The Lives Between Us (48 page)

“So far this is all speculation. Do you have any evidence?”

“The couple who donated their child’s stem cells for Noelle’s treatment only joined the company a matter of days before she was injured.”

“So? They weren’t old clients.” Edward’s grip tightened around the coffee.

Jenny spoke softly. “Senator, I did an extensive check. The donors listed, James and Shannon Connor, do not exist. We believe Eileen found embryos on the black market that were very good matches for your wife, bought them, fabricated the Connors and their background story, then started the cell line from the embryos.”

Edward struggled to order his scrambled thoughts. Embryos. Black market. Fake donors?

“That’s pretty far-fetched.” But possible. His stomach turned queasy. Shit. If Eileen used ESCs for Noelle’s treatment... Noelle would... Eileen knew...

“Senator, if it got out that you’d used embryonic stem cells in your wife’s treatment, nobody would believe it was an accident,” Jenny softly said. “Nobody would care that you’d been tricked.”

Edward scrubbed a hand over his buzzing head.

“She can breathe on her own now,” he muttered. He pictured Noelle in the dark the first night he’d found out. The soft, natural rise and fall of her chest. He looked first at Skye, then at Jenny. “It worked. She can breathe. Her shoulders tingle.”

“Senator. If this gets out, both your and Mark’s careers are in jeopardy.”

“Does Mark know?” Edward asked.

“I doubt it.” Skye shook her head. “Mark wouldn’t do anything illegal—or even ethically questionable. I wanted to tell him, but Jenny convinced me to talk to you first. We thought you’d want to be with us when we talk to him tonight.”

Edward washed a hand over his face. What the hell should he do? He placed his coffee in the cup holder before he dropped it. What if Mark didn’t know? What would he do? He knew what he’d do in Mark’s place. He’d suspend Eileen immediately while he investigated. He’d lock her out of her office and keep her away from all patients until he uncovered the truth.

If it were true, Eileen would go to jail for a long time, and Mark’s company would be ruined. And all the good he’d done would be forgotten and all the future miracles his company’s research could spawn would never be. That couldn’t happen.

“Let’s not panic. We don’t know for sure that Eileen used ESCs for Noelle’s treatment. At this point, it’s pure speculation. There’s no need to alarm Mark yet. Let me contact a private investigator I know and have him do some digging. These are very serious accusations. We need proof. Solid, incontrovertible proof. We’ll go to Mark once we have a little more information.” He looked each lady in the eye. “Agreed?”

Jenny nodded. “If that’s the way you want to handle it.”

Skye frowned. “Mark should know. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be told immediately.”

“Actually, there is. We don’t have proof that what you suspect is true. So there’s no need to alarm Mark needlessly. The more people who know, the greater the chance of this accidentally getting out—or making people suspicious. And most importantly…” Edward shook his head, ruefully. “Mark’s
terrible
at keeping a secret. He can’t lie, and he can’t keep a secret. He’d never be able to act normally around Eileen while we investigated.”

“I hate not telling him,” Skye said.

“I’m not crazy about it either, but we’re protecting him. It’ll take my guy a week, ten days tops, to get us what we need. Besides… Mark is probably innocent in this, but Noelle’s like a sister to him. I can’t say with one hundred percent assurance that he didn’t go along with this for her. In which case, we have a whole different situation on our hands,” he claimed, counting on Skye to care enough to want to protect Mark.

Skye looked skeptical, then pushed out a deep sigh. “Okay. We’ll do it your way, but please hurry. I hate hiding things from Mark.”

Edward smiled with false bravado. “I’ll get my guy on it tonight and get back to you when he’s got something.”

Edward got out of the Jeep and then turned back to Skye.

She opened the window, and he leaned in. “Did you know all this before you wrote the feature?”

She nodded.

“Did you leave it out because you didn’t have evidence?”

Her gaze never wavered—not a flicker of doubt or guilt. “That and…because it’s private.”

Skye was too good of a reporter for that. Her work was intelligent and compassionate, but a certain ruthlessness was evident, too. “You included a
lot
of things that were private.”

“I live by the Hippocratic Oath.”

First and foremost, do no harm. The same reason she hadn’t exploited his childhood. The truth of that night would’ve sold millions of copies and made her career. He had to respect Skye’s restraint and integrity. He nodded.

“I’ll be waiting to hear from you.” Skye rolled up the window, and they pulled away.

Getting in the Escape, Edward slowly drove along Lakeshore Drive trying to absorb all they’d told him. Maybe Eileen had done it as a means of controlling a United States Senator, more than for any real hope for a scientific breakthrough.

Knowing Eileen, it’s more likely she’d gotten obsessed with Noelle’s case and the opportunity it presented for her to be in on groundbreaking research and hadn’t been able to resist getting her way—regardless of their wishes.

But if blackmail were her true motive, she’d quickly discover she’d run up against the wrong man. His grip tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

He would
not
be manipulated by any person, and he’d die before subjecting his wife to further pain.

* * *

Skye went to Faith’s to play with the babies for a few hours before heading home. She’d turned off her phone to preserve the little battery she had left until she got to her charger—at least that’s the excuse she told herself. The truth was, Skye deeply regretted promising Edward she wouldn’t tell Mark about their meeting. She was a competent liar when she had to be, but she hated keeping secrets from Mark.

Come to think of it, keeping Edward’s secrets was becoming an uncomfortable habit, though she had to admit the one about his childhood was her own fault. She’d worked hard and paid a pretty penny to find out what happened that night.

But she didn’t regret it. It helped her understand Edward in a way few probably did. Noelle undoubtedly knew, but Skye doubted Mark did. He might know Edward’s father had been an abusive SOB who beat his wife and went to jail for it, but she didn’t think Mark knew the whole story.

Edward had been born Edward Joseph Gellerman, son of Eve Hastings Gellerman and Brent James Gellerman. His mother had been an accountant and his father a pharmaceutical drug rep—until his drinking made it impossible for him to hold a job. Gellerman fiercely resented his wife supporting the family and blamed her for his inability to sustain a job. Hence the beatings.

The police were called to Edward’s home in the quiet middle-class Indianapolis neighborhood several times to calm his alcoholic father. The records documented a sad, obvious escalation of violence in the household until the night it stopped.

Gellerman had been drinking and began beating his five-month pregnant wife. From here the PI’s report was sketchy, and he pieced together bits and pieces of what must have happened.

The police were called to the house for gunshots fired, and when they got there they found Eve badly beaten, Edward with a black eye, and a drunken Gellerman with a gunshot wound in his thigh. Eve lost her baby boy that night, and her twelve-year-old son was arrested and sent to the juvenile detention center.

Shortly thereafter, Edward was released into his mother’s custody and Gellerman was charged with aggravated domestic assault and manslaughter. He only served ten of his fifteen-year sentence before pancreatic cancer killed him.

Eve buried her unborn babe, divorced Gellerman, got Edward’s juvenile records sealed, change her and Edward’s surname to Hastings, and moved to Grosse Pointe, Michigan, for a fresh start.

The last piece of the puzzle the PI uncovered was the most incredulous. Skye assumed Eve lost the baby due to the beating she’d received, but the death certificate determined the fetus died from a gunshot wound.

The only reason twelve-year-old Edward would’ve gone to juvie rather than into the custody of social services would have been if he’d been the one to fire the gun. Skye had been horrified to realize that in saving his mother’s life, Edward likely took his unborn baby brother’s.

That’s a heavy load for a kid to grow up with. No wonder Edward’s so passionate about protecting the unborn. It’s a penance of sorts.

But that was Edward’s tragic past. That secret was easy to keep. This one, not so much. Especially when she disagreed with Edward. Mark could be trusted. He’d never go behind his friends’ backs—for any reason.

The only thing that kept her silent this past week had been the truth that Mark was a bad liar. She didn’t doubt he’d be unable to hide his feelings from Eileen, and they required time for Edward’s contact to investigate. Skye picked up extra shifts at work under the guise of needing money for renovating her apartment to avoid Mark.

Not altogether a lie, the extra money would help pay down her construction loan, but still Skye was uncomfortable deceiving Mark. She checked her phone nearly hourly, hoping to find a missed call from Edward. Other days when she hadn’t kept busy enough and guilt preyed on her conscience, she’d had to turn off her cell phone to keep from calling Mark and confessing.

On day ten, Skye reached her limit. She was tired of avoiding Mark. Tired of the deception. Sitting alone in the dark watching a Harry Potter movie, her mind waffled back and forth, driving her crazy.

When she and Jenny had told Edward their suspicions, he’d been so shocked, so floored. Skye was keeping something important from Mark. It was Edward’s secret, not hers. It involved both of them. But they had no proof yet. She was withholding critical information from the man she loved, and it was killing her.

Shoot. What a complete idiot. Couldn’t she learn from past experiences? Why had she ever made that stupid promise? After an hour of chastising herself, Skye slammed her head into her pillow. This ended tomorrow. She’d call Edward and warn him, but she was telling Mark tomorrow.

Skye snapped her cell phone shut as Mark walked into the bar. He leaned close and gave her a kiss, then, with a flourish, presented her with a huge bouquet of tulips. “Hello, beautiful.”

“Hello, yourself.” She took the flowers and filled a wine decanter with water. Arranging them in it, she deposited the colorful flowers at the back of the bar with the three other bouquets. “You need to stop.”

“I still have some making up to do. You don’t like flowers? I’ll have to get more creative.”

“How about furniture? There’s this leather couch and kitchen set I have my eye on...” She backed away and smiled at the intrigue that lit his eyes. “Just teasing. We’re good.”

“Furniture. Okay.” Mark slid onto a stool and reached for the snack mix. “I can do furniture. So. What’ve you been up to?”

“Trying to get a hold of your best friend. Have you heard from Edward?”

“Not recently, but he should be in town for the weekend. Why?”

She threw the rag in the sink, plopped down on a bar stool, and blew out a deep breath. “I’ve left him about a half a dozen messages over the past few days and he hasn’t returned any of them.”

“Half a dozen? You don’t call
me
that much. What do you need Ed for?”

Shoot, Edward’s ignoring her messages had her so frustrated, Skye opened her big mouth when she shouldn’t have. “I...um...” She reached below the counter and pulled out a bag. “I got a little present for you.”

“Thanks.” Mark ignored the package. “What do you want with Ed?”

“Aren’t you going to open it?” At his stare, Skye tugged the bag toward her and pulled out a bottle of vitamin C and a bottle of iron. She smiled brightly. “Vitamins to chase away your cold.”

“I don’t have a cold.”

“Well, now you won’t get a cold. And the iron boosts your overall immune system.”

“Iron builds red blood cells, and my immune system’s fine. I’m not sick. I’m not taking that stuff. I eat a healthy diet, I exercise, and I’m fine. Stop worrying and trying to sidetrack me. Why’ve you been trying to get a hold of Ed?”

Skye studied the vitamin bottles, searching for an excuse. “I’m writing a follow-up piece on him and need to double check a fact.”

Mark reached for some snack mix. “So you called him six times in a week? Why not ask Noelle?”

“Didn’t think of that.”

“Ask Noelle tonight when we visit.” His phone croaked twice and he reached for it. “Excuse me.”

Phew. Hopefully he’d let it go now. After a quick exchange that brought a deep frown to Mark’s face, he hung up.

“You don’t look very happy.”

“That was Eileen. Noelle’s surgery went well.”

Skye froze. “What surgery?”

“Apparently, they moved up the last phase of her treatment. At Ed’s request.”

“He didn’t say anything to you? That’s weird. Isn’t it weird? It’s too soon, isn’t it? I mean, did they really have time to grow the neurons?” Her nerves had her babbling, like an idiot. Geesh. She brushed the hair out of her face. Damn Edward.

“They must’ve, or Davidson labs wouldn’t have allowed it. Though I allowed Eileen to grow the nerves, Davidson’s supervision was a condition I insisted upon. I wasn’t about to allow Eileen to experiment on Noelle more than necessary.” Mark popped a pretzel in his mouth. “What’re you so upset about?”

“Edward hasn’t said anything to you, has he?”

Suspicion darkened Mark’s eyes. “What
should
Ed have said?”

Damn
him
. If Noelle had surgery, even though it was only Thursday, she’d bet Edward was there. Reaching behind her, she tugged on her apron ties. “Call Edward and find out if he’s at the hospital.”

“Why?”

“We need to talk. Now.”