Deadly Design - Emarsan Page 0,69

happen?” I ask.

2 0 4

FOR REVIEWING PURPOSES ONLY--NOT FOR SALE

“My dad just turned fifty,” Matt says. “We just had a big party for him. He’s still got twelve years before he plans on retiring, and some asshole scientist thinks fifty years is enough.

I’ll figure it out, Kyle. I promise, man. I will find whoever this is, and we’ll get that research.”

Even on the screen, Matt’s a good-looking guy. It’s Friday night, and he’s at home alone on his computer. He should be married now. He should be the golden boy for the military, but he’s not. And he’s not wearing a button-down shirt like he was at the truck stop. I never asked Jimmy what method Matt had used to try to kill himself. It didn’t seem right to. But now I can see the place where a rope had tightened around his neck, had torn through his skin and scarred him. No leg. No sense of manhood, and a constant reminder that there was a time when he didn’t want to live anymore.

I like the light I see in Matt’s eyes, and I love the determination in his face. He’s alive, and for now anyway, he wants to be.

And he wants to help me.

“I’m not going to your funeral, Kyle,” Jimmy says. “I’ve been to enough of those. Matt, if there’s anything I can do, you tell me. Anything.”

Matt runs both his hands over his short blond hair and grins.

“Commence Operation Save Kyle and Everyone over Fifty.”

I know it’s too small of a word. But small words can sometimes be the most powerful. Words like hope or hate or love.

And so I say the only word I can think of for this particular situation: “Thanks.”

2 0 5

FOR REVIEWING PURPOSES ONLY--NOT FOR SALE

Claudia Bartholomew,” Matt says, and this time he’s not on a screen in Uncle Jimmy’s bedroom. He’s sitting at the kitchen table in Cami’s house.

“Who’s she?” Cami asks. She knows everything now. Not so much because I told her, but because I filled in what she missed when she was listening in through Jimmy’s bedroom door.

“When I finally got into Sharp’s phone records, her name came up the most,” Matt says. “There are a couple of other possibilities—an immunology expert in Boston who looks promising, and a super-smart guy who graduated from medical school when he was eighteen. Dr. Sharp has had contact with both of them, but this Claudia Bartholomew, she’s a genetics specialist from Saint Louis, and she’s made several trips to Wichita over the past few months.”

Matt opens a large manila envelope.

“Before you get your hopes up too much, she might not be coming to Wichita to see him. I know for certain they’ve had several phone conversations, but she’s been seeing patients at 2 0 6

FOR REVIEWING PURPOSES ONLY--NOT FOR SALE

the VA hospital here and in a few other states. She’s working on some way of helping veterans by using stem cells.”

The door leading from the garage opens, and Cami’s dad walks in. He tosses his briefcase on the kitchen counter, then turns to look at the four of us sitting around the kitchen table.

“Hello,” he says.

“This is Matt,” Jimmy says, standing. “You met him when I was in the hospital.”

Cami’s dad, a slender man with short brown hair, comes forward and shakes Matt’s hand. “Yeah, I remember. How are you?”

“Okay,” Matt says.

“Glad to hear it.”

“And you sort of know Kyle,” Cami says, getting up from her chair just as Jimmy sits back down.

Her dad shoots me a smile and a wave.

“I saved you some dinner,” she says. “I can warm it up.”

“That’s okay. We ordered pizza for the producers’ meeting.

I’m beat.” He gives us a weary smile. “I think I’ll see if Josh wants to watch some cartoons with his old man. Let you guys get back to whatever you’re up to.” He heads for the living room, but not before giving Cami a one-armed hug.

Matt looks at me and gets back to the business at hand.

“I found a picture of Claudia Bartholomew online.” A photo slides from the envelope. In it, Claudia Bartholomew is standing behind the podium at some sort of conference. I pull the photo closer, and I’m struck by how familiar she looks. Then 2 0 7

FOR REVIEWING PURPOSES ONLY--NOT FOR SALE

it comes to me. She’s the woman who came out of the elevator at Dr. Sharp’s condo.

“I’ve seen

Deadly Design - Emarsan Page 0,69

Main menu