don’t mean to pry, Officers, but what are these questions referring to?” Patterson asked. “Has a member of my staff committed a crime?”
“No,” Tyrell said, “a member of your staff has not committed a crime.”
Another long pause. Patterson appeared bemused. “What then?”
“There was a patient in your hospital by the name of Daniel Neville,” Tyrell said.
“There are so many,” Patterson said. “I have no knowledge of individual patients.”
“You weren’t informed of the circumstances surrounding his death?” Lopez asked in surprise.
“I’m sorry,” Patterson said, “but the AEA manages dozens of charitable organizations. I was informed that a death had occurred, and that a police officer was present at the scene.”
“Daniel Neville,” Lopez continued smoothly, “claimed that he was taken to a laboratory where tests were conducted on him and other patients.”
Patterson’s smile did not slip as he reached out for his jacket.
“One does not end up in a drug rehabilitation center for no reason. Many of our younger patients have issues facing up to their addiction, and construct fantasies to justify it.”
“So there were no experiments conducted on institute patients?” Tyrell asked.
Patterson frowned as he slipped into his jacket.
“None that I know of.”
“We need to be certain,” Tyrell said, and let the bombshell drop. “It would help us to understand what happened to the bodies we found yesterday morning.”
Patterson froze in motion. “Bodies?”
Lopez produced a series of photographs of the dead men they had discovered and handed them to Patterson. The pastor stared down at the images in his hand as though he were handling poisonous insects.
“Poor souls,” he said finally.
“All three of these men were found with high levels of crack cocaine in their blood, indicative of overdose. The problem is that one died from hypothermia induced by a medical procedure, and the drugs were administered after death, not before.”
Patterson did not look up from the photographs for a moment, leafing through them.
“What are you suggesting?” he asked, still without looking up.
“You have carried out experimental procedures into consciousness at the institute, is that correct, Pastor?” Lopez asked.
Patterson stared at her for a long beat, caught up in the tangle of unexpected questions.
“Yes, we have a history of such work.”
“We consider this to be a homicide investigation,” Lopez said. “Daniel Neville provided enough information for us to follow leads connecting his experiences with the fate suffered by these three men, and those leads have led us here.”
Patterson’s eyes widened. “Here?”
Tyrell took the photographs from the pastor.
“We believe that these men died while undergoing a medical procedure administered by one of your staff.”
“Which one?” Patterson gaped in astonishment.
Tyrell handed him another printed image. “Do you know this man?”
The pastor looked down at the image and shook his head.
“No. He is a member of my staff?”
“We believe he was,” Lopez said. “His name is Damon Sheviz.”
“I understand that your alliance has been heavily involved in experiments involving human volunteers,” Tyrell said.
Patterson slowed his button fastening, leveling a calm gaze at Tyrell.
“It is my opinion that churches around the world have been too long hoarding their finances and trying to force their followers to believe in the unbelievable, to have faith in emptiness. There can be no knowledge without study.”
“How are these experiments conducted?” Lopez chimed in.
“We use non-invasive means,” Patterson said. “Hypnotherapy, meditation, the study of near-death experiences in cardiac-arrest patients,” Patterson replied warily. “Where are you going with this?”
Tyrell took the plunge.
“We believe that Damon Sheviz is harvesting live victims to conduct illegal experiments involving the genetic creation of a chimera between a human and an unknown species.”
Patterson’s eyes flickered.
“That’s …” he began. “That’s ridiculous. Such procedures do not even exist.”
“Actually, they do,” Tyrell went on. “We have gathered detailed files on this man, and we have people working on finding out where he is obtaining the equipment necessary to conduct these experiments.”
“But he wouldn’t be able to do things like that without other staff members knowing about it and stopping him,” Patterson said.
“I didn’t say that the procedures were conducted here,” Tyrell said, and then decided to take a chance. “We also need to know about Casey Jeffs.”
Tyrell caught another tremor of apprehension in the pastor’s demeanor.
“Who is he?” Patterson asked.
“A janitor who works at the institute. You said that you run checks on your members of staff?”
“Of course, all members are carefully vetted.”
“Mr. Jeffs was tried for homicide,” Tyrell pointed out. “Isn’t that something that would have been a cause for concern?”
Patterson remained rooted to the spot as he spoke.
“Perhaps, but if Mr. Jeffs is one of our rehabilitated