S Hunter - Longevity

“Josephson was last seen Thursday. His research notes all disappeared sometime between then and when we showed up, with no one at the clinic the wiser.”

“Which means he is seriously gone, won’t be back for a while, and probably had help,” Livvy said.

“You got it. Also, he’s financially flush, able to finance his research into, we can safely say, less lucrative fields, and still able to afford a lavish lifestyle. I had Forensics check out all of his finances yesterday and you should see his home. He’s rich.”

“McGregor, he’s a doctor. ”

“I know, but he doesn’t have that many clients, nor is it coming from family or investments. Forensics says he’s been receiving automatic, regular deposits of large sums for as far back they’ve been able to retrieve so far.”

“So he has a rich patron. Someone is financing his research at the licensed lab, hoping for some big new enhancement payoff, or at worst maybe a hotlab, someplace he’s doing illegal resets?” Livvy asked.

“A hotlab, most definitely, and it would be an expensive one. Unfortunately that’s not that unusual. It has to be someone very secretive, though, because none of Josephson’s coworkers even hinted at such an arrangement.”

“Maybe they’re too afraid of him. You think his patron called him away suddenly?” Livvy asked. She reached down and rubbed Louie’s ears.

“I don’t know yet, but it looks like it, doesn’t it? Josephson’s sudden unreliability at the clinic, which triggered LLE alarms, had to have been unplanned. I think Josephson, the arrogant son of a bitch, screwed up. If he’d made the effort to be more patient in communicating with his staff instead of doing his usual toss off… if he’d canceled appointments further ahead or made a reasonable excuse about an emergency, we might not be here. But he followed his high-handed pattern in dealing with others and ignored the implications of an careless exit.”

“So someone calls Josephson away, somewhat abruptly, and then they realize he was sloppy and we’re investigating and they don’t want Josephson found, especially if it leads to them, so they try to have us killed at Isabella’s? Yesterday, how did they even know we’d started working on Josephson’s disappearance? We’d just gotten our assignment. I don’t doubt it; Maas was in that tree before we got there. But how?” Livvy asked.

“Josephson, or more probably his patron, anticipated the fallout from his mistake,” Chris said. “Or someone at the clinic or in LLE clued them in. I can’t think of any other possibility.”

“We’ve come back to the patron, someone with a lot of money to throw around. Someone with enough at stake that they don’t care that what they’re doing may actually escalate the situation. Someone even more proactive than LLE. Who?” Livvy asked.

“You’ve heard of John Bedford?”

“The trillionaire recluse?” Livvy asked. “You think he’s Josephson’s patron?”

Chris took a long swallow of beer but didn’t bother to answer.

“I doubt I would recognize him if I saw him,’ Livvy said thoughtfully. “But I think he has a reputation as one of those men that where he walks, the ground flinches. Powerful, and not nice with it.”

Chris nodded. “I’ve never seen him either. I’ve just seen shadowed glimpses of him in the news once or twice. Candid shots that his bodyguards made an effort to block, most recently in ’04, when his son Joshua died in a fire.”

“How did you make the connection, though? A chirp in the ear from the fairies? Usually being a reclusive trillionaire isn’t enough to attract suspicion,” Livvy said.

“Now that is a long story,” Chris said.

“Give me the long version and don’t dumb it down, please,” Livvy said. “If I’m going to work LLE – which is my intention with or without you – I need some LLE Research 101.”

Chris hesitated for the first time. “Karen met Bedford when she was lobbying for the Laws; Bedford was lobbying on the other side, for laissez-faire. I’ll never forget what she said about him. ‘He epitomizes the worst. He’s only had twelve years of Longevity and already he’s addicted, convinced of his own entitlement. He has almost no fellow feeling with the rest of humanity. We have to protect ourselves from him, and protect ourselves from becoming like him. He will never, never accept his own mortality.’”

Chris gave Livvy a moment to try to comprehend an ego so strong that although Bedford experienced childhood knowing that he would die, any acceptance of that fate was now alien to him.

“But,” Livvy said hesitantly, “where’s the connection to Josephson? I don’t doubt Karen’s assessment, or that Bedford’s bound to get involved with hotlabs, but…”

“Josephson and Bedford know each other.”

“Bedford is a client of Josephson’s? That’s clear, then.”

“No. At least, not currently. Bedford wouldn’t risk that kind of association. In fact, the only proof I can find that they ever even met is from appointment records from a reset clinic that burned down in ’51. The Greater Potomac Reset Institute. The appointment records show that Bedford saw Josephson quarterly for two years. Then the Institute burned down, and there’s been no record of any contact since, at least that I’ve been able to find. The fire was indistinguishable from any other reset clinic fire, but no religious group or Naturals Only group ever claimed credit for it.”

“An unexplained fire. Hardly unique. McGregor, if you want me to stay awake while we take a tour through some ancient history,” Livvy said, “would it be okay if we took Louie for a walk at the same time? Some fresh air would be nice.” She gave him a beatific smile.

Chris hesitated briefly, then said, “Sure.” He stood up but then sat back down.

“Are you up for this?” he asked. “It’s going to get complicated, and the rest can wait.”

Livvy made a face and stood up, which drew him back to his feet. “McGregor, just give me the information. I take it you actively searched for this connection, because you thought Josephson and Bedford are well mated, and then you looked for evidence that they were hiding their relationship. You have a very suspicious mind, which is maybe why you’re a lot older than you look. I want everything you have, including how you got here. I may get a headache, but I’ll process it. I just need some fresh air, and to think for a minute.”

They were out of the building and half way down the block before either of them said something more.

“This is nice,” Livvy said. They’d passed under a streetlamp and she took the opportunity to look up at the stars before they reached the next one. Mature oaks and maples lined the sidewalk and shaded the park and playground across the street. They headed in that direction.

Louie waited at the street corner, but after they had crossed together, Chris said, “Go ahead, boy, ” and Louie headed out at a gallop, stopping occasionally to sniff when his interest was captured. Chris led Livvy far enough into the park that they could stand under one of the trees, out of the illumination of the streetlamp and the quarter moon.

“It’s just that… I don’t get where all this is going. Are you setting us up to raid Bedford’s properties to look for hotlabs on the basis of Josephson’s disappearance? I know he’s powerful. Is that it? I thought LLE was invincible, and if you had suspicions, you could go in without worrying about providing probable cause, no matter who owned the lab.”

“If I thought it was just for hotlabs, I’d be in there already,” Chris said. Now that he was on his feet and out of his apartment, he moved around somewhat restlessly, scanning the streets and the park. Another attack seemed unlikely, but there was a lot of useable cover in the dark. “I’m giving you background. I’m not sure where it leads.”