Part 36 (1/2)
”Yes, I think he is.”
”Why?”
”Because he was chosen.”
45.
Los Angeles, California.
”What do you mean, my son was chosen?” Emma asked Polly.
A strained silence pa.s.sed over Emma's hotel telephone line until it was broken by Polly's sniffling.
”I've done something terribly, terribly wrong,” Polly said.
”What was Tyler chosen for?”
”I'm being punished for all the bad things I've done.”
”What bad things? Where's my son? Who has my son?”
”It hurts so much. I have to sleep now.”
”Polly, please answer me!”
”I'll tell you more when you come back tomorrow.”
”I'll come tonight!”
”No.”
”Please let me come tonight!”
”No, tomorrow I'll be better. I'll find files for you.”
”Polly! Wait!”
Emma stood, squeezing the receiver as if it were a life-line.
She could not lose Polly again.
Emma's heart was beating wildly. What if this was as close as she ever got to knowing what happened to Tyler that day on the highway near Big Cloud?
Emma wanted the truth.
She'd paid for it, suffered for it, bled for it. If she had to reach through Polly Larenski's psychotic fog and into her tortured soul to get it, then that's what she would do. Emma's grip on the phone was so powerful she swore she heard the handset crack.
”Polly,” Emma softened her taut tone, ”please, just talk to me. I need you to tell me what happened.”
Emma heard Polly's measured breathing, heard her thinking.
”Polly, you are the only person who can help me. Start at the beginning and tell me what happened.”
Emma heard the faint rattle of a pill bottle being uncapped, heard Polly swallow then exhale.
”I already told you that Brad's gambling was out of control,” Polly said. ”He owed a lot of money to a lot of bad people. I was using new credit cards to pay off old ones but it was not going to work forever. I had to do something, don't you see?”
”Yes.”
”Some time ago, the company sent me to be its rep at a big international conference for lab technicians in Mexico.”
”Mexico?”
”Mexico City. When I was there, I overheard some delegates talking about rumors of new cutting-edge genetic research. It sounded interesting. Later, a woman from that group approached me privately in the lounge. She saw my delegate badge and that I was with Golden Dawn Fertility and asked for my card. Then she asked if I'd be interested in 'confidentially contributing to an important study.' She said I'd be well paid.”
”What sort of study?”
Polly coughed and Emma heard her light a cigarette then draw on it.
”She was vague, but something to do with genetics.”
”Who was she with?”
”I don't know. I think it was a corporation on an island somewhere in the Indian Ocean or Caribbean. She took my card and told me to think it over.”
”Did you tell your bosses about this?”
”No. Because later I got a follow-up call from a stranger, who told me that if I confidentially supplied them information, I would be extremely well paid. We needed the money, so I agreed.”
”How much did they pay you?”
”Five thousand dollars for the first batch of data.”
”What was the data for?”
”They said it would lead to a cure for major diseases.”
”Why did they have to be so secretive?”
”They said other corporations were trying to duplicate their work. They said they didn't have time to comply with international rules and regulations. They had to take steps now to protect their research.”
”What did you have to do?”
”At first I just provided generic information. You see, Golden Dawn collects DNA from all donors and all clients, to ensure quality and avoid the rare chance of well, inbreeding--you wouldn't want to be using your long lost brother's sperm, that sort of thing.”