Michael Connelly - Chasing the Dime

"Really now? Where did she go?"

"Nowhere at the moment. I think she's just taking some time to think about her next move. But she signed a no-compete contract with us, so we don't have to worry about her showing up at a competitor."

Goddard frowned and nodded.

"A very sensitive position," he said.

"It is but it isn't," Condon replied. "She was focused outward not inward. She knew just enough about our projects to know what to look for in regard to our competitors. For example, she did not have lab access and she never saw the demonstration you saw this morning."

That was a lie, only Charlie Condon didn't know it. Just like the lie Pierce had fed Clyde Vernon about how much Nicole knew and had seen. The truth was she had seen it all.

Pierce had brought her into the lab on a Sunday night to show her, to light up the SEM screen like the aurora borealis. It was when things were falling apart and he was desperately grasping for a way to keep it together, to hold on to her. He had broken his own rules and taken her to the lab to show her what it was that had drawn him away from her so often. But even showing her the discovery had not worked to stop the momentum of destruction that had enveloped them. Less than a month later Nicole ended the relationship.

Like Goddard, Pierce missed Nicole at that moment, but for different reasons. He grew quiet during the remainder of the meal. Coffee was served and then removed. The plates and utensils were cleared away until all that was left was the polished surface of the table and the reflection of their ghostly images in it.

The caterers cleared out of the room and it was time to get back to business.

"Tell us about the patent," Bechy said, folding her arms and leaning over the table.

Pierce nodded to Kaz and he took the question.

"It's actually a stepped patent. It's in nine parts, covering all processes related to what you saw today. We think we have thoroughly covered everything. We think it will hold up to any kind of challenge, now or in the future."

"And when do you go with it?"

"Monday morning. I'll be flying out to Washington tomorrow or Saturday. The plan is to personally deliver the application to the U.S. Patents and Trademark Office at nine A.M.

Monday."

Since Goddard was sitting next to him, Pierce found it easier and more nonchalant to watch Bechy across from him. She seemed surprised by the speed with which they were moving. This was good. Pierce and Condon wanted to force the issue. Force Goddard to make his move now, or risk losing out by waiting.

"As you know, it's a highly competitive science," Pierce said. "We want to make sure we get our formula on the books first. Brandon and I have also completed a paper on this and will be submitting it. We'll send it out tomorrow."

Pierce raised his wrist and checked his watch. It was almost two.

"In fact," he said, "I need to leave you and get back to work now. If anything further comes up that Charlie can't answer, you can reach me in my office or in the lab. If there is no answer down there, that means we have the phone cut off because we're using one of the probes."

He pushed back his chair and was getting up when Goddard raised his hand and grabbed his upper arm to stop him.

"One moment, Henry, if you don't mind."

Pierce sat back down. Goddard looked at him and then deliberately cast his glance into every face at the table. Pierce knew what was coming. He could feel it in the tightness of his chest.

"I just want to tell you while we're all here together that I want to invest in your company. I want to be part of this great thing you are doing."

There was a raucous cheer and a round of clapping. Pierce put out his hand and Goddard shook it vigorously, then took Condon's hand that was stretched across the table.

"Nobody move," Condon said.

He got up and went to a corner of the room where there was a phone on a small table. He punched in three numbers -an in-house call -and murmured something into the receiver. He then returned to his seat and a few minutes later Monica Purl and Condon's personal assistant, a woman named Holly Kannheiser, came into the boardroom carrying two bottles of Dom Pérignon and a tray of champagne glasses.

Condon popped the bottles and poured. The assistants were asked to stay and take a glass.

But both also had throwaway cameras and had to take photos in between sips of champagne.

Condon made the first toast.

"To Maurice Goddard. We're happy to have you with us on this magical ride."

Then it was Goddard's turn. He raised his glass and simply said, "To the future!"

He looked at Pierce as he said it. Pierce nodded and raised his almost empty glass. He looked at each face in the room, including Monica's, before speaking. He then said: "Our buildings, to you, would seem terribly small. But to us, who aren't big, they are wonderfully tall."

He finished his glass and looked at the others. Nobody seemed to get it.

"It's from a children's book," he explained. "Dr. Seuss. It's about believing in the possibilities of other worlds. Worlds the size of a speck of dust."

"Hear, hear," Condon said, raising his glass again.

Pierce began moving about the room, shaking hands and sharing words of thanks and encouragement. When he came to Monica she lost her smile and seemed to treat him coldly.

"Thanks for sticking it out, Monica. Did you talk to Charlie yet about your transfer?"

"Not yet. But I will."

"Okay."

"Did Mr. Renner call?"

He purposely didn't use the word detective in case someone in the room was listening to their conversation.

"Not yet."

He nodded. He couldn't think of what else to say.

"There are some messages for you on your desk," she told him. "One of them, the lawyer, said it was important but I told her I couldn't interrupt your presentation."

"Okay, thanks."

As calmly as he could, Pierce went back to Goddard and told him he was being left in Condon's hands to work out the investment deal. He shook his hand again and then backed out of the boardroom and headed down the hallway to his office. He wanted to run but he kept a steady pace.

Lights."

Pierce slid in behind his desk and picked up the three message slips Monica had left for him. Two were from Janis Langwiser and were marked urgent. The message on both was simply "Please call ASAP." The other message was from Cody Zeller.

Pierce put the messages back down on his desk and considered them. He didn't see how Langwiser's call could be anything other than bad news. To come from the high of the boardroom to this was almost staggering. He felt himself getting overheated, even claustrophobic. He went over to the window and cranked it open.

He decided to call Zeller back first, thinking that maybe his friend had come up with something new. His page to Zeller was returned in less than a minute.

"Sorry, dude," Zeller said by way of greeting. "No can do."

"What do you mean?"

"On Lucy LaPorte. I can't find her. I got no trace, man. This chick doesn't even have cable."

"Oh."

"You're sure that's her legal name?"

"That's what she told me."

"Is she one of the girls from the website?"

"Yeah."

"Shit, you should have told me that, dude. They don't use their real names."

"Lilly Quinlan did."

"Well, Lucy LaPorte? That sounds like a name somebody dreamed up after watching A

Streetcar Named Desire. I mean, look at what she does. The chances of her telling the truth about something, even her own name, are probably one in -"

"It was the truth. It was an intimate moment and she told me the truth. I know it."

"An intimate moment. I thought you told me you didn't -"

"I didn't. It was on the phone. When she told me."