Part 11 (1/2)
”Really?”
”I don't know. h.e.l.l. They would talk and look over their shoulders. A couple of the lab techs. Probably laughing their a.s.ses off after I left. I had to pick my time carefully, when the guy Tash wasn't around.”
”Were they afraid of him? These lab techs?”
”I don't know if afraid is the word. But he has a certain chilling affect on conversation,” says Harry. ”It's like all these people took a vow of silence. And when Tash is around, you can't even get 'em to do sign language.”
”People I talked to were lab a.s.sistants. I got one of 'em to go on coffee break with me. Guy said he was speaking only in general terms. And if anybody asked, he wasn't speaking at all. All he would say about this nanorobotics was a reference to this movie.”
”Tiny submarines?”
”That's the one. On a crash dive through some sorry guy's bowels. I don't wanna even know where they come out. I'm feeling like I've already been on that trip with Crone. When I pressed each of the lab techs, they all ended up singing the same old chorus. Trade secrets, in four-part harmony,” says Harry.
”Well, at least he's telling us something that's true.” I'm talking about Crone.
”Only if you want to take the time to pick through the lies,” says Harry.
”What do you mean?”
”Remember I told you that I asked Crone whether Jordan and Epperson knew each other before Epperson came to the lab? He told me he didn't think so?”
I nod.
”I wouldn't take it to the bank,” says Harry.
”This company, Cybergenomics. The one Epperson worked for before he joined the lab. I come to find out they're one of the companies underwriting Crone's work at the lab.”
”Really?”
”Corporate grant,” says Harry. ”A big one. And there's more. This same company made a job offer to Jordan about a month before she was killed.”
My eyebrows arch.
”Word around the lab was that it was a point of friction between her and Crone. The offer was for big bucks. I don't know the details. We're looking for doc.u.ments. I've got a subpoena out to the company to get what I can. According to one of the lab techs, Jordan was letting it be known that they'd offered her multiple six figures to jump from the lab and come on board with the company.”
”Maybe they made overtures to Crone as well?”
”That was the problem. They didn't.”
Pieces are starting to snap into place.
”If we know about this, you can be sure Tannery knows as well.”
”You think he's plying this road, job jealousy?” asks Harry.
”You heard what he told us when we visited him at his office. They were checking out some other angle as to motive.”
”You think that's it? The job offer to Jordan?”
”That, and perhaps she was taking some items of value with her.”
”Like what?”
”Like the papers Crone says she stole, and the grant money that Cybergenomics was pouring into Crone's center.”
”Holy s.h.i.+t,” says Harry. ”You think so?”
”Think about it. She takes working papers from his office. He goes ballistic. She does everything to get him off her back. She doesn't need him anymore. She knows what he knows about the project. If she goes to work for Cybergenomics, why would they pay twice for the same research? His funds are going to dry up overnight.”
”There's a motive for murder,” says Harry.
I nod.
”You think Tannery knows what's in those papers?”
”I know one thing. We don't.”
”Maybe it's just what Crone's been saying all along,” says Harry. ”Maybe they did have professional differences.”
”Where does Epperson fit into all this?”
”I was getting to that,” says Harry. ”It's only surmise, and it only comes from one of the a.s.sistants, the guy I talked to over coffee. But according to him, Epperson may have joined Crone's group as part of a package along with the Cybergenomics grant. n.o.body seems to know for sure, but he came on board about the same time.”
”A consultant?”
”Not that I can tell. He seems to have been a salaried employee of the university from the time he went to work there. More like a corporate mole, if the guy I talked to is right.”
”Do we know Epperson's salary, at the U?”
Harry looks up from his papers, quickly getting to the same place I am. ”If he took a big cut in pay to go to the university, you think there might be a reason?”
”Possibly. Maybe stock options. If Crone's team is developing something hot, and this company, Cybergenomics, has a vested interest, they might send Epperson over to mind the store. To make sure that the research takes the right direction.”
”And make sure n.o.body else horns in,” says Harry.
”If he was their man in Crone's shop, stock options would ease a cut in pay, and ensure his loyalty.”
Harry mulls this over. ”Interesting you should say that.”
”Why?”
”Epperson has this pa.s.sion. The only thing anybody seems to know about him. He has an addiction.”
”What's that?”