"That was planted. It was a setup. I was halfway to Providence at the time."
"And what evidence?"
Chris took her by the shoulders. "Jesus, Wendy, you don't think I killed her, do you?"
For a split second, she appeared to struggle with her answer. "No, but the police do."
"I can't document where I was until later in the day." He had driven straight to Providence and breakfasted on complimentary donuts and coffee in the hotel lobby, then settled in a corner of the deserted bar to look over the seminar material undisturbed. He had spoken to no one, and left no receipts. He had no evidence; nobody could place him there that early.
"Then you have no alibi. It's your word against theirs."
He took a deep, shaky breath. "I'm sorry," he whispered, and pulled her to him. Wendy lay limply against his chest. It was like cuddling somebody who had died. For a long moment Chris held his wife, thinking that this might be the first time in seventeen years that Wendy had ever regretted her marriage to him.
Over the next three days, the crash slipped from lead story. When the weather cleared the NTSB dispatched helicopters and a coast guard vessel to search for bodies and debris.
The mood in the cottage varied from abrasive silence to panic. On some level Wendy blamed Chris for the upheaval of their lives, irrational as she knew that was. Because she had opposed Elixir from the beginning, the latest twist only served as proof that the project was a curse. For seven years Chris had chased Nature to her hiding place, and now they were stuck in these godforsaken woods, exiled from their old lives and the ordinary world. And it had happened at the peak of renewed joy for her. But she resolved that, no matter what, they would fight this, for she would not bring up her baby in hiding.
Chris spent the next few days listing lawyers' names from telephone directories and doing chores. He chopped and split wood. There was an old chainsaw in the cellar, but he feared the noise would draw attention.
Wendy, meanwhile, did the food shopping at a supermarket in Lake Placid. She wore a ski cap and sunglasses even though nobody would know her. But it struck her how even the most mundane chore was fraught with anxiety that somebody would look into her face and recognize an accessory to murder.
She paid for everything in cash which Chris had withdrawn from accounts before they left-over $17,000. They had been listed as dead, so Wendy began to think of herself as nonexistent-a woman with no credit cards, checks, social security number. Or name. It was almost funny. She was a blank of herself.
Luckily, there was plenty of clothing at the cottage. And the utilities had been paid through June by a trust fund, again untraceable. The propane tank was over half full. They could survive for several weeks if need be, though Chris promised to contact a lawyer by week's end, then turn themselves over to the police.
But that wouldn't happen. Thursday night after Adam was down, they watched the evening news. The lead story was the crash of Eastern flight 219 once again. But this time it was not Chris's photo on the screen but a family portrait, and not theirs.
"…Relatives of the Foleys claimed that they were hoping to fly to Puerto Rico on standby. Authorities now believe that Thomas and Karen Foley had purchased their airline tickets for themselves and their young daughter, Tara, from Christopher Bacon."
The Foley family photo was replaced by that of Chris.
"According to authorities, security cameras captured Bacon talking to Foley and his wife…" In jerky black-and-white Chris could be seen huddled with the Foleys, then disappearing into the crowd.
"Meanwhile, friends and relatives have not heard from the Foleys. Nor is there any trace of them in Puerto Rico, leaving investigators to conclude that they were aboard flight 219 to San Juan, and the Bacons were not.
"In a bizarre twist to the story, an all-points bulletin has been issued for Christopher Bacon and his author wife in the death of Betsy Watkins and now the more serious charge of sabotage. According to the NTSB, preliminary analyses of debris show evidence more consistent with a bomb than lightning. Quoting an unnamed spokesman from Darby Pharmaceuticals, the FBI said that Bacon not only had the expertise to construct such a bomb but had apparently stolen the necessary chemicals…"
"Quentin!" Chris shouted. "He set us up."
Wendy let out a cry of despair. On the screen was a photo of Wendy and Chris from a Darby Christmas party two years ago.
"As for the whereabouts of the Bacons, police are not saying much about leads. However, the FBI has entered the case placing the Bacons on the Ten Most Wanted List…"
"My God," Chris said. "How much worse can it get?"
Ross Darby leaned toward the president. "Ron, he didn't do it. He wasn't the type."
"That's not what they're telling me at the Bureau. They're saying he planted a bomb to fake his own death."
Ross and the president were sitting alone in the Oval Office on facing sofas. Of all the visits he had made here over the years, this was the first time Ross did not feel the august thrill of history.
"I know what they're saying, but I also know this guy. I hired him. He's a dedicated scientist, not a mass murderer."
"Well, then, who did it?"
Ross felt a prickly sensation in the back of his neck. "I don't know."
"Well, they've got the best people looking for him."
"That's what I want to talk to you about," Ross said, and he described the Elixir project while Reagan listened intently.
Ronald Reagan tipped his head and smiled. "Boy, could I use some of that."
"So could the republic," Ross said. "Consider the economic impact. Health care for the aging baby-boomers could bankrupt the government in twenty years. If we work out the bugs, Elixir could prevent that."
Reagan thought all that over. "How close are you?"
"Maybe a couple of years, but the problem is that he took it all with him. Cleaned us out of all the science and the compound itself."
"How come?"
"That's what I'm not yet sure about, but he's out there someplace with the secret of eternal youth."
Ross's guess was that Chris had acted on fears for his own life. What bothered Ross was Quentin. He was too anxious to pin the murder and sabotage on Chris. A man wanted for murder does not steal the world's hottest pharmaceutical secrets to set up shop elsewhere. First, he'd need unlimited resources to reproduce Elixir. Second, he'd be nabbed in no time since his face had been broadcast around the world. Besides, it wasn't in Chris's character.
Maybe Quentin's.
"Ron, I'm asking that you do what you can to bring him in alive. If you think your drug war is bad now, this would be Armageddon if the stuff fell into the wrong hands."
When they were finished, Reagan called Buck Clayman, FBI Director, and asked him to use every means necessary to bring in Christopher Bacon unharmed. It was a matter of national security.
"What does this mean for you?" Reagan asked. "Aren't you retiring next week?"
"I'm putting that off. He left us pretty high and dry with debts up to here."
The president walked Ross to the door. "Has this stuff been tried on people yet?"
"Not yet, but the effect on primates was incredible."
"Well," smiled the President, "I know a couple of higher primates who'd happily volunteer."
17
Every morning Quentin would drive his daughter to the Sunny Vale Day School about a half-mile out of Lincoln center. He would then proceed down Main Street which narrowed to a lovely tree-lined road that took him to Route 2 and Darby Pharms just off of the Lexington exit. This morning began no differently.
He had just dropped off Robyn when a school van closed on his rear, flashing its lights. In the mirror the driver waved him over. Quentin pulled into a clearing. Maybe Robyn had forgotten a book or something. Or maybe his rear tire was low.