Doubt (Caroline Auden #1) - C. E. Tobisman Page 0,93

Journal, I’m sure they’d still want it.”

Caroline considered the new information.

“I admit I got angry with Franklin when he told me he wasn’t going to leave Yvonne,” Annie continued. “After the shock and embarrassment wore off a bit, I was just so fed up with him. It made me stop . . . protecting him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’d always shielded Franklin from Med-Gen’s annoying phone calls. They called us all the time. Offering to take us to lunch. Asking to hear about our other research projects that they might fund. I always got stuck dealing with those calls. Old habit, I guess. Franklin was the senior scientist, and shit flows downhill. Or maybe I just liked taking care of him . . .” Annie shook her head. “Whatever the reason, after the whole thing with my house and Yvonne and the rest of it, I was done protecting his peace.”

A haunted expression crossed Annie’s fine features. “The day he died, I’d answered yet another of those calls from Med-Gen. They wanted to talk to both of us. I told them they should just talk to Franklin when he got back from his jog . . .”

Annie paused. “I keep thinking that’s how they found him that day . . . They said they just wanted to talk to him. I didn’t know they’d . . . they’d . . . kill him.” She choked out the last words in a whisper. Her face screwed up into a mask of grief, her dark eyes quietly stricken.

“Oh my God, I killed him,” Annie whispered.

“You didn’t kill him,” Caroline said, resisting the urge to hug this brittle stranger grieving in the vegetable aisle. “You couldn’t have known. No one could blame you for not knowing.”

Annie gathered her composure. “After Franklin died, they came for me. I might have been braver on my own . . . maybe. But I couldn’t risk Nolan. I promised them I’d just disappear. I told them I’d hidden a copy of the article and that if I died, it would be released . . . I think that was what ultimately convinced them to leave us alone.”

Annie looked furtively around the empty market, the motion so practiced and instinctual that Caroline felt a sudden wave of compassion. The scientist had been on the run so long. Grieving and shell-shocked, she’d done what almost anyone would have done. To protect herself. To protect her son.

But what about Franklin? What machinations had he set into motion before he died? What plans had he made? Caroline had once believed that Franklin’s note to Yvonne was an apology for getting killed—for doing what he loved, at the ultimate price. But that wasn’t it. Franklin had snubbed Annie at the same time he was about to publish an article that would end Med-Gen’s profits. He hadn’t planned the timing. It had been thrust upon him. It was a perfect storm of danger for him.

But Franklin, like Louis, was a chess player. He knew that checkmate was coming. If Med-Gen got desperate and sent its minions to contact Annie, he was vulnerable. He knew if he died, the truth would come out—Yvonne would find out about the Santa Monica house and the affair and Nolan. He was apologizing for that, as much as for everything else. But Franklin had one last chess move to make. A move that was dependent on the woman he’d snubbed. Annie was the final piece on the board. And now she needed to play.

“Come with me to New York,” Caroline said. “Come testify. Stop hiding and end this.”

“But they got Franklin.” Annie shook her head, her eyes wild. “I don’t care about myself, but I can’t leave Nolan without a mother. That’s all that matters. I have to focus on my son. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is.”

“You aren’t safe here, Annie,” Caroline said. “The way I tracked you down—someone else could find you like that, too. But you could come with me to New York and end this—”

“I can’t. I’ve got to go.” Annie’s eyes filled with the same sudden panic Caroline had witnessed before. She knew the reason. Annie’s insurance policy had been telling the fixers that she’d hidden a copy of the article. Now her insurance policy was gone.

“That article was the best thing you ever did with your career,” Caroline said, trying to head off the scientist’s flight instinct. “Publishing it to save lives is what you wanted. It’s why you wrote