Constance (Constance #1)(24)

From his expression, it was clear she’d hit on a sensitive subject. “Mr. Gaddis rarely leaves the island these days, but if you dial the number on his card, he’s expecting your call.”

Con warily turned the business card over as if it might jump up and bite her. Calling would mean turning her LFD back on, but she had to admit to being more than a little curious about what her aunt’s former partner wanted. It was worth the risk. Grudgingly, she fished the LFD out of her backpack, powered it up, and slipped it behind her ear. She saw several missed calls and messages, but they were all from a number she didn’t recognize so she ignored them for now. As soon as she started to dial, Peter stood up and moved down the counter out of earshot.

Her LFD rang only once before Gaddis picked up.

“Constance. Vernon Gaddis here. Do you know who I am?” he asked with a false modesty that made her eyes roll.

“You were my aunt’s business partner.”

“Yes. One of the great honors of my life. It’s actually your aunt we need to discuss.”

“How’s that?” she asked.

“Constance, things have not been right at Palingenesis for a very long time.”

“Yeah, I kind of got the guided tour last night,” she said.

“Only the tip of the iceberg, I’m afraid. And I also know you’ve been treated shabbily since. It’s terrible, simply terrible.”

“How do you know anything about that? You don’t know me. And didn’t they toss you as CEO after your plane crashed?” It wasn’t her at peak tact, but his faux concern rubbed her all kinds of wrong. He was working her. Leading the conversation down a path that he’d prepared in advance. She wanted to see how he’d react once dragged off script.

On the other end of the line, Gaddis drew a sharp breath but then chuckled rather than take offense. He must need her badly.

“That’s true,” he replied. “I was. But I did retain my position on the board. Would you like to know how they voted about disposing of their Constance D’Arcy situation?”

She really didn’t, though she could guess. “A team of men showed up at my old apartment building last night.”

That caught his attention, although he didn’t sound entirely shocked. “Did they really? She’s unbelievable.”

“Who?” Con asked.

“Brooke Fenton, of course. My successor.”

“She’s a piece of work.”

“That doesn’t begin to cover it. Ironically, I handpicked Brooke. I’m usually a better judge of character. When the board voted to remove me as CEO after the crash, I was actually reassured that she would be filling my shoes. I later learned that she had used the crash as a pretext to maneuver me out. Then she turned around and tried to wrest control of the research laboratory away from Abigail. It was a coup from start to finish, but I was too sick with grief to defend myself at the time.”

“So what does this all have to do with me?”

“Precisely what I’d like to know,” Gaddis said. “I’d rather not get into the details over the phone. Suffice it to say, in the board meeting, she was uncharacteristically evasive when I pressed her about how you could have been revived after so long. I helped design the systems and protocols governing clone revival. The labs and vaults at Palingenesis comprise one of the most sophisticated Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities in the world. There are a dozen fail-safes to ensure that a clone isn’t revived after its lockout date. It would take an act of God for the entire system to fail this spectacularly. That or an inside job, because Palingenesis’s wombs can’t be accessed from the outside.”

The possibility that Con owed her existence to an act of sabotage put a new spin on things. Laleh had made it sound like simple human error, but what if there was more to it? Could she be involved herself?

“So what is it you want?” she asked.

“I don’t know what Brooke is planning, but the mere fact that she has taken such a personal interest in your situation is cause for suspicion. One thing I know for certain, though, is that the board did not authorize a snatch-and-grab operation. The men at your apartment last night were not there at the behest of Palingenesis. Whatever interests Brooke is protecting, they aren’t the company’s. I’d like to get you somewhere safe until this can be sorted out.”

It was a tempting offer. The money Kala had given her wouldn’t last long, and Con hadn’t even started to think about a place to sleep tonight. While she was mulling over his offer, another call came in from the same unknown number that had been calling all morning. It went to voice mail, but Con realized it was an 804 number. Richmond. Kala had said her original had moved down there with some guy. Suddenly the internal politics of Palingenesis lost all hold on Con’s attention.

“I need to call you back,” she said.

“Excuse me?” Gaddis said as she hung up the call.

Peter stood up questioningly. She hooked a thumb toward the bathrooms. He nodded and sat back down. His own LFD was already ringing.

Safely locked inside the bathroom, she scrolled through her missed calls. There were several messages from the same 804 number, but before she had a chance to listen to any of them, her LFD rang again.

“Is this the clone of Constance D’Arcy?” asked a man whose voice sounded like it had been aged in a barrel for twelve years.