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

Caroline’s turn to be silent.
    “Everyone has a first day,” Joanne said. “Even superheroes.”
    “You mean wannabe superheroes.”
    “That’s all anyone is,” Joanne said softly. “No one expects you to have all the answers. Not yet, anyway,” she added with a smile that Caroline could hear on the line.
    “Thanks, Mom,” Caroline said, and she meant it. Even when her mother had grappled with her own sometimes formidable demons, she’d supported her daughter. As much as she could, anyway, with brain chemistry that made stability an occasionally visited province, seen only fleetingly on Joanne’s swing from emotional pole to emotional pole. Meds had helped. Fortunately.
    The thumping in Caroline’s chest began to slow to a tolerable cadence.
    Soon, rational thought reasserted itself. She still had many avenues to research before she wrote her professional obituary. It wasn’t time to panic. Not yet, anyway.
    “I promise I’ll take care of Uncle Hitch while you’re gone,” Caroline said to her mother. “But right now I’ve got to get back to work.”
    Hanging up, Caroline took a long, slow breath.
    Then she turned back to her laptop. Someone in the dead scientist’s life had seen that article. She just needed to figure out who that person was.
    Caroline ran another search, this time for “Dr. Franklin Heller.”
    Hundreds of search results spilled onto her screen, blaring headlines:
     
    Scientist Found Dead on Beach
     
    Jogger Falls from Popular Running Path
     
    Tribute to Dr. Heller, Scientist, Doctor, Visionary
     
    Other headlines described the dedicated scientist’s stunning achievements on a shoestring budget and speculated about what would happen to his lab now that he was dead.
    Caroline opened the first obituary.
    Dr. Heller had been running alone on August 21 when he’d fallen from a scenic overlook in Malibu and broken his neck. Friends and family expressed shock and dismay that someone so worthy could die so ignominious a death. He’d been survived by his wife, Yvonne Heller, who requested that all donations in her husband’s memory be made to Children’s Hospital.
    Caroline checked the scientist’s age. Fifty-four. He’d been younger than she’d imagined.
    For some reason, she’d envisioned an old guy standing on the cliffs admiring the view. She hadn’t considered that he might be a fit middle-aged man out for a run. That he’d been about the same age as her own father made Dr. Heller’s death feel . . . personal.
    A tap at her office door startled Caroline from her research reverie.
    She found Silvia standing in her doorway, holding a thick file in her arms. The assistant’s red hair stood out in jagged angles, as though she’d just jogged down the hall.
    “Louis asked me to give you this.” Silvia handed the file to Caroline. “There’s a status conference tomorrow. He’d planned to attend, but he’s got a scheduling conflict, so he wants you to cover it for him.”
    Caroline’s mind reeled, trying to catch up.
    “He said you did a competent job evaluating the science,” Silvia said, mimicking Louis’s eastern accent in a way that let Caroline know that the words were his. “He’s quite confident you can handle this hearing for him. He asked me to apologize for the short notice, but today’s been a total clusterfuck. My words, not his.” Silvia smiled and used one fire truck–red fingernail to push an errant strand of her hair behind her ear.
    “What happened?” Caroline asked.
    “Greg Portos let Alexei Harod sneak out of a deposition yesterday,” Silvia said.
    Caroline recalled hearing something about Greg. Something bad.
    “Who’s that?” Caroline asked with morbid fascination.
    “Harod is the president of Telemetry Systems,” Silvia said. “Greg saw him duck out of a bathroom during a break, but he didn’t realize what was happening. By the time he told Louis about it, Harod was gone.”
    “Wow. Louis must be furious.”
    “He hasn’t