Chapter 10 - WHAT WAS HIDDEN BENEATH LILY
Maya's first reaction was refusal.
"No."
Marcus stood across from her in the hospital corridor.
"Maya."
"No."
"If Calvin's statement is accurate—"
"I said no."
Her voice rose.
A nurse looked toward them.
Maya lowered it again.
"I buried my daughter once. I am not opening that casket because a half-conscious man says someone hid something inside."
Marcus did not argue.
That was worse.
He simply waited.
Maya pressed both hands against her face.
"What could possibly be in there?"
"We don't know."
"How would anyone put something inside after burial?"
"If the grave was opened, the casket could have been accessed."
Maya shook her head violently.
"Then why return Button?"
"Maybe because it was removed to make room."
The words hit her like a physical blow.
Marcus immediately regretted them.
"I'm sorry."
Maya stared at him.
"Don't apologize for facts."
Her voice trembled.
"Just stop giving me new ones."
Calvin regained consciousness an hour later.
He was heavily sedated.
His jaw was fractured.
Two ribs were broken.
He spoke only in fragments.
Agents recorded every word.
He admitted using his gate code.
He said a man paid him ten thousand dollars to open Lily's grave after midnight.
Calvin believed they were retrieving jewelry mistakenly buried with the child.
"Who was the man?"
Marcus asked.
Calvin shook his head.
"Didn't know."
"Describe him."
"Tall. Gray coat. Gloves."
"Victor Hale?"
Calvin's eyes moved uncertainly.
"Older. Maybe."
"What happened at the grave?"
Calvin swallowed painfully.
"He opened the casket. Took the rabbit. Put something under the lining."
Maya watched from another room on a secure feed.
Her hands shook.
"What did he put there?"
Marcus asked.
Calvin's eyes filled with fear.
"Metal box."
"What was inside?"
"Didn't see."
"Why did you send the rabbit to Maya?"
Calvin shook his head.
"I didn't."
"Who did?"
"Tried to warn her."
"How?"
"Called funeral place. Couldn't reach."
"Then what?"
Calvin's breathing accelerated.
"They came to my house."
"Who?"
"Men."
"What did they want?"
Calvin closed his eyes.
"Know if I talked."
"Did you?"
"No."
"Then why were you beaten?"
Calvin whispered.
"Because they didn't believe me."
Marcus leaned closer.
"Who mailed the rabbit?"
Calvin's lips moved.
The monitor beeped faster.
"Woman."
"What woman?"
"Saw her at cemetery. White suit."
Maya's blood turned cold.
Evelyn Price.
Julianne's mother.
Marcus came out of the room twenty minutes later.
Maya was waiting.
"You heard."
"Yes."
"We are locating Evelyn now."
"She gave you Julianne's journal."
"Yes."
"Why would she send me Button anonymously?"
"I intend to ask."
Maya looked toward Calvin's room.
"What about the metal box?"
"We need a court order and cemetery authorization."
Maya closed her eyes.
"Do it."
The exhumation occurred before dawn the next morning.
Maya chose not to stand at the grave.
She watched from a vehicle fifty yards away.
Rain tapped softly against the windshield.
It was raining again.
She hated the symmetry.
Technicians worked beneath portable lights.
The white casket rose from the earth.
Maya turned her face away.
She heard nothing for several minutes except rain.
Then Marcus opened the car door.
His coat was wet.
"They found it."
Maya gripped the seat.
"What?"
"A stainless steel evidence case beneath the interior lining."
"Evidence case?"
"Yes."
"What's inside?"
"We haven't opened it yet."
Maya stared at him.
"Why would anyone put evidence in my daughter's coffin?"
Marcus looked toward the cemetery crew.
"Because no one searches a child's grave unless they already know something is there."
The box was transported to a secure lab.
It contained no drugs.
No weapon.
No money.
It contained three encrypted flash drives and a handwritten note.
The note was addressed to MAYA.
The handwriting belonged to Nathan Crowe.
Maya read it in silence.
Maya,
If you are reading this, I failed to get out cleanly.
David is guilty, but David is not the beginning.
Victor Hale has used the Vance family for decades.
Your father's company is not the true target.
The target is what Maren Biomedical discovered in Trial 47.
Do not let Victor get the research.
Do not trust anyone who tells you Lily's infection was random.
N.C.
Maya looked up.
"Trial 47?"
Marcus was already making calls.
Maya's father had died five years earlier.
She had not worked inside Maren Biomedical since graduate school.
She knew nothing about current trials.
Within an hour, the company's general counsel joined them by encrypted video.
His face went pale when Marcus mentioned Trial 47.
"That designation is restricted."
"Restricted how?"
"Board-level only."
Maya leaned toward the screen.
"What is it?"
The lawyer hesitated.
"An immune-modulation platform."
Marcus's eyes sharpened.
"Explain."
"A treatment designed to alter immune response in certain rare inflammatory conditions."
Maya felt the room tilt.
"Immune response."
"Yes."
"Does it involve tacrolimus?"
The lawyer went silent.
Maya whispered.
"Does it?"
"Not directly. But tacrolimus is used as a comparative benchmark in preclinical work."
Maya stood.
"Victor wasn't just shorting the company."
Marcus looked at her.
"What are you thinking?"
"If Trial 47 is valuable enough, he may want the stock price to collapse so he can force a sale or buy control cheaply."
The lawyer on screen looked troubled.
"There is another problem."
"What?"
May you like
"Trial 47's lead scientist disappeared three weeks ago."
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