“You planning on staying for dinner?” she asked. She is aggravated he is here. She had work to do and she wanted to start looking at the notebooks and laptop just as soon as she finished eating. He had never called to say he was coming, which did not set well with her.

  “Do you have enough?” Mike asked.

  Alex nodded. “Yes, I do. I have a long evening ahead of me and I will probably work most of the night. I have a lot of research to do, but I do have other food that I can stick in the microwave in case I want to eat something else later.”

  Mike cringed and then nodded. She pulled out the four containers of Chinese food she had picked up. She had gotten Orange Chicken, Peking Beef, Shrimp Fried Rice and four vegetable egg rolls. Next, she got two cold cans of Pepsi out of the refrigerator and sat them on the island. Then she got out two plates and two forks, setting them on the island in front of the containers. Next, she got out three big spoons, opened the four containers and put a big spoon in three of them. Then she walked around the island and sat down on the end stool. She did not want to sit next to him. Then she began spooning out what she wanted. Mike did as well. Then they began eating.

  A few minutes later, Alex had finished eating. She took a long drink from her can. Then she looked at Mike.

  “So, you want to tell me why you are here?”

  Mike nodded. “I wondered why you didn’t call me to go with you today.”

  Alex shrugged. “I didn’t need protection.”

  “Where did you go?”

  Alex thought about this a moment. “Are you reporting to Mr. Jenkins about what I do?”

  Mike nodded. “Most times. Today I didn’t. I just happened to notice you were driving around in Maryland and Virginia. I wondered where you went.”

  “I see. Guess I should have realized that day I first met you that you put a tracker on my cell phone. Bet you will be glad when this case is finished.” She knew she would be.

  “Not necessarily.”

  Alex looked at Mike. He was staring at his empty plate. She debated on telling him that she had found some information, but the biggest news she still had to check. The two notebooks and the laptop were sitting in her office waiting for her to go through them. She blew out her breath. For the time being, she was not going to tell him much of anything.

  There was still some food left, so she folded the tops of the containers and put them in the refrigerator. Then she put the plates and silverware in the dishwasher and closed the door. Then she sat down on the tall stool again and took a deep breath.

  “I just went to visit with the three widows of the men who worked for Diagnostic Innovations. I wanted to find out if their last project was the military contract.”

  “And was it?”

  Alex nodded. “Yes, it was. All three men are scientists and they worked on the project. Found out a few things, but I have research to do to see if what I found is relevant or not. But, after what two of the widows told me, my guess is the accidents were not accidents at all. All three of the men where pushed off the road into a concrete abutment.”

  “That’s not good.” He paused a moment. “Are you planning on going out tomorrow?”

  “I doubt it. But, just so you know, I am going out late tomorrow afternoon. I am going out to dinner with another couple. So, you don’t need to accompany me or even track me.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I am sure.”

  Mike intently looked at Alex. “Something tells me you aren’t telling me something.”

  Alex shrugged. “I don’t know what that would be. I already told you I found out a few things, but there is no point telling you what they are until I am sure they are relevant. So, that amounts to doing a lot more research. Maybe in a couple of days I will have something to report to Mr. Jenkins.”

  “Any messages come in today on the routers?”

  Alex shook her head “No. I just checked them a few minutes ago and nothing has come through. Although, it will not be much longer before they will be sending messages again. My guess is that messages will come from both directions.”

  Alex took a deep breath and intently looked at Mike. He is a good-looking man and she could easily be attracted to him. Actually, she was attracted to him. But, she knew she shouldn’t be. Not now anyway. Especially with his attitude, for one thing. And second, because he was a man much like all of the others she’d had relationships with. Besides, business relationships never work out. She was sure once this case is over, she would not see him again. Maybe it is just as well that it ends that way.

  Mike nodded. “Okay. Guess you will be busy the rest of the evening. You will let me know if you find anything?”

  Alex nodded. “Yes. I will probably have you take me to see Mr. Jenkins. That way you can both hear the news at the same time.” Then she thought of something. “Can you do me a favor?”

  “Like what?”

  “I need information on Michael Simms; whatever you can find.”

  Mike narrowed his eyes. “The President’s Chief of Staff? Why?”

  “I am working on a theory that I am not ready to explain yet. Just don’t tell Mr. Jenkins know that you are doing this for me.”

  “Is something going on with him?”

  “That is what I am trying to find out. There is just something suspicious going on and I need more information on him, and his family, including his parents, if you can find anything.”

  Mike nodded. “Okay. I will see what I can find. How soon do you need it?”

  “As soon as you can. You can just send the information in a file to my cell phone. I can print the pages out here.”

  “Alright. Anything else?”

  Alex shook her head. “No. I think that’s it.”

  Mike stood up and Alex accompanied him to the door. He thanked her for dinner. Then they said goodbye and he walked out. Alex closed and locked the door behind him. She shook her head. No. She did not want to get into a relationship. Not right now. Besides, she had too much to do tonight and she wanted to be alone.

  She grabbed her Pepsi and finished it off. Then she got out another cold Pepsi and headed for her office, shutting off the lights in the living room.

  When she walked into her office, she sat down in her chair and turned on her desktop computer. While she waited for the computer to come up, she opened her can of Pepsi and took a long drink. She needed the caffeine to keep her mind alert and tonight she is definitely going to need it.

  First, she wanted to find out how many Ernie’s work at Triangle Diagnostics. From her list, she found there were three. Ernie Hopper, Ernie Williams and Ernie Jones. Now to figure out which one works closely with Phil Abrahamson. Then she got on her desktop computer and got into Triangle’s computer system.

  Over the next hour, she went through each of the three men’s emails. Finally, one email caught her attention. It was an email sent out almost a week ago that went to what it looked like all of the department heads telling them of an upcoming staff meeting. At the bottom of the letter, Ernie Hopper and Phil Abrahamson signed it. Bingo. On this email, Abrahamson’s title was CEO, so that explained his arrogant attitude today. And now, she had found two of the owners of Triangle Diagnostics. Who is the third owner? Or is there another one? Right now, it is not important. She has too much else to do to figure out the answer to that question.

  She found no recent emails that went between Abrahamson and Hopper, so any conversation they had was through the office phone. Or maybe their cell phones. At least she now had two people to watch. Now for the long job.

  Alex got into the archives of the company email program. She had already checked Phil Abrahamson’s archived emails. Now she had to check on Ernie Hopper.

  Two hours later, she had found three emails that she not only found interesting, she found suspicious. She copied them and printed them out. One email was a week and a half ago asking when the project was going to be finished. Unfortunately, it did not state what the project was, but she now knew it is the military contract. Ernie Hopper sent this email. A second email sent by Hopper said that was good and to keep him apprised when the project would be finished. Included in the email was the response, which said that the diagram was done; he just had to build a prototype. It would not take long. Then he told Ernie Hopper that Peter and Michael were still working on the formula, but it would be finished soon. Surprisingly, Sam Mulligan sent the return message. What diagram did he make and what formula were Peter and Michael working on? Alex was not getting a good feeling about this. She printed out the email with the entire conversation.

  Alex leaned back in her chair. This meant that both Abrahamson and Hopper knew about the military contract, along with the three scientists. Who else in the company knew about it? But the question is, does Ernie Hopper know that the contact deals with a foreign country? She had found nothing between him and Abrahamson. At least no emails. So, there is no way to know if Ernie Hopper knows what is going on, or not. Maybe he only knew about the military contract and that was it.

  Then she had a thought. Presumably, the military will pay Triangle for the contract. Although, she had a feeling that would not happen. It will not be the military paying. At least she found one email listing one of the three scientists that were involved in the military contract and the date was three days before all three scientists died in accidents.

  Then she had a thought. Had the three men figured out what was going on by then? Alex knew they had. That explained why at least two of the men were nervous in the days before the accidents. They probably didn’t know who the items were going to, but they did know something bad was going to happen. But, why? What did they figure out? Now if she could just find out what they were making.

  It was now midnight and Alex was getting hungry again. She got up and walked into the kitchen. She got out a plate, took the four food containers out of the refrigerator and dumped the remaining food onto the plate. Then she stuck it into the microwave and set the timer. Then she got out another cold Pepsi, taking it into her office. By the time she got back to the kitchen, the microwave bell went off. She took out the plate, grabbed a fork and then headed back into her office. She sat down at her desk and began eating.

  Once she finished eating, Alex knew there was nothing else in Triangle Diagnostics system that she could look for. All she had to do now is watch the two men’s emails and see what they do. Nothing was going on with the routers either. Right now, maybe that was a good thing. But she also knew that silence is not going to last. Time is going by and the end of the project is coming fast.

  She took her plate and the can back to the kitchen. Then she went back to her office. It was now time to look at Michael Williams notebook and Sam Mulligan’s notebook and laptop. She was meeting with Jillian late tomorrow afternoon and she wanted to get the notebook and laptop back to her. So, she decided to start with the laptop. She opened it and turned it on.

  Fortunately, the laptop was not password protected. On the main screen were two files. From the names of the files, she knew they were the files of notes Jillian had mentioned. She clicked on the first file, but the date on top told her this was not the last project he worked on. Jillian had been right. He only kept the last couple of jobs on the laptop. So, she closed that file and went to the other one. This was the last project Samuel Mulligan worked on.

  She read the file, most of which she did not understand. They were technical notes. Without a picture, she had no idea what he was describing. What she was able to understand, she did know that it is some kind of container and is only about six inches long. She shook her head. Then she had an idea.

  Alex picked up Samuel Mulligan’s notebook. Thankfully, he had dated the notes as he worked through the project, so she went to the back of the notebook and then began flipping back blank pages until she got to the last page of what he had worked on. Her mouth dropped open when she saw the drawing.

  She leaned back in her chair and blew out her breath. Now she knew what the item was. The cylindrical container was six inches long and four inches around. There were other markings on where it opened. A second smaller drawing showed the inside. It would not hold much, but what was supposed to go inside? A second look at the smaller drawing told her that the outside of the container was thick. She knew there would be precautions on keeping what was inside from leaking out, but did all of the containers he made for the medical company have that thick an outer layer? Somehow, she did not think so.

  Alex knew she had to print out what she had found in the notebook. She turned on her printer, which was also a copier. Beginning at the first page of the project, she laid the book on top and began copying the project pages, including the diagrams. When she finished, she printed out the file on the laptop. Then she turned off Sam’s laptop and sat the notebook on top.

  Now she knew that one part of the project was the container. But what is the formula that Sam Mulligan mentioned? Michael Williams and Peter Collins were both biochemists, so they were working on the formula. She pulled over Michael Williams’ notebook and found his last project. But, as she looked through the pages, she knew there is no way she can figure out what Michael Williams wrote. Most of it was symbols. Symbols she would never be able to figure out. She assumed the last two lines on the last page, which were listed four lines down, was the formula they came up with. But what is it?

  Alex knew that somehow, she had to find out what kind of formula they were making. And she knew where she had to go to find the answer.

  CHAPTER 21

  The next day, Alex had to do some research to figure out exactly where she needed to go. Once she did, she grabbed her purse, the notebook belonging to Michael Williams and her keys. This time, she was not about to let Mike know where she is going. So, she turned off her cell phone and then put it in her purse, next to her gun which she had not taken out. Then she headed out the door. She got into her Cherokee, punched in the address of where she wanted to go into the GPS and then pulled out. It will take quite a while to get where she wanted to go, especially at this time of the day. Around Washington, there was always traffic. If it wasn’t the locals going to work, it was the tourists heading for the attractions. They all made driving a challenge.

  It took an hour to get to Georgetown University. Since they have a Department of Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology, she hoped someone there can tell her what the formula is. Alex found a parking space near the building that held the department she needed to go to. It was part of the School of Medicine. If anyone can tell her what the formula is, this was the place.

  Alex grabbed her purse and the notebook, and then got out. She crossed the street and walked into the building. Not sure where she needed to go, she stopped at an office on the first floor and asked the woman sitting behind the desk. She needed to talk to a professor of biochemistry. The woman told her where to go to get to the department office. She thanked the woman and then headed up the stairs.

  A few minutes later, Alex approached the desk of the department secretary. The woman behind the desk looked up at her. She was in her early forties, had light brown hair that was pulled back into a messy bun at the back of her head and she is wearing a black linen suit with a white silk blouse. The nameplate on her desk said her name was Jeanne.

  “May I help you?” Jeanne asked.

  Alex nodded. “I hope so.” She pulled out her identification and showed it to the woman. “I need to talk to a professor who teaches biochemistry.”

  The woman nodded. “Alright. Let me see who is available. We have two professors who teach biochemistry classes. I just need to see who is here today.”

  Alex silently hoped one of the professors is here today. She wanted to get this solved as soon as possible. Today, preferably.

  The woman pulled a notebook out of a side drawer, laid it on her desk and then began looking through the pages. Even upside down, Alex could see that Jeanne was looking at the class schedules of each of the professors in the department. Jeanne went through each page until she found the two professors she referred to. She flipped between the two pages and then looked up at Alex.

  “Both professors are here today. One is Dr. James Simpson, but he just went into a class and that class is an hour long. The other professor is Dr. Caleb Olson, who will be getting out of a class in about ten minutes. He usually goes right to his office after class. Students who have questions go to his office once class is over. Usually, he has one or two, but I think you will be able to talk to Dr. Olson before Dr. Simpson gets out of his class. Dr. Olson does not teach another class until two o’clock this afternoon, so you will have plenty of time to talk to him.”

  Jeanne gave Alex Dr. Olson’s room number of his office and pointed her in the right direction. Alex thanked her for her help and then walked out of the office. Dr. Olson’s office was around the corner and halfway down the hallway. She glanced at her watch. Ten minutes until the class ends. At least she did not have to wait an hour, but she would have if the other professor were her only choice. She was so anxious to get an answer that she hoped not many students need to talk to Dr. Olson today. Even if there are students with questions, she will wait. It is imperative that she gets an answer today.

  Alex leaned against the wall next to the door of Dr. Olson’s office. While she waited, her mind raced. She wanted to find out what the formula is, but at the rate things are going, she is afraid of what the professor will tell her. She just hoped it wasn’t bad, but considering the three scientists who worked on the project died in accidents, she was sure the news is going to be bad. Still, she needed to find out one way or the other.

  Fifteen minutes later, a tall, mid-forty year old man came walking down the hallway. He has black hair, with gray hair beginning at his temples, which gave him a distinguished look. He was dressed in a dark blue suit, light blue shirt and a funky tie that has dancing test tubes on it. He approached the door.

 

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