Doubt (Caroline Auden Book 1) by C. E. Tobisman Read Free Book Online

Louis’s excitement about finding the article had saved what would’ve been a disappointing performance. Failing to find it now might be worse than never mentioning it. In Louis’s mind, she’d become that morally ambiguous associate who’d duped Dr. Feinberg. She needed results to obliterate the memory of her transgressions.
    She needed Dr. Wong.
    Caroline pivoted toward her laptop. She ran a search for a “Dr. Wong” on the faculty of UC Berkeley’s biochemistry department.
    There was only one: Dr. Chao Wong, professor of the Graduate School Division of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology. Specialization: macromolecular complexes.
    Caroline dialed Dr. Wong’s office number.
    “This is Dr. Wong,” a man’s voice answered in heavily accented English.
    “My name’s Caroline Auden. I’m a lawyer working on an important case that involves your daughter’s research. I was hoping you had a phone number where I could reach her,” Caroline began.
    Now there was only silence on the other end. Strange.
    Caroline checked to make sure the connection hadn’t been dropped. It hadn’t.
    She cleared her throat and tried again. “Your daughter’s lab said she took a leave for a family emergency—”
    “I do not know any of this,” Dr. Wong’s voice said in Caroline’s ear.
    Caroline chilled at his dismissive tone.
    “I do not talk to my daughter in three years,” the elder Dr. Wong clarified, “so I cannot help you with this. I have to go.”
    Without waiting for a response, he hung up, leaving Caroline holding a phone full of dead air.
    Caroline looked at the receiver, dumbfounded. If the editor of the Fielding Journal was correct, Anne Wong was a superstar scientist who’d done her father proud. So then, what could have driven such a wedge between father and daughter that they hadn’t spoken in years?
    Caroline turned back to her laptop and ran a search for “Heller Laboratory Dr. Anne Wong.”
    The search retrieved nothing illuminating the strained relationship between the older and younger Dr. Wongs. Instead, Caroline discovered hundreds of sites describing Anne Wong’s research achievements. What she found was impressive. Dr. Wong’s innovative methods had led to breakthroughs in cancer research when she’d been a mere research fellow. Most recently, she’d studied the therapeutic effects of cannabinoids on epilepsy.
    Caroline considered the information. Science proving that marijuana could treat illness was an area struggling for legitimacy. Perhaps that was why Dr. Wong’s dad had stopped talking to his daughter? It seemed an unduly harsh response to an unorthodox choice of research topics.
    Caroline shook her head. Her own relationship with her father wasn’t exactly close. Perhaps Dr. Wong’s father had left his emotionally unstable wife and moved across the country, leaving his daughter to cope with the smoldering wreckage. That could do it. Caroline knew firsthand.
    Pushing her own family history from her mind, Caroline skimmed websites, hunting for some hint about Dr. Wong’s family emergency. Her travel plans. The names of her family members. Her friends. Anything suggesting a destination for the missing scientist.
    At the bottom of the page, something caught Caroline’s eye.
    Dr. Wong had been scheduled to present her cannabinoids research at the Hughes Medical Symposium a month earlier, but she’d pulled out. The symposium’s organizers had posted a revised schedule of presenters online and an asterisked notice that in lieu of Dr. Wong there would be a breakout session to discuss current advances in ADHD research.
    Caroline cocked her head at the screen.
    The Hughes Medical Symposium was one of the most prestigious venues for research scientists. Dr. Wong had missed a chance to bring credibility to her research on cannabinoids. For someone who had devoted her life to research, missing that symposium was a big sacrifice. Whatever had happened to Dr. Wong,