Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn Book 6)(27)

“But you are in charge of that team,” Amy said. “Ultimately, you give the go-ahead. Those threats came to Quarmark addressed to you.”

Oaks said, “This is something we need to look into, Mr. Ross.”

“People were upset about how expensive one of Quarmark’s new drugs was?” Gretchen asked.

Colin nodded.

Gretchen said, “Which drug?”

Colin sighed again, clearly uncomfortable.

“Just tell them,” Amy demanded.

“You have to understand what goes into these things,” Colin began.

Amy made a noise deep in her throat. “Don’t even try to justify it, Colin. It was never justifiable, and you know it.”

“My company is a for-profit company. If I don’t help them make a profit, I don’t get to keep my job.”

Amy thrust her chin forward. She squeezed Josie’s fingers again, as if drawing strength. “It was a cancer drug. Revolutionary. It stops most cancers from metastasizing. Stops the spread. It could save millions, or at least extend their lives.”

“How much is Quarmark charging for it?” Oaks asked.

There was a long silence. Finally, Amy said, “Colin’s team priced it at fifteen thousand dollars a month. Insurance companies cover a lot of it, but people are still paying thousands of dollars a month in copays for it. Thousands. What cancer patient do you know who has thousands of dollars laying around to pay for one drug?”

“Ame,” Colin cautioned.

Trying to keep them on track, Josie interjected, “You got death threats after the drug went onto the market?”

“Not right away,” Colin said. “But after several months, we started to get them.”

“You started to get them,” Amy clarified.

“I got most of them. It’s public record that I’m the head of pricing.”

“How did these threats arrive?” Gretchen asked.

“Some by mail, some by email,” Colin said. “All to my office which is almost two hours from here. I mean I travel most of the time, and even when I’m home I don’t need to be in the office all the time. But these people didn’t target me at home—only at work.”

Josie said, “It’s not that hard to find out where someone lives, Mr. Ross.”

“Do you have copies of these threats?” Oaks asked.

“In my desk at work. I have copies of everything. I turned over the originals and any emails to our legal department, but I kept copies.”

“Why did you keep copies?” Gretchen asked.

He shrugged. “Just in case… something happened, I guess.”

Oaks said, “We’re going to need those. I’ll send an agent with you when we’re done here to retrieve them. We’ll wait till first light. We’ll track down every person who threatened you or your team and pay them a visit.”

Amy’s grip on Josie’s fingers finally loosened. “Thank you,” she mumbled.

Colin said, “Fine, but I think this is a long shot. Why would someone angry over the price of a cancer drug take my child?”

“What’s more precious than your own life?” Josie said. “For a parent? What matters more than your own life?”

Colin didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. They all knew the answer. You didn’t have to be a parent to recognize that the bond between a parent and their child could be one of the most powerful things in the world.

“There’s something else I’d like you both to do for us. It’s pretty standard. Of course you can refuse, but we hope you won’t.”

Colin said, “What is it?”

“I’d like you both to take polygraph tests.”

“What?” Amy gasped. Josie nearly cried out when the pressure on her fingers became unbearable. “Why? You think we did this?”

“No,” Oaks said. “But it doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what the evidence in the case shows. In almost every abduction case, we have to look at the parents first. Eliminate them so that we can direct our resources to other, more fruitful avenues of investigation.”

“We were both there,” Amy said. She looked at Josie. “You were there. You saw us.”

“I did,” Josie answered. “But Amy, this really is standard procedure. You both take them, you both pass, and your involvement in Lucy’s kidnapping can be ruled out.”

“How could we have kidnapped her?” Amy went on. “Why? Why would either of us stage our own child’s kidnapping?”

Oaks said, “Exactly. So it shouldn’t be an issue to do the polygraphs.”

Colin said, “Ame, it’s fine. Let’s just do it, okay? We need to keep the focus on finding Lucy.”

Amy didn’t say anything, but she didn’t protest further.

Oaks said, “I’ll have the polygrapher here as soon as possible. Now, based on the content of the note found in Lucy’s backpack, we believe this kidnapper is going to try to contact you. Do you have a landline?”

“No,” Colin said. “Just our cell phones.”

“Not a surprise these days.” Oaks said. “What my team is doing in there right now is setting up their computers so that we can intercept and trace any incoming calls to either of your cell phones. Now, we have to do this through the legal department of your cell phone carrier. You’ll have to sign some consent forms.”