The Speed of Sound (Speed of Sound Thrillers #1)(104)
The senator got up and moved slowly around the office, glancing at the framed photographs of Fenton with various presidents and other notables. “You have wasted a lot of people’s valuable time, energy, and resources for years with this nonsense. This weekend was the last straw. You led us on a wild-goose chase over nothing. And you nearly ruined that young lady’s life.”
“What exactly do you mean, ‘over nothing’?”
“The goddamn technology doesn’t work. The echo box. It never has, and it probably never will.”
Fenton sputtered. His world was spinning. “What the hell are you talking about? It does work. That’s why she fled. Look, whatever she told you—”
Davis cut him off. “She didn’t tell me a damn thing, Marcus. I told her.” The senator moved to the door, where he paused to glance out the windows at several Homeland Security vehicles arriving at the facility. Fenton was about to speak, but Davis had no intention of listening to another word. “Homeland is arriving to take possession of all your computer records, both here and in your residence, so I wouldn’t plan on taking any with you. What you should consider is hiring the best lawyer you can find. Because if you or Michael Barnes were dumb enough to leave any kind of a trail, you’re going to need all the help you can get.”
Corbin Davis glanced at the security guard manning the front gate as his limousine exited Harmony House grounds. The senator took out his encrypted phone and dialed Bob Stenson to report that Marcus Fenton had been relieved of his duties.
Skylar had been suspicious from the moment Senator Davis had offered her Fenton’s job. Anything that sounds too good to be true always is. But how could she have said no? She would be getting revenge on the man who’d ordered her lover’s death, and would have unlimited access to Eddie, at least for the time being. Just over twenty-four hours ago, she’d been informed by an overly zealous Homeland Security agent that she would never see her patient again and was losing her rights as an American citizen. Now she had her dream job, which should have taken her another twenty years to achieve. Skylar guessed that the government was desperate to keep the situation contained. The last thing they wanted was her going public with her story and suing Homeland Security for false imprisonment. If they kept her happy, she’d remain quiet. That was the deal. In fact, she’d signed a confidentiality agreement to that effect.
Skylar was certain there was more to the story, but realized she would most likely never know it. What she did know was that people changed their minds all the time. There was no guarantee how long she’d have free rein within Harmony House, so she was not about to waste time. She had to act while she had the opportunity.
The moment she stepped inside her office, she went right to the stack of storage boxes labeled Parks, Edward. She opened the first box, which contained his earliest records, and pulled out the first couple inches of folders. She riffled through them, looking for something specific. A phone number. Which she found in short order. And dialed.
CHAPTER 111
Dr. Marcus Fenton’s House, Pine Hill, New Jersey, May 29, 9:19 a.m.
Federal agents had already been searching Marcus Fenton’s home for over thirty minutes by the time he pulled into his driveway. He parked directly behind their vehicles and got out, carrying with him the few keepsakes he had taken from Harmony House. These included several framed photographs of his deceased wife, Ruthie.
To no one in particular, Fenton said he was going to hire the best lawyer he knew, who would readily put a stop to all this. He went inside to his home office, where he sat down behind his desk. His computer and all his technology had been removed. How dare they? Fenton placed the photographs on his empty desktop, then opened a drawer, which was not a drawer at all but the cover of a small safe with a combination lock. He turned the dial two rotations to the right, one to the left, and one to the right. He opened the safe and removed several notebooks. Behind them was a small jewelry box. Inside the box were two plain white pills. Each was 500 milligrams of a lethal, untraceable compound known only as KT-186. It was going to look like Marcus Fenton had a heart attack, which would be completely believable given the circumstances.
Michael Barnes had had his escape plan. Marcus Fenton had his.
He poured himself a glass of water and swallowed the pills. Both went down smoothly. Nothing happened immediately. He didn’t expect it to. He calmly closed the small jewelry box and placed it and the notebooks back inside the safe, which he then locked. He closed the small drawer, concealing the safe, and looked at one of the photographs of his wife. “See you soon.”
Fenton’s heart stopped beating twenty seconds later. Agents would find him on the floor behind his desk several minutes afterward, in a puddle of his own bodily fluids. Paramedics arrived eleven minutes later. They would reach Jefferson Hospital in Stratford twenty-seven minutes after that. The once senior and most respected doctor on the grounds of Harmony House was pronounced dead at 10:07 a.m.
CHAPTER 112
Harmony House, Woodbury, New Jersey, May 29, 12:22 p.m.
Skylar wouldn’t learn of Fenton’s death until later that night, by which time she wouldn’t be able to give the news the attention it deserved. She was too focused on Eddie’s return to Harmony House to give much focus to anything else. She was joined by Nurse Gloria in front of the facility’s main entrance as they waited for his arrival. Gloria was still suffering the effects of too much alcohol over the weekend. “Doctor, is it true?”