“Tonight, I came here primarily to check on Leonard Everly. Vincent mentions him in his notes.”
Maxine sat speechless for a moment, then untangled her legs, jumped up and held out her hand. “Let’s see those keys.”
Diane tossed her the cabinet keys. Maxine retrieved Everly’s file, sat down—almost thigh to thigh with Diane—and opened it.
Other than Everly’s address, phone number and social security number, the file wasn’t very informative. Maxine filled in some of the blanks: Dr. Leonard Everly had worked at BRI as a researcher and retired several years ago. But he continued to keep up with the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and served as a consultant to Raymond Bellfort.
Maxine had never met him. But Doreen in bookkeeping had been at BRI almost from the beginning and she knew him. As a matter of fact, Doreen had gone to his ranch down the Texas coast to get a puppy last year; Leonard Everly bred Rhodesian Ridgebacks.
Raymond Bellfort had been upset when he learned that she had gone down there. He said that Everly preferred to be left alone. Doreen concurred that even when he worked at BRI Dr. Everly had kept to himself. Maxine promised Diane that she’d get more information from the bookkeeper.
Diane thanked her profusely for her help, then said, “Now, what can I do for you?”
Maxine scrambled to her knees and sat back on her haunches. She reached over and took Diane’s hand.
It had been a while since Diane experienced intimate human contact; her initial instinct was to draw back. But Maxine’s distress was palpable. Diane stayed put.
“I’d like to have the chimps sent back if you don’t need them. Or at least put a twenty-four hour guard on them. I’ve pleaded with Raymond, but he doesn’t think they’re in danger now.
Diane patted Maxine’s hand. “I’ll make sure they’re safe,” she said firmly.
“Yes!” Maxine shouted, fist in the air. “I knew we’d become friends after Vincent told me and David about how you rescued the research puppy from the lab when you were a graduate student.”
Diane’s voice went weak. “He told you about that?”
Maxine smiled and nodded. “He was proud of you for it.”
Diane blinked back her memories, then said: “Do you like David?”
“What’s not to like? Handsome. Funny. Animal advocate.”
Diane forced a smile and nodded.
Maxine extended her little finger toward Diane. “A pledge to our partnership.”
Without hesitation, Diane raised her little finger. “To our partnership.”
They locked pinkies
μ CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT μ
It was a beautiful day for a road trip. Diane felt her tensions lifting as she drove down Texas Route 35 past coastal bays and sleepy hamlets. Between towns, rows of corn and millet fanned by, reaching toward a vanishing point on the distant horizon. She had never been on a ranch before and was looking forward to the visit.
On the telephone, Leonard Everly had sounded like a kindly gentleman, insisting that she call him by his first name. She had told him she found his Ridgeback website and she gave him her maiden name. Many professionals went by their maiden names, so she felt it wouldn’t be a problem if she decided to level with him about her identity. But that wasn’t going to happen unless he gave off extremely positive vibes. Maybe she should have brought Maxine’s psychic along.
For Maxine’s part in the intrigue, she had remained true to her crossed pinky pledge and invited Doreen from bookkeeping to lunch where she inquired about Doreen’s Ridgeback, then shamelessly picked her brains regarding Leonard Everly.
Doreen reported that, other than a tantrum she once witnessed (from outside Bellfort’s office door), Dr. Everly was a very nice man who was a dog breeder, a gentleman rancher and a semi-retired scientist. For his consulting services, BRI paid him a monthly stipend of ten thousand dollars. And yes, Doreen thought he might sometimes do some marketing for BRI. Why did Doreen think that? Because she had reimbursed him for airfare. To where? Moscow, Taipei, Seville, and frequent trips to Düsseldorf came to mind.
Diane didn’t know what more she expected to discover from Everly. But she felt it was worth a leisurely drive down the coast to try and ferret out any connection between Peruvase, Leonard Everly’s name in Vincent’s notes, and Everly’s continued involvement with BRI.
Everly had been to Taipei. Could Bellfort have been telling the truth about Peruvase being sold to a company in Taiwan? Maybe Tung Chen’s spies overlooked it.
If Everly was indeed the catalyst for any of BRI’s intellectual property sales, his 10K per month income was laughable. Despite the fact that Peruvase was sold prematurely, she and Vincent had become what she considered wealthy, even after the university and BRI took their percentages. It seemed Raymond Bellfort was exploiting poor Leonard.
Following Everly’s directions, Diane drove through the town of Blessing, little more than a church and a convenience store with a gas station. She had seen people live with a lot less, but in the jungle villages they didn’t have to shop for boots or tractor tires and they never had the urge for pralines n’ cream or a Big Mac.
Diane followed the railroad tracks on her right for several miles until she came to the crossing marked with day-glo orange antlers—the rancher’s answer to pink lawn flamingos, she guessed. There were no warning lights at the crossing; she stopped, looked and listened. The tracks were clear to eternity in both directions.
She bumped across them onto a gravel road on the other side. Ahead stood thick wooden crosspieces branded with the name “Dr. Leo’s Serengeti Ranch.” She was in the right place.
The Suburban no sooner thrummed across the metal cattle guard when Diane spotted the “possible obstacles” Dr. Everly had mentioned.
A herd of black cattle had gathered for a tête-à-tête on the road ahead. “Don’t drive off-road to get around them,” Everly had warned. “There are rocks and ditches that’ll mess up your tires and your shocks. Just slow to a crawl. They’ll move out of your way,” he assured her.
Grateful for bringing Vincent’s SUV, Diane slowly approached the herd. And sure enough, the black sea parted as the animals ambled to both sides of the road to let her pass. They had been through this drill before.
She inched along while curious black noses smudged the powdering of dust along the SUV’s sides. Looking down into the pool of large brown eyes, she felt the sudden urge to become a vegetarian.
Once past the herd, Diane stepped down on the accelerator. Stones pelted the SUV’s chassis as she headed for the buildings on the horizon. The road plowed through wide-open land scattered with scrub grass and mesquite bushes and lots of oil pumps. In ten minutes she approached a white-pillared mansion that presided over an oasis of green grass and enormous shade trees. The Ponderosa it was not.
Diane left the Suburban parked beside a golf cart and walked around the circular drive toward the house. She took a gulp of still, hot air. She was committed.
A tall, slender man wearing sharply creased jeans, light denim shirt and a white cowboy hat stepped sideways down the front porch stairs. Diane felt like a greenhorn in her flowered blouse, black slacks and espadrilles.
They met halfway up the drive. “Hello. You must be Diane McKee. I’m Leonard Everly.”
She knew he was in his mid sixties, but he wore his years lightly. He had the dignified manner befitting a scientist turned gentleman rancher.
Leonard’s smile seemed genuine enough. It extended all the way up to the tan creases beside his reflective sunglasses. But Diane hated it when she couldn’t see a person’s eyes. Maybe that was the cause of her urge to draw back when he offered his bear paw of a hand.