The Lives Between Us (50 page)

“No, but look what’s hidden in the bottom of a drawer.” Grinning, she held up two paperback books. “
The Baroness and the Blade,
and
Midnight Seductress
?” Serena deepened her voice and batted her eyes. “Our scholarly Dr. Warren has a secret passionate side.”

“Quit goofing around,” Mark scowled.

Serena wrinkled her nose. “Kill joy.”

Edward picked up the wad of keys they’d used to get into Eileen’s office and handed them to Mark. “Try one of your file cabinet keys. You never know; we might get lucky.”

Mark sifted through his keys. A few slid easily into the lock but didn’t open it.

Edward picked up some scissors. “Out of the way, Mark.”

“Uh, guys?” Serena said.

Edward grunted and swore as the scissor slipped, narrowly missing slicing his hand. Mark leaned close. “Maybe a crow bar would work.”

Edward looked up. “You got one?”

“Guys?”

“Nope.”

“Mark. Edward,” Serena bit out.

Mark turned on her. “
What
?”

Serena nodded at Eileen’s large cork bulletin board. There, hanging from a green pushpin, next to a square yellow sticky note, dangled a small silver key. Serena reached forward, slipped the key from its peg, and tossed it to her brother. “Try this.”

Mark snatched the key from air and inserted in the lock. “Son of a...” The lock smoothly turned and popped out.

Edward shook his head. “You’re kidding.”

“That’s trusting,” Skye said.

“More like arrogant,” Mark mumbled as he riffled through the files.

“Took the four of us five minutes to find it. Not such a bad idea hiding it in plain sight,” Serena said.

“Bingo.” Mark pulled a green file from the drawer and handed it to Edward.

“Come on, lock up and let’s go,” Skye said from the doorway. “It sounds like the security guard is making his rounds.”

“Oh, no. Hurry.” Suddenly serious, Serena pushed the chair back under the desk, rearranged the papers on Eileen’s desk into perfect piles. She stooped and pulled the ruined letter opener from the garbage and slid it into her pocket.

Skye rushed back in the room. “That’s way too neat, mess it up a little.”

Serena spread a few files and paper around and threw a pencil and pen on the desk, then bolted for the door where Skye and Edward waited in the hall.

Skye marveled at Mark’s cool. It wasn’t as if he broke into people’s offices and searched them every day, yet he calmly replaced the file cabinet key on the bulletin board. Closing the office door, he locked it and hurried to unlock the lab next door.

The guard whistled a nameless tune as he approached. Skye’s heart raced while silently screaming for Mark to hurry up and unlock the dang door—she did not want to get caught huddling like mischievous kids outside the lab. Mark swung the lab door open, flipped on the light, waited for them to scoot into the room, and then coolly closed the door behind them.

Heart pounding, Skye looked around the large room as Serena settled down behind a computer. The men hovered over Noelle’s open folder, reading.

“Put that away and help me get into the database,” Serena ordered. “It’s password protected.”

They reluctantly handed the files to Skye, who stuffed them in her big black bag. The men flanked Serena and peered over her shoulder at the screen. “What’d you try?”

“Since the lab is locked and since she didn’t bother to hide her file key, I tried the default, Admin, Admin. But that wasn’t it.”

“How about EWarren or Warren for Name, or Oliver and p10988, or just10988?” Skye suggested.

Mark watched Serena type in various combinations. “Why those numbers?”

“Oliver’s birthday,” Serena muttered.

“It was on the back of a picture in her office,” Skye explained.

Serena sighed and pushed away from the computer.

“Why exactly do you need to get in there?” Edward asked.

“So I can find the ID numbers to the vials.”

“Wouldn’t it be in the notebook?”

“Maybe,” Serena took the charts Skye handed her. “Cool.” Serena grabbed a pen and a sheet of scrap paper from the garbage can at her feet and began scribbling. Hastings, N: drawer A, box 4, position C12. She handed Skye Noelle’s chart.

Skye put the chart back in her bag as Serena climbed into a blue bunny suit coverall. Serena efficiently tucked her hair in the hood and tied a mask around her face, then pulled on a pair of blue rubber gloves and disappeared into the other room.

She grabbed a small foam storage carton next to a white box freezer and took out a chunk of paper-wrapped dry ice. Turning to a big stainless steel vat, Serena lifted the nitrogen tank lid. She quickly located the vials, popped them in a cooler with dry ice, and left the sterile room.

“What’s with the cooler?” Mark asked. “We need to know the source of those stem cells now.”

“They’re frozen.” Peeling off the rubber gloves, Serena tossed them aside. She quickly freed herself from the rest of the disposable getup and threw it out. “Have to grow them. It’ll take a week to give you a definitive answer.”

“You’re kidding,” Edward said.

“Nope, sorry.”

“Okay, so now all you have to do is get that stuff out of here, confirm the origin of those batches of stem cells, and keep this completely confidential—beyond confidential.”

“I don’t do blood oaths anymore.” Serena sighed at their solemn expressions. “
Fine
.” She raised her right hand. “I swear.”

Edward took out his phone. “How long’s it going to take you to get that to your lab?”

“Thirty minutes, why?”

“I’ll have my guy...” Edward hunched over his phone, texting. Finishing, he looked up. “Meet us at your lab to guard the cells.”

Serena spun around. “Seriously?”

“Can you guarantee they’ll be locked up at all times and nobody will have access, but you?”

“Uh…”

“That’s what I thought. It’ll be guarded 24/7 until we have our answers. Nothing can happen to that line. It’s evidence.” Edward looked away and frowned. “And Noelle may still need it.”

True. Skye hadn’t thought of that. Trust Edward to be that thorough.

“And what excuse am I to come up with for the heightened security?”

“I’ll leave that up to you. I’m sure you’ll think of something credible.”

Serena rolled her eyes. “Fine, but you both owe me one.”

“Keep your mouth shut and we owe you a hundred.”

“Promises, promises.” She batted her eyes at Edward.

Edward grabbed her shoulders in a quick hug.

“Having a party and you didn’t invite me?” A soft female voice asked.

Skye jumped at the new voice and spun around. Her hand flew to her pounding heart.

Eyes narrowing, Eileen crossed her arms over her chest and walked closer. “Mark?”

Mark stepped forward to block her view of Serena. “What’re you doing here, Eileen?”

Edward moved next to Mark forming an effective wall Skye was more than happy to hide behind.

“I left my cell phone in my office. When I saw the lights on in the lab I wondered who was working late.” She smiled. “Senator, your wife seems to have tolerated the surgery well.”

“She does.” Edward nodded.

Eileen stepped to the side and craned her head to see around them. “Is there something I can help you with, Serena?”

Mark grabbed a handful of flasks and pipettes and thrust them into Serena’s hands.

“Nope, I’ve got it,” Serena said, holding the supplies up for Eileen to see.

Heart pounding, Skye stepped forward and held the bag open. Serena carefully slipped the glass inside on top of the notebook and shouldered the black bag, safely concealing their bounty from Eileen’s prying eyes.

Mark handed Serena the white Styrofoam cooler, inexpensive and protective yet priceless, and nudged her toward the door. “You sure know how to screw up my nights. Just because Aviva’s our family business doesn’t mean you can use us as a warehouse.”

“Sorry you missed the movie, but it’s not as if I can go to the market to pick this stuff up.” Serena smiled at Eileen. “Thanks for the pipettes and flasks, Eileen. I’ll replace them as soon as our shipment comes in next week.”

“What’s in the cooler?”

Serena hefted it. “Dry ice. Don’t know what’s going on, but we didn’t get our regular delivery. Don’t worry, I’ll replace it, too.”

Eileen watched Serena with a thoughtful expression. “Since when did Aviva start giving away supplies?”

“Since my sister asked.”

“And it takes all of you to find a few pipettes and flasks?” Eileen asked softly. She narrowed her eyes. “What’s going on here, Mark?”

Mark thrust his hands in his pant pockets. “What does it look like?”

“It looks like you’re snooping through my lab.”

Mark let the possessive comment go unchallenged, but sudden stillness and suspicion charged the space between them. Silent seconds fueled Skye’s hyper-vigilant senses launching an adrenaline surge that tightened her muscles and turned her hands cold and clammy, yet Edward projected a calm, almost unconcerned, front—a worthy opponent for Eileen.

“And why would we do that?”

“Why don’t you tell me?” Eileen cocked her head and crossed her arms over her chest.

Edward and Mark exchanged a glance. “We’re looking for indications that you used embryonic stem cells in my wife’s treatments,” Edward said.

Eileen’s face registered mild interest. “Why didn’t you simply ask?”

“Would you have told us?”

Eileen raised an elegant eyebrow. “Perhaps.” She crossed her legs and rocked backward. “And what if we did? Noelle’s remarkably improved. Why would you care?”

“Because I signed a consent form for stem cells from cord blood to be used. I was quite specific about the source of the donor on the consent forms. Neither my wife nor I approve of killing embryos.”

“Oh, come on, Senator. We both know that you don’t
really
care where they came from as long as your wife’s better.”

Skye marveled at her composure.

“
I
care,” Mark said. “Where’d the ESCs come from, Eileen?”

“The
alleged
ESCs?” She raised her eyebrows. “The NIH?”

“You wouldn’t use that crap. Where’d they come from?”

“If I
had
used ESCs... It wouldn’t have been at all difficult to obtain them.”

Mark swore. “Where’d you get the money?”

“
Alleged
money for your
alleged
cells?”

Mark ignored her taunting and pinned her with a stern look. “Aviva does not work with private embryonic stem cells. I thought I made that clear.”

“You were clear.” She nodded. “Crystal clear.”

“Eileen, you’ve put this company in a very tenuous position.”

“Why? Who’s going to tell? Not me and certainly not any of you.” She looked at Edward. “Stop worrying, Senator, and count your blessings. As for you, Skylar, you should be
very
careful of sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. Haven’t Faith and Peter been through enough?” Eileen sauntered toward the door. “Turn out the lights when you’re through.”

Skye’s eyes grew wide as the other three looked at her in varying degrees of curiosity.

“Don’t look at me.” She slowly shook her head. “I have
no
idea what she’s talking about.”

“Well, we’d better find out ASAP,” Mark said, then frowned as the lab phone rang. “Yes, Carl?” He listened intently. “Tell him she’ll be right out.” Mark looked at Serena. “There’s a guy waiting for you at the front desk.”

Serena frowned. “I—”

“I arranged for the guard to escort you to your lab.” Edward glanced at the door Eileen disappeared through. “And after that, I’m glad I did.”

“O-kay.” Serena headed for the door. “I guess I’ll see you guys later.”

“His name is Doug Adams,” Edward said. “Check his ID before you leave the building.”

“Right.” Serena nodded, then turned and left.

Edward turned back to her and Mark. “What’s the connection between Eileen and your sister?”

“I… I don’t know.” She frowned.

“We’re storing their twins’ cord blood.” Mark looked at Edward. “Remember? The night of the Girls and Science thing, Eileen said she dropped off the collection packets.”

He frowned. “There must be something more. We’d better go talk to them.”

“Not you.” Mark looked at Edward. “You go home. You probably shouldn’t have even come here tonight.”

“She used my wife. I’m already involved.”

Mark held up a hand. “Ed, let us handle this part of it. I don’t know what the hell’s going on, but until we find out, I think you’d better step back. We don’t know who all’s involved or what their motives are. The last thing you and Noelle need is a scandal.”

Edward scowled and his clenching jaw pulsed, but he reluctantly nodded.

Mark frowned and looked around the lab. “I’ll change the codes and lock this place down until we get some answers, but what excuse can I give?”

Skye looked at the wash-up sink. “What if the sink flooded? Or we spilled something toxic in here and nobody’s to go into the lab until Serena gets back tomorrow with a special crew to clean it?”

“Weak, but that’ll have to do.” Mark nodded. “You two dump a bunch of water around while I reprogram the lock.”

Ten minutes later, they’d flooded the lab and thrown some pink soap in the mix for their “toxic” spill, and Mark fixed it so everybody but him should be locked out of the lab. On the way out, Mark gave Max strict instructions that absolutely no one but he or Serena was allowed into or out of the lab—even Dr. Warren. In fact, he had Max call Tina and have her notify all the employees that the place was closed down for the whole day tomorrow.

Mark looked at Skye. “Let’s go see your sister.”

“What did you guys do? Why does Eileen Warren think she’s got something on you?” Skye sat next to Mark in her sister’s family room and carefully watched Faith and Peter’s expressions.

When Skye and Mark arrived at eleven, Peter and Faith were finishing up the babies’ feedings and getting ready to, hopefully, catch three to four hours of sleep before somebody needed to eat again. Dressed in blue T-shirt and navy plaid sleep pants, Peter sat on the rocker ottoman next to Faith.