breakthrough was oddly contagious.
“But why get you there for the end of it?” he asked. “Or do you think Damon just got interrupted during his revenge plot against you?”
Rose did a combo between a headshake and a shrug.
“I’m not sure but maybe Wynonna has more information about Lloyd’s time at Camden,” she said. “Maybe she can remember something that we can—”
Rose stopped herself as her phone started to vibrate on the nightstand.
She hurried over and made a little noise after she scanned the new alert.
