Molly was quickly on her knees, begging for mercy. “I really don’t know anything! Please, just let me go!”
“She’s stubborn. She’s really refusing to talk,” James said then.
Diarmuid looked at her in disdain with his cool visage. “Stubborn? I believe that they always talk. If they don’t, it just means that the approach is wrong.”
“Yes, sir. Leave it to me—I’ll make her talk in ten minutes,” James said, and beckoned. “Someone bring me a—”
“Alright! I’ll talk, I’ll talk…” Molly could see that the men around her were no angels, and that there would be pain if she stayed silent.
She had gone straight to internship after graduating university, before earning her certification as a proper nurse. Naturally, she could not even stand the thought of physical pain since she never suffered.
And if she would talk after being put through the pain, she would rather talk before.
“Then, talk!” James dropped to a crouch, glaring at her. “At least you understand. If you were any slower, you’d really suffer.”
Molly cringed, but she said, “Someone brought me a glass of water and paid me to give it to a patient who just had a surgery.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know,” she said. Worried that James doubted her, she quickly added, “I really don’t know who he is. He just told me to take the water to him, and I’ll be given fifty grand. That’s a lot of money, so I went with it.”
James showed her several photos, each of whom were executives of New Suns Pharma. “Is that person one of these people?”
“No,” Molly shook her head after looking through the photos, before adding, “No, they’re really not there. The one who gave me that glass of water was skinny and had a lot of acne on his face.”
James did not keep harassing her at that point. “Fine, you can leave. But don’t leave town—I want you around, and you must show up when I call for you.”
Molly asked gingerly, “Don’t you think I’d be in danger? I told you everything I know.”
James sighed. “I don’t know about that, but I do know that you’ll definitely end up in jail. That glass of water was poisoned, and you killed that patient.”
The nurse fell to her knees as her legs went limp. “P-Poisoned…?”
“Yes. What, did you think that they’d pay you fifty grand to pass a glass of drinking water? You knew, didn’t you?” James said, and directed his men to send Molly’s home.
They still had to find the person who brought Molly that glass.
Now, they had two leads—Molly and New Suns Pharma, and that would do for their investigation.
…
As Diarmuid returned to his car, Abigail asked, “Did you find anything?”
“There’s another person involved. James will find them,” Diarmuid said.
“I just received another court summons. Neil Turner is suing me again.” Abigail told him.
Diarmuid glowered—he had really gotten sick of that man.
It was as if he lacked any common sense, if he was not actually crazy!
“I’ll have my lawyers handle it. You don’t have to show up at court.”
As Abigail nodded, Diarmuid asked, “Home?”
Abigail thought about it. “The hotel… No. Hotmesh Research.”
She just received a text from Finn Crowe—everyone was asking to see her.
They probably wanted to know why Dennis died.
Diarmuid sent her over.
…
After she arrived at Hostmesh Research, Abigail had Finn gather everyone in the conference room.
Soon, people began to arrive, and once everyone gathered, Yolanda King asked, “What happened, Director? Why did Director Turner die? The hospital was saying that the cause of death was myocardial ischemia. Does that mean our artificial heart wasn’t actually finished, and that human application isn’t viable?”
“No,” Abigail told everyone assuredly.
Yolanda blurted, “Then what killed him?”
“Poison,” Abigail replied.
The room was suddenly silent, but they were skeptical.
Poison? That was simply unbelievable!
“What poison?” Yolanda asked with a clearly skeptical tone, and even her reaction was basically asking if Abigail was trying to avoid responsibility.
After all, they knew that Abigail had insisted on performing the surgery on Dennis, and she must bear responsibility for his death.
Still, Abigail patiently explained, “I hope everything I say here will stay in this room. We’re gathering evidence, but we don’t have everything yet, which is why I must ask for your silence. If we make too much noise, we’d alert the culprits—right now, no one knows that I’ve already discovered that Dennis was poisoned.”
Pausing, she continued, “I know you won’t believe me, and you’d think that I’m trying to excuse myself from this responsibility. So, I’m obliged to tell you that I’m not—everyone must know that we had technical issues during our research, and we only entered the test phase thanks to Professor Lane joining our ranks. Before he did, New Suns Pharma tried to recruit him, and even blackmailed him to do it. But Professor Lane joined us in the end.”
“I should also explain that the market potential for artificial hearts is immense, but while our research center is funded by our government, News Suns Pharma is a private enterprise. All they want is the money, and poaching Professor Lane from them was no different from poaching their golden goose.
That is why they must at least prevent our research from succeeding, while they make something marketable in the meantime… I’ve even heard that they were continuing their development despite losing Professor Lane. So, if we announce our success now, we’d capture the market even if they succeed later. This is the reason they were willing to resort to murder.”
The room was silent as they thought about Abigail’s words.
Finn was the first to break the silence. “None of you believe Director Bernstein, do you? She insisted on the surgery, and you all know that she’s doing it to save Director Turner. We’ve been working together for so long, and none of you trust her character—”
“Shut up, Finn. Who says we don’t believe her?” someone snapped, cutting him short. “You think you’re the only nice guy in the hospital, that the rest of us are unreasonable?”
“That’s right,” someone else echoed. “If someone is so despicable that they want our years of research to go to waste, we need to show solidarity and stand against them.”
“Yes! Yes! We stand together!” Yolanda exclaimed.
Finn turned toward her just then. “When did you grow a conscience?”
Yolanda rolled her eyes. “Please. I’ve always had one.”
Finn smiled but said nothing.
…
After that, Abigail asked someone to bring her the observation records of the goat with the artificial heart, which was still doing well.
It had been more than a month since its transplant, and it was suffering from no major issues. Moreover, its survival was actually proof of its success.
Closing the notebook, she told Finn, “We can stop monitoring the goat for now.”
Finn nodded. “Are we going to keep it with us?”
“For now,” Abigail replied, issuing instructions on what to do in her absence before leaving.
However, she had just stepped out of the entrance when she spotted Neil waiting to intercept her.
She turned to leave, but Neil saw her anyway and started yelling, “You’re a quack doctor, Abigail Bernstein! You killed my father, and you’ll pay for it with your life—”
The yelling abruptly stopped.
Abigail turned and saw him floored!
Abigail then saw Eagle standing beside Neil.
As Neil scrambled to his feet, he was pointing and snapping at Eagle, “Y-You hit me again! I-I’ll sue you for physical assault!”
Eagle simply raised his fist and Neil flinched, clutching his head. “No! Don’t hit me!”
“Then get out of here!” Eagle barked sternly.
Having had a taste of Eagle’s strength and knowing that he would not win, Neil promptly fled.
Abigail walked toward Eagle just then—the man certainly offered a stalwart sense of security as a bodyguard.
“I won’t go easy on him if he shows up again. There’s really no end with him.”
“Yeah,” Abigail agreed as she got into the car. “Just keeping him away is a blessing.”
Neil was unreasonable, and he latched onto people annoying like chewing gum.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever met someone like him,” Eagle said.
“There are all sorts out there,” Abigail replied.
Just as there were every variety of oddity out in the world.
Once a person understood that, they would certainly be at ease.
“When would we be solving this case, ma’am?” Eagle asked just then. “I don’t think he’s going to rest.”
However, Abigail’s head hurt at the mention of the case. As she rubbed her temples, she said, “I have to hide for the time being whenever he comes to me.”
She certainly did not want to get into further conflict with him.
At the same time, she felt a stickiness on her skin, and she whipped out her phone.
She was on her period, and it was not surprising that she felt ill lately.
“Eagle? Can you stop by a mall?”
“Sure, ma’am,” Eagle replied. “Is there anything you need? I can get it for you.”
“It’s fine,” Abigail told him.
After a while, Eagle parked the car outside the mall, and Abigail alighted to get herself some pads, putting them in her pocket. She also bought a bottle of the water and left the mall after paying, returning to her car.
“Oh, you could have just sent me, ma’am,” Eagle said.
Abigail nodded. “It’s just one bottle anyway. You can have the rest.”
“I’m good, ma’am,” Eagle replied. “Are we heading home now?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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