Mark of the Wiseman (The Wiseman Series Book 1)

by Hightower, R. Caresse

  “I don’t use it in my own research, but I know it can be used intravenously or orally after blood loss.”

  “Or…”

  William blinked. “Or veterinarians sometimes use it to treat renal failure.”

  “Or…”

  “That’s it. It’s just an isotonic solution.”

  “Mmm.”

  Agent Roswell pointed to the plastic baggie. “Do you know what this is?”

  It could only be one thing: RespirGel. “It doesn’t look like much of anything. Jell-O?”

  Agent Roswell squinted.

  Time to change the subject. “May I ask how many women you found?”

  “Nineteen… maybe more.”

  Maybe more? William looked at the items on the table. “The one that grabbed me, what language was she speaking?”

  “Lao.” Agent Roswell placed a sheet of paper next to the RespirGel. “They had letters and numbers etched into their forearms. Do these mean anything to you?”

  William skimmed the list. The alphanumeric convention was all too familiar. These were the pod test subjects’ identification labels. The same labels were in the binder in his office supply closet.

  William tried to recall the paperwork from New Life Cryobank. Everything had looked legitimate. He’d even been copied in all of the email correspondences between New Life’s director and Dr. Chang. Hadn’t he?

  “Something bothering you, Dr. Wiseman?”

  William shook his head jerkily. His neck felt stiff and his mouth was like the desert. It was all he could do to swallow.

  Agent Roswell placed the list of identifiers in a folder. “There was a garden incinerator under Dr. Chang’s deck.”

  He tossed a picture on the table. William glanced at it and saw burned body parts. He looked away.

  “What do you think, doctor?”

  “I had no idea Dr. Chang engaged in this type of activity.”

  Agent Roswell sat down and laced his fingers together. “I understand that you and Dr. Chang knew each other quite well.”

  “I guess you never really know a person.”

  William didn’t know where to look. He was trying to avoid the agent’s glare and the photo on the table.

  “So,” Agent Roswell finally said. “You just happened to enter Dr. Chang’s home and find women imprisoned in his basement. In the basement was lab equipment that Dr. Chang claims he bought for a study you and he are working on.”

  “I told you earlier it wasn’t for any research that I’m involved with.”

  “Which makes his claim all the more interesting. So you don’t know what he was doing… or why.” Agent Roswell started to gather the things on the table. “That’s unfortunate.”

  William was confused. Was that it? Was he really getting out of this? “If there isn’t anything else, may I leave?”

  “Sure.”

  William stood up and walked cautiously to the door.

  “Doctor?”

  “Yes?”

  Agent Roswell gave him that unfriendly smile again. “Don’t leave town.”

  William nodded and left the room. He was dying to run to the parking lot, but he took care to walk as leisurely as he could through the hallway and past the security cameras. He heard his phone ringing in the console as soon as he got into his car.

  “Will! Where have you been? I’ve been calling and calling!”

  “Evie, calm down.”

  “The police burst in here and started going through all of our things. I just-”

  “What?”

  “The police, Will, and they broke my favorite vase.”

  “I’ll get you another one.” William started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. “Are you alright?”

  “Not really. I thought you were still at work until they told me they found you at Fai’s house. Then Agnes ran in here and told me you were on the news. What’s going on? Who were those girls? The reporter said there were remains. Remains? Whose remains?”

  “I’ll explain everything when I get home.”

  “Are you in some sort of trouble?”

  “Not exactly. Just stay out of the officers’ way.”

  “I did. They didn’t find anything. They just left the house a mess. What were they looking for?”

  “They’re done?” William sped through a yellow traffic light.

  “They just left. I was calling you the whole time they were here!”

  Oh God. My office. “Sweetie, I need to go. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

  “Where are you? Why can’t you just tell-”

  “Eve! I said later.”

  She didn’t answer.

  William lowered his voice. “I didn’t mean to yell, okay? I’ll see you in a little while.”

  He hung up and sped to campus. When he dialed Liling’s number again, it went straight to voicemail. “Damn!”

  It began snowing just as William hurried into his office building. In spite of the cold, he was sweating profusely. Officers were bringing boxes downstairs. He jogged up to the second floor and saw the dean hovering near Dr. Chang’s office, looking disheveled. He motioned for William to come over.

  “Dean Waters, I apologize for this.”

  “Is what I’m hearing true? Did you actually see those women in Dr. Chang’s home?”

  William nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

  Dean Waters watched the swarming officers in Dr. Chang’s office. “I do not need this. We just got over that E. coli scare at the cafeteria.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you know where Dr. Chang is?”

  “Conference in California.” William watched the officers walk down the hall and unlock his door. “You gave them a key to my office?”

  “They have a warrant. Exactly how are you involved with…?”

  William walked away from the dean and tried to enter his office. He only got a few feet inside before he was stopped.

  “I’m sorry, Dr. Wiseman. You’ll have to stay back until we’re finished.”

  William waited for what seemed like an eternity as the officers went through his file cabinets and desk drawers. He wanted to take off his coat since he felt like he was on fire, but he didn’t dare because he didn’t want any of them to see his sweat-soaked shirt. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve as he watched their attention turn to his supply closet. What could he say when they found the pods, especially the one with the baby in it? How was he going to convince Agent Roswell that he truly didn’t know what Dr. Chang was doing in that basement?

  “What’s the code for the door?”

  William considered, for just a second, telling the officer the wrong code and then acting as if the door malfunctioned. Then he thought better. It would only make him look guilty if the code didn’t work, and they would probably just force the door open anyway. William hesitated and several officers turned to him expectantly.

  He told them the code.

  Blood pounded in his ears so loudly, he barely heard the beeps the buttons made as the officer punched in each number. William stood, horrified, as the officer turned the knob and pushed the door open.

  He envisioned the officer switching on the light and pausing as he saw the pods. He’d walk in slowly, motioning for the others to come join him. They’d see what was inside and turn around and stare at William accusatorily while someone called Agent Roswell. He’d have to turn around and see the shock on Dean Waters’ face. William imagined what handcuffs would feel like… the horror on Eve’s face when she saw him in prison.

  If she came to see him at all.

  Three officers entered the closet and William held his breath as he waited for the inevitable.

  “Dr. Wiseman?”

  William couldn’t get out any words, so he just raised his eyebrows.

  The officer pointed to a file cabinet. “Do you have a key for this?”

  William reached into his pocket jerkily and walked to the closet. As he handed off the key, he looked past the officer.

>   The pods were gone.

  He glanced up at the shelf.

  The binder was gone.

  The officers looked through the closet for twenty minutes.

  “We’re sorry for the inconvenience, Dr. Wiseman.”

  They started to pack up their belongings and file out.

  “You’re done?” William asked. “I mean, we’re good?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  William was equally perplexed and relieved.

  “Thank goodness they’re done,” Dean Waters said. “William, we need to meet tomorrow morning… my office.”

  “Okay.”

  Hoping to avoid an awkward walk to the car, William waited for the dean to leave first. After a few minutes, he went outside and started his car. As it warmed up, William kept reliving the moment he realized the pods were missing. He tried to pull up the remote surveillance on his phone. The screen was blank. Where was his child?

  He drove well below the speed limit, listening to the sound of the wipers scraping across the windshield and trying to organize his thoughts on the way home.

  He found Eve in the upstairs sitting room being consoled by Agnes. When he walked in, Agnes scowled.

  “I know it’s late,” he said.

  “It’s almost two in the morning,” Eve said. “I’ve been going out of my mind. I didn’t know where you were.”

  “Evie, I need to talk to you.” He looked at Agnes. “Alone please.”

  Agnes looked like she wanted to smack him. “Yes, sir.”

  She walked past him stiffly and closed the door a little harder than necessary. William took a breath, shed his coat, and sat down next to Eve. He took her hand. “I have to tell you something.” She looked at him. Her eyes were red and puffy. “Can you promise me that you’ll keep an open mind?”

  “I can try.”

  “After the last miscarriage, I contacted a doctor.”

  “Dr. Mills?”

  “No, another doctor. Someone who was very involved in neonatal research. I thought she’d be able to help us.”

  “Who?”

  “Dr. Patton.”

  “Who?”

  “You met her once at the Children’s Hospital benefit. Remember?”

  Eve’s jaw dropped. “The same woman who’s been in the news? The one that disappeared?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you have something to do with that?”

  “I had no idea she was leaving and I don’t know where she went…”

  “But?”

  “But I did give her a lot of money.”

  Eve ran a hand through her hair. “You were involved with her?”

  “Not romantically. I went to her for help. She… she had a proposal for something called ectogenesis. It’s when you grow a baby outside of a human womb.”

  Eve made an incoherent sound.

  “Fai, Liling, and I worked with her to come up with something called a pod.”

  “Liling?”

  “She’s Dr. Patton’s assistant. We spent the last year testing the pod.”

  “Just… can you wait a minute? You can grow babies outside of a woman?”

  “Yes,” William said, “but it’s frowned upon.”

  “You mean illegal?”

  William made a noncommittal gesture.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t want to get your hopes up if the pod didn’t work.”

  “How would you know if it worked unless you tested a baby in it?”

  “We did.”

  “A human baby?”

  “Dr. Chang was supposed to use a cryogenic bank to get embryos. Some people will donate them for science.”

  “What… what happened to them?”

  He shook his head.

  Eve covered her mouth. “Oh my God.”

  “I did eventually figure out the problem.”

  “Is this why they came to search our house?”

  “Yes, indirectly. Yesterday afternoon, I received a notice that Fai was ordering equipment from my work account. When I saw what he’d ordered, I thought maybe he was making pods on his own. I panicked. I broke into his house to see what I could find while he was out of town.”

  Eve stood up. “I don’t think I can hear anymore. This… all of this is just… just… crazy.”

  “Sweetie, I’m not done. I need for you to hear everything.”

  She crossed her arms. “You’ve been lying to me for months, you gave a felon money to flee, you tested on innocent babies, and you broke into a man’s house, Will. What more is there?”

  “Because my name was on the paperwork for the equipment, the police think I may have played a part in Fai’s involvement with those girls.”

  “Did you?”

  “Absolutely not. I thought I was going to find a re-creation of the pod at his house. I swear I had no idea what he was up to.”

  Eve pursed her lips. “How can I believe that?”

  “You’ll just have to trust me.”

  Eve laughed. “Yeah.”

  She turned around to leave.

  “Evie.” She kept walking. He followed her out into the hallway. “I implanted one of our embryos into the pod.”

  She stopped. “Our?”

  William waited a few seconds. “Yes. Our.”

  She turned around. “You took out one of our embryos without telling me? You said that pod thing didn’t even work.”

  William held up his hands. “Let me explain.”

  “I will not. You said those other babies didn’t make it.”

  “I figured out the problem.”

  “But you never got a live baby, though. Is that right?”

  William looked at the floor.

  “Is our baby still alive?”

  “I… don’t know.”

  Eve unfolded her arms. “You don’t know?”

  “I don’t know where the baby is. The pod was kept in the supply closet in my office. That’s where I went after I got off the phone with you. I was afraid the police were going to search there.”

  “And?”

  “They opened the door and nothing was there. The pod was gone.”

  “You lost it?”

  “It wasn’t where I left it.”

  She stared at him. “I can’t handle this.”

  “I was doing this for you. I told you I would fix it.”

  “This is fixing it?”

  “I know it looks bad, but-”

  She started to walk away. “Enough of our babies have died without your help. I’ll get Agnes to make up one of the guestrooms for you.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Now that William’s adrenaline had tapered, exhaustion started to settle in. He got into the guest bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering if Eve was awake. He wondered who had taken the pod and where the baby was. Where was Liling? How was he going to get back into Eve’s good graces? Was Agent Roswell really searching for incriminating evidence against him? Or was the agent just trying to be intimidating? What was Dean Waters going to say at their meeting?

  William tossed onto his side. The images of those girls being carried out of Dr. Chang’s basement were etched into his memory. They looked so lost, so forlorn. They were probably missing their families and loved ones. William tried to imagine what it was like being chained in the dank, dark basement. How long had Dr. Chang been hiding those girls in his house?

  He squeezed his eyes shut, but opened them immediately. He couldn’t get the image of that girl who grabbed his coat out of his mind. Even though he hadn’t understood her words, he’d heard the pleading in her voice. Her brown eyes had been bloodshot, her hair a wild nest of black tangles. What had she tried to tell him? William strained to recall the other girls, but couldn’t. Only that one did he remember so clearly.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  He turned onto his stomach and buried his face in the pillow. How was he going to make amends for this mess? What if the police got hold of Liling? He’d brought und
ue attention back to the university. He’d never been kicked out of his own bedroom before. William’s head was swimming and this debacle wasn’t even close to being over.

  Eventually, he fell into a fitful sleep. When he awakened only an hour later, he felt worse than he had before. He looked at his cell phone to check the time, but the battery was dead.

  He stared into space until faint light crept in from the window. Eve was right. He’d lost their baby. The backup power supply to the pod only lasted an hour and a half.

  He got up and retrieved his pants and shirt from the floor. Yesterday, all hell had broken loose. Today, he had to pick up the pieces. He didn’t know how, but he had to do something. He trudged upstairs to his bedroom.

  Eve was sitting in the window seat, hugging her knees to her chest, watching the sunrise. She looked as exhausted as he felt. He sat next to her, staring outside. The fresh snow on their lawn sparkled orange with sunlight.

  Eve spoke quietly. “Did you really take our baby out of the clinic?”

  “Yes,” William said.

  Her bottom lip twitched. “What’s a pod?”

  “It’s kind of like a big, glass bubble. You implant embryos in it and they grow just like they would inside of a uterus.”

  They watched a cardinal land on a tree branch, hop around, and fly off.

  “Are you going to jail?”

  William had no idea. “I was threatened with breaking and entering; but after I was questioned, they let me go.”

  Eve leaned her head on the window frame. “How long has our baby been in that pod?”

  “Today makes thirty-two days.”

  “When were you going to tell me?”

  “Soon. I would have told you soon.”

  She closed her eyes. “Where is he?”

  “I wish I knew. Someone moved him… or her. The only people who knew the code to that room were Fai, Liling, and me. Liling has a key to my office, but someone would need to get her into the building.”

  “This is really hard to comprehend.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I was trying to do something good.”

  “So… we have a baby somewhere, still growing?”

  “I hope so.” William sighed. “Have you slept?” Eve shook her head. He rubbed her leg. “I’ll find him, okay?”

  She looked out into the brightness. “What if you don’t?”