L Sellers - The Suicide Effect

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“No.” Serena’s eyes went wide. “Do you think she quit?”

“Maybe. I need you to look up her home address for me.”

“Are you going there?”

“I feel compelled to do something.”

Serena rolled her chair in front of her computer and made a few mouse clicks. “It’s 2862 Spring Boulevard. Are you going now? Should I tell Marcy when she gets out of her meeting?” The girl, fresh out of high school, sparked with the energy of a new drama.

“Yes and yes. Please call North McKenzie hospital while I’m gone.”

“What do I say?”

“Just ask if they have a patient named Diane Warner. If they do, find out whatever you can.”

“I’ll do it now.”

Sula thanked her and hurried from the building.

Driving up Spring Boulevard, Sula barely noticed the half-million dollar homes. A dark thought kept circling in her brain. What if Rudker had made Warner disappear? It was such a huge leap that she kept pushing the idea away. Her family’s trauma had left her with a tendency to catastrophize and blaming Rudker seemed like a classic example of that response.

First, there was no reason yet to assume Warner had disappeared. She might be home sick in bed and not answering the phone. Second, even if Warner was gone-for whatever reason-it didn’t mean Rudker had anything directly to do with it. He may have driven the woman from her job with intimidation or threats, but that was life in the corporate world. Dr. Warner seemed able to take care of herself.

Sula slowed as she approached the 2800 block. Considering the value of the homes here, Sula figured Warner was doing quite well financially and could afford to miss a few days of work or quit without notice. Now she felt apprehensive about her visit. She was over-reacting and butting into someone’s personal life. She could get fired.

She parked in front of Warner’s home and felt a flash of envy. Set back from the road on a slight rise, the house was four times the size of her little place and beautifully designed with fieldstone inlay. The lush yard was thick with grass, ferns, and hostas. Sula wondered if Dr. Warner hired someone to take care of it. She couldn’t imagine the tiny scientist out here mowing the slope on weekends.

The truck still running, Sula sat for a few minutes, paralyzed with indecision. What would she say? Just checking to see if you’re all right. Would that seem reasonable to Warner?

Sula shut off the engine. Now that she was here, she had to check. No one would criticize her for being too concerned. She started up the driveway, her pumps clicking against the smooth asphalt while rain dampened her clothes. Someone was watching her, she could feel it. Sula paused under the covered front deck to check her watch, 9:07, and take a beep breath before ringing the doorbell.

After a two-minute wait, she rang again. Nobody came to the door or stirred inside the house. What now? Should she leave a note? She’d already left a message on the answering machine. She noticed the green newspaper box was stuffed with several editions. Sula trotted down the steps and along the front sidewalk. She stared at the huge garage door and wondered if Warner’s car was inside. A locked gate prevented her from walking around to the side of the garage and peeking through the windows. That was probably a good thing. In this neighborhood, that sort of activity would likely get her arrested.

Sula jogged back to the truck and cranked up the heater. She was wet and cold and worried. She reminded herself it was too soon to jump to conclusions. She would wait and see if Serena’s call to the hospital had netted any information.

As Sula entered Prolabs’ driveway, she saw a young man on a bicycle. It was Robbie Alvarez and he seemed to be late for work. She slowed and rolled down her window.

“Hi Robbie.”

“Hey, Sula. How’s it going?”

“Good. Except that every time I see you on your bike, I feel guilty that I don’t get enough exercise.”

He laughed. “I don’t do it for the exercise. I’m just too broke to drive and the people on the bus scare me.”

“Any progress with Julie?” He’d told her about his affections one day when they had lunch together in the cafeteria.

“Not yet. But I keep trying.”

“That’s all you can do. Have a good day.”

“I will.”

Sula drove away, thinking Robbie seemed so sweet, so different from his father. She understood why he used a different last name and didn’t want people to know they were related.

“Dr. Warner is not in the hospital,” Serena blurted out as Sula entered the HR office.

“I don’t think she’s at home either.” Sula called Northwest McKenzie again and asked if they had any non-identified patients. They didn’t.

Marcy, the HR director, stepped out of her office and joined their conversation. “I called Dr. Warner’s son, Jeff, and left him a message. He’s the only family member we have contact information for.”

“Should we file a missing persons report?” Sula asked.

“Let’s wait to see what her son says. If he hasn’t heard from her, we will.”

Sula went back to her office and distracted herself by responding to the e-mails and phone calls that had piled up that morning.

At noon, she bought a Luna bar from a vending machine and took it outside to the bench in the courtyard. The drizzle had stopped but the sky was still dark. The R amp;D building loomed in front of her and she couldn’t stop thinking about Dr. Warner. The knot in her stomach made Sula feel certain the woman was not coming back.

What would happen to her research files? Would Rudker destroy Warner’s work on the genetic response to Nexapra? Without Warner, the clinical trials would surely move forward and the screening test would be forgotten. The thought filled her with dismay.

People could not be allowed to kill themselves simply because Rudker was too greedy and too impatient to develop a diagnostic test. Sula had suffered the grief of losing someone to suicide and had experienced the impulse herself more than once. She could not sit back and let those lives be lost. The trials had to be stopped. But how? She couldn’t go to the FDA without proof. All she had was a conversation she’d overheard. The recording she’d made was barely audible, and she couldn’t do anything that would risk her job right now.

Sula wondered if Peterson or one of the other scientists was aware of Warner’s discovery. If they knew about the genetic/suicide link, why hadn’t they been at the meeting with Rudker to back Warner up?

The horrible thought came back to her. Rudker made Warner disappear. What if he had not stopped at intimidation? On an intuitive level, Sula knew the man was capable of violence. But would he hurt-possibly kill someone-over money?

The thought made her jump up. She had to stay rational about this. She would be no help to Dr. Warner or future Nexapra patients if people thought she was flake. Sula tossed her wrapper in the trash and went back into the building.

She tried to write a press release, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Warner’s files. If the doctor had simply pulled a vanishing act, maybe she’d left behind the data that would point out Nexapra’s fatal flaw and put a stop to its development. Somebody had to get to that information before Rudker did. Unless it was already too late.

Chapter 8

Robbie had arranged with his supervisor to take the morning off so he could keep his appointment with the Oregon Research Center. They had asked him a dozen questions over the phone: “What is your blood pressure?” “Have you ever tried to kill yourself?” “Do you use illegal drugs?” He smoked pot every once in a while, but it had been weeks since the last time and they didn’t need to know about it. This morning he had another screening.

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