Part 30 (1/2)
Still, after Steve was taken away, it was hard not to think of Stone now and then. Before Steve, Stone was the only sane lover she'd ever been close to.
But she also knew the bit about letting sleeping dogs lie. Sometimes that was the better part of wisdom. This conversation, she finally decided, was just going to open old wounds. Better to nip it right now.
And add to that, she didn't actually know if he was free now or not or what
But he'd said he had a good reason for calling--what could that be?
”Stone, I read your columns in the Sentinel. So I sort of feel like I've kept in contact. I can almost hear your voice sometimes.”
”That makes me think you were cheating a little on our deal.”
”Well,” she heard herself say, ”some of them were pretty good.
Sometimes you sounded like you knew as much as a doctor.”
”Don't flatter me excessively, or I might want to start believing you.”
He laughed. ”But speaking of doctors, didn't you used to have some kind of heart issue? How is that these days?”
”You really want to know?”
”Maybe it might have something to do with why I'm calling. Best I recall, you never actually told me, even back when.”
”Thank you for asking,” she said. ”I guess it's not much of a secret anymore, with me popping nitro every other day. I have a scarred valve, coronary stenosis, and it's not getting any better. I don't know what to do about it short of going to Lourdes for a miracle.”
”I see,” he said. Then he fell silent. Mercifully, he didn't come up with false bravado about revolutionary treatments and you never can tell, blah, blah, blah. Then he said, ”So is that why you've enrolled in the clinical trials at the Dorian Inst.i.tute? To be part of their work using stem cells?”
What! ”How the h.e.l.l do you know about--”
”Hey, Ally, you know I can't divulge my sources. After I knew you, I grew up to be a real reporter. That was my grand plan, remember?”
”Then this may turn out to be a very short conversation. I have nothing to--”
”Okay, okay, let's start over.” He paused and cleared his throat.
”Ahem. Are you the Alexa Hampton who was formally entered about half an hour ago into the stage-three clinical trials for the National Inst.i.tutes of Health being held by the Gerex Corporation? Or maybe I should play dumb and begin by asking if you've ever heard of them.”
”Stone, why ... why are you asking me this?”
It was bizarre. How could he know? And wait a minute, what did he mean about enrolling? She hadn't enrolled in anything.
”Ally, I'm finis.h.i.+ng a major--I hope--book about stem cell technology, and right now the world leader is the Gerex Corporation. I think, but I can't yet prove, that their Dorian Inst.i.tute out in New Jersey is the site of some pretty incredible stuff. I was ... fooling around on the Internet, on the NIH Web site, looking for information about them, and-- it must have been some momentary computer glitch--someone with your name popped up for a second. Along with a Nina Hampton. Which made me suspect it was you.”
She was incredulous. She was being entered into the clinical trials before she had even seen the place? Somebody was pus.h.i.+ng the pace.
Winston Bartlett or Van de Vliet had taken it for granted that she and her mother would enter the trials. Worst of all, it took a former lover she hadn't talked to in x-zillion years to give her this unnerving information.
”Nina is your mom, right?” he went on. ”I still remember her fondly. I don't think she thought much of me, however. By the way, how is she?”
”She's ... she's not doing all that great.” Ally was still trying to get her mind around what she'd just heard. ”But why are you calling me, Stone?”
”If anything I've said rings a vague bell, then could we meet someplace and talk? I don't think it would be a great idea to do it over the phone. That's all I really can say now.”
Maybe, she thought, Stone Aimes might have uncovered a few things of which she ought to be aware. His pieces in the Sentinel showed he was a d.a.m.ned good reporter.