The Final Victim(111)

"And where is that?" Detective Jones asks, now taking notes.

It is Mimi who, wide-eyed, replies before Hawthorne has a chance. "It's the low-income housing development that was built on the old Remington Paper factory site. Both my husband and I grew up there."

Tyler isn't surprised. He continues his tale, "There's a doctor in Europe-"

"Dr. Petra Von Cave," Mimi cuts in.

"Yes. She's been the world's foremost Kepton-Manning research scientist for decades. Gilbert managed to locate her and she did attempt, to treat his daughter-in-law.

But that was before Gilbert realized just how many people had been affected-and that there was nothing Dr. Von Cave could do anyway."

"She does have some kind of experimental treatment she's working with now."

Tyler looks at Mimi, sees the consternation in her eyes. "Thanks to Gilbert," he says quietly, "by now, she may. He'd been quietly financing her research foundation ever since Connie June died."

"What a guy," Detective Jones says dryly, shaking her head as she makes a note. Clearly, she already suspects where this is going.

Tyler opens his mouth to defend his friend as noble, but his conscience won't let him.

It's too little, too late and you know it. Possibly saving lives in the future doesn’t make up for the ones that could have been saved in the past, if he had just come clean with everything.

But all that ever mattered to Gilbert in the end was protecting himself and the Remington name-even posthumously. He didn't have the decency-or the guts-to make a bequest to the foundation in his will. Tyler suggested it many times, but Gilbert was afraid it might establish a link between himself and Kepton-Manning.

"When I called Dr. Von Cave," Mimi speaks up, "she recognized my area code and that I lived on or near Achoco Island. She made the connection between Jed and Connie June's case. That's why she called me back. But she didn't tell me there were so many."

Tyler averts his gaze. "That's because she didn't know."

"Do you mean," the detective says, "that this Dr. Von Cave wasn't part of the cover-up?"

"No. She was just Gilbert's attempt to save his daughter-in-law's life." And ease his own guilty conscience. "Dr. Von Cave long ago isolated the cause of this disease to a few possible environmental factors. One of them is the exposure to a toxic chemical that happens to have been a by-product of Remington Paper. It was dumped on-site for years."

"Was that legal?"

Tyler lowers his head but only briefly. "No. But I wasn't aware of that when it was happening. Nobody was. Gilbert only involved me later-when things got complicated."

"Complicated how?"

Tyler draws a deep breath. "Like I said, nobody, not even Dr. Von Cave, ever realized there was a cluster of cases on Achoco Island-not even the patients themselves. Their local physician diagnosed them with various terminal diseases, and sent them home to the. They did, and quickly."

"Are you telling me that they all used the same doctor? And that he was a part of a conspiracy to conceal the health risks?"

"Yes, and so was I." Tyler's voice is level. "But it was Gilbert who engineered the whole thing. He was desperate to cover it up. He would have been ruined if it had ever gotten out."

Mimi looks as though her head is spinning. So, apparently, is Detective Jones's, because she shakes her cornrows, clattering the wooden beads. "Back up. How on earth did Gilbert ensure that every one of those patients saw the same physician?"

A brisk knock on the door startles all three of them.

A sergeant pokes his head in. "Mrs. Johnston? Detective Dorado needs to see you right away."

Mimi leaps to her feet, murmurs an apology to Tyler and Jones, and is quickly escorted from the room.

Tyler looks at Detective Jones, who is still waiting for a reply to her question about Silas Neville.

'Just how many doctors do you think there were back then on Achoco Island, Detective? One. And how many employers?" Again Tyler answers his own question. "Aside from the fishing industry and a couple of restaurants and stores, Remington Paper was it. Gilbert provided an employee health plan. Mandatory free physicals twice a year eventually became a part of it."

"I think I understand how the doctor fits into Gilbert's cover-up," Detective Jones tells him, "but where do you come in?"

Tyler swallows hard. "Gilbert discreetly arranged to pay for everything for those patients right-up front: medical care, funeral expenses, ongoing benefits for their families. He did it under the guise of philanthropy."

Tyler shakes his head, remembering the gratitude of those poor people. They were profoundly touched that their benefactor didn't even want his generosity publicly acknowledged. Indeed, so humble, so honorable was Gilbert Remington that he forbade them to reveal his financial support.

"Mr. Hawthorne…"

"Yes, I'm sorry, I'll continue." He clears his throat. "Each patient and their family or guardian had to sign a legal contract stipulating certain conditions."

"You drew up and executed those contracts." 'That's right." Tyler heaves a sigh, relieved that after all these years, the whole shameful business is out in the open.

"Why, Mr. Hawthorne? Why would an otherwise respectable lawyer and doctor stoop to this level?"