Chapter 3 - Noah Bennett Left a Warning
Victor’s pocket contained nothing more dangerous than a phone.
But the phone mattered.
Police asked for it.
Victor refused without a warrant.
Adrian watched him become more careful with every sentence.
That frightened him.
In eleven years, Victor had never seemed nervous.
He seemed nervous now.
Mia sat in Adrian’s library with a detective and Marcus.
Her hands still shook.
Adrian entered carrying water.
She stared at the glass.
He noticed.
“Sealed bottle instead?”
She almost smiled.
“Please.”
He brought one.
“Tell me about Noah.”
Mia looked toward the detective.
Then began.
Noah Bennett was thirty-two.
A chemist by training.
At Cole Biomedical, he worked in quality assurance for a neurological drug program called Asteron.
Adrian knew the project well.
Asteron was the most expensive research program in company history.
It was designed to reduce complications after certain brain injuries.
Clinical trials had been delayed twice.
Four months ago, Noah disappeared.
“What did he tell you before that?” Adrian asked.
“Almost nothing.”
“Almost?”
Mia nodded.
“He said something was wrong with batch records.”
“What kind of wrong?”
“He wouldn’t explain.”
“He was under confidentiality rules.”
“He was scared, Adrian.”
It was the first time she used his first name.
He did not correct her.
Mia said Noah visited their mother one Sunday.
He brought a backpack.
He asked her to keep it overnight.
The next morning, he returned and took it.
Two days later, he vanished.
Police found his car at an airport parking garage.
No flight under his name.
His apartment had been professionally cleaned.
His work laptop remained at Cole Biomedical.
His personal computer disappeared.
“What did company security tell you?”
“That Noah stole research.”
Adrian nodded slowly.
That was what he had been told too.
By Victor Lang.
The detective asked whether Noah had enemies.
Mia shook her head.
Then remembered something.
“A woman called him constantly that last week.”
“Name?”
“He saved her as E.”
Adrian thought of executives.
Researchers.
Board members.
Too many E names.
Marcus entered.
“We found the catering surveillance.”
The penthouse kitchen had two security cameras.
One covered the champagne station.
The footage showed the bartender preparing six glasses.
Then leaving for ice.
A person in catering whites entered frame.
Cap low.
Face partially hidden.
The person approached Adrian’s marked flute.
Their back blocked the camera for four seconds.
Then they walked away.
Mia leaned forward.
“That’s who I saw.”
The figure disappeared through the service corridor.
Marcus froze the image.
Adrian studied the person’s hand.
A distinctive gold ring.
Black rectangular stone.
He had seen it before.
Not on Victor.
On his uncle.
Thomas Cole.
Thomas was Adrian’s father’s younger brother and a board member of Cole Biomedical.
He was also standing among the guests.
Police brought him in.
Thomas looked at the image and laughed.
“That could be anyone.”
Adrian looked at his hand.
The ring was gone.
“You wore it last week.”
“I lost it.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Where?”
“No idea.”
Convenient.
Thomas demanded counsel.
Adrian let investigators handle him.
Mia whispered:
“My brother mentioned a Thomas.”
Adrian turned.
“When?”
“The night before he disappeared.”
“What did he say?”
“Just that Thomas was pushing something through too fast.”
Adrian’s stomach tightened.
Thomas oversaw regulatory strategy for Asteron.
The project had been under pressure after delays cost investors hundreds of millions.
But pressure was not attempted murder.
Evidence first.
Adrian had already learned that much in one afternoon.
A detective returned with preliminary lab information.
The residue appeared to contain a powerful sedative combined with another compound.
Not necessarily lethal in the amount recovered.
But dangerous with alcohol.
Adrian frowned.
“If someone wanted me dead, why use something uncertain?”
Mia looked at him.
“Maybe they didn’t want you dead.”
The detective nodded.
“Maybe they wanted you impaired.”
Adrian’s thoughts changed direction.
An incapacitated billionaire at a private gathering.
What could happen next?
Signatures.
Medical emergency.
Access.
Reputation.
Then Marcus remembered the afternoon’s schedule.
At 4:00 p.m., Adrian was supposed to sign emergency board authorizations related to Asteron.
Thomas had requested the meeting.
Adrian stared toward the closed library doors.
If Adrian became confused or medically impaired, the signing could be delayed.
Or manipulated.
He called company counsel.
“Send me every Asteron document scheduled for today.”
The files arrived.
One authorization stood out.
It would transfer temporary control of Asteron regulatory submissions to a special committee if Adrian became medically unavailable.
Committee chair:
Thomas Cole.
Mia whispered, “There it is.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No. It’s a motive. Not proof.”
Then his phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Noah Bennett sat in a dim room holding that morning’s newspaper.
Alive.
Mia gasped.
Beneath the image was one sentence:
THE GLASS WAS ONLY THE FIRST TEST.
Adrian looked at Mia.
Her brother had not disappeared voluntarily.
May you like
Somebody had kept him hidden for four months.
And whoever had him was now communicating directly with Adrian.
