The Paris Mysteries (Confessions #3)(25)

“I mean that literally. Please help me.

“By the way, I love and miss you.

“And I’m still the Amazing Tandoo.”

There were a million papers I hadn’t looked through, but I was determined. I was going to pass my eyes over every document in this room tonight, and if there were answers in these boxes, I would find them.

I swore on my love for Katherine.





So. Clearly there was information in these heavy cartons, plenty of it. If I wanted to understand what had been done to all five of the Angel kids, I had to dive into the hard stuff—and I was way ready. I especially wanted to know more about our uncle Peter’s role in the destruction of our family.

I attacked the docs by sorting them into categories, then subcategories. Hours passed, and I was in the zone. I refused to be sidetracked by fatigue or ghosts or ricocheting random thoughts.

After reading through the first huge stack of Angel Pharmaceuticals memoranda and lab reports, I checked my phone. It was after four AM. In a few hours, my family would start moving around upstairs, and someone would surely look for me.

I had to read faster.

I plowed through the next pile of documents, then pulled the third stack of papers off the table and sat on the floor with my back against the cold stone wall.

I fastened my attention on a memo to my dad from Uncle Peter, when they were both senior partners at Angel Pharmaceuticals.

The body of the memo read, “Mal. All the reports on nootropics are here. Your conclusion is required by the end of the month. P.”

The table of contents in the attached file listed nootropics, including antidepressants, also hormones, brain cell protectors, and stimulants—my God.

My parents had given this stuff to us as vitamins.

“Don’t forget to take your vitamins, Tandoori.”

“I already took them, Dad.”

And then I moved on to even scarier stuff: letters and memos to Uncle Peter from government intelligence agencies asking about the “K. Angel Experiment.”

Katherine.

Some of the letters were from the CIA, but there were cryptic queries from spy agencies in Russia, France, Japan. And Israel.

Government interest in my sister was shocking and hideous, and it also made me wonder if this high-grade secret intelligence interest was why Jacob had been drawn back into the Angel family web.

I got to my feet and dug around in the very first box I had opened days ago, and found Katherine’s chart. You didn’t have to be a genius to see that the experiments on Katherine had gone way too far, too fast. If drugs had done this for her, I could see the applications for military use. And if there was money to be made, it would be very big money. My parents and uncle would have been all for that.

But what if Katherine, with her monumental IQ, had figured this out?

What if she hadn’t liked being a lab animal and a business model combined? What if there had been bad side effects that my father and Peter had ignored, and she wanted to quit? And what if her side trip to Paris when she was on her way to South Africa had been one small act of rebellion, and part of a bigger plan?

Had Katherine’s independence freaked someone out? Had that someone been afraid she might go over to an enemy? Was that why private investigators had been called in?

What if Katherine hid these boxes in Gram Hilda’s house in case something happened to her?

I imagined too many reasons why someone might have targeted Katherine for death. I was afraid I might be on the verge of learning something horrible and too close to home.

I was panting hard enough to be heard upstairs, so I rolled up the chart, grabbed two handfuls of incriminating papers, and left the basement room.

It was time to talk to Jacob.





I found Jacob brewing coffee in the kitchen.

He turned, smiled, and said, “A little early for you, isn’t it, Tandy?”

I put a fat stack of papers on the table, including Katherine’s chart, which I unrolled and flattened out, holding down the corners with salt and pepper shakers and a couple of trivets.

I said, “I’m pretty smart, you know, Jacob? Some would say smarter than ninety-nine point nine percent of my peers.”

“I don’t doubt that,” he said. “Is your intelligence in dispute?”

He poured two oversized mugs of coffee and brought them to the table. He slid one over to me and pulled out a kitchen chair for himself.

Then he said, “I’m pretty sure I told you those boxes were off-limits.”

“Well,” I said, “as Katherine’s sister, I think my rights to her stuff override your rights.”

“My fault for not locking them up,” Jacob muttered to himself.

I continued, “I’ve been in the basement for about eight hours, Jacob, and I’ve found some very scary shit.

“I found documents, lab reports, spy agency inquiries, and in-house memos between Peter and Malcolm proving that Angel Pharma was experimenting with nootropics, brain-enhancing drugs, as well as mood-altering drugs and strength and speed enhancers.”

Jacob stirred his coffee but said nothing. I went on.

“Let’s look at Katherine’s official chart, okay? In one year, Katherine’s IQ zoomed from a pretty brilliant one hundred thirty-three to an astonishing one hundred eighty plus.

“Correct me if I’m off the wall here, but an IQ boost of more than forty-five points in the course of a year has never been achieved in recorded history.”