Chapter 3 - The Trial Created in Naomi’s Name
Naomi read her own name three times.
The letters did not change.
Principal medical investigator: Dr. Naomi Wheeler.
Below the name appeared her medical license number, hospital credentials, and an electronic signature that looked convincing enough to survive a casual review.
“I never approved this,” she said.
Dr. Marlow took the tablet.
His eyes widened.
“This document came through our research office.”
“Our research office does not conduct pharmaceutical trials without ethics-board approval.”
“There is an approval number.”
“Check it.”
Dr. Marlow called the hospital’s overnight research administrator.
Two minutes later, the answer arrived.
The number belonged to a canceled nutrition study involving adult volunteers. Someone had copied it into the Westbridge file and changed the description.
Elijah stood beside Toby’s bed, his face gray.
“Six months ago,” he said. “That was when you accessed the Sherman family accounts.”
Naomi turned toward him.
“I never accessed your accounts.”
“The statements showed transfers to an account in your name.”
“Falsified statements.”
He closed his eyes.
Cassandra began crying.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
The performance had ended.
“I didn’t create the statements,” she whispered.
Elijah turned toward her.
“But you knew they were false.”
Cassandra stared at the floor.
“Malcolm said Naomi had found something inside Westbridge before the acquisition. He said if she stayed married to you, she would convince you to cancel the deal.”
Naomi remembered the charity luncheon she had attended seven months earlier. A Westbridge scientist had approached her privately and asked whether she knew Sherman Enterprises was purchasing a company that concealed adverse drug reactions.
Before Naomi could obtain the scientist’s name, Malcolm appeared and led the woman away.
Two days later, the scientist resigned.
A week after that, Richard—no, Elijah—received the falsified bank statements accusing Naomi of transferring money from the family foundation.
He had confronted her in front of reporters outside their home.
He had called her a gold digger.
And he had believed Cassandra when she claimed Naomi had always been interested only in the Sherman fortune.
“You helped destroy my marriage,” Elijah said.
Cassandra looked up at him.
“You wanted to believe her.”
The words struck because they were true.
Naomi had explained that the statements were false. She had asked him to contact the bank. She had begged him to wait for an independent audit.
Elijah had done none of those things.
His father had lost millions to a former business partner, and Elijah had spent his adult life fearing betrayal. Malcolm had understood that fear and given it a target.
“Why use my identity for the trial?” Naomi asked.
“Malcolm needed a licensed physician connected to both the hospital and Sherman Enterprises,” Cassandra said. “He said if anyone discovered the trial, the documents would make it look like you had been conducting it secretly for money.”
“How many children?”
“I don’t know.”
Naomi stepped closer.
“How many?”
Cassandra flinched.
“Toby was supposed to be the only one outside the monitored group.”
“There is a monitored group?”
Cassandra covered her mouth.
Elijah stared at her.
“You told me it was a vitamin.”
“The first bottle was. Malcolm replaced it.”
“You continued giving it after Toby complained of coughing?”
“He said mild symptoms were expected.”
“He is four years old!”
Cassandra’s tears increased.
“He said the compound could make us rich.”
Naomi looked at Dr. Marlow.
“Contact the state health department and federal regulators. Every child connected to that trial needs to be located tonight.”
Dr. Marlow hesitated.
Naomi’s patience ended.
“Do it, or I will call them myself and explain exactly why the hospital delayed.”
He left immediately.
Fiona entered with another result.
“Toby’s liver enzymes are rising.”
Naomi felt fear move through her, but she kept her voice even.
Varenol B was no longer causing only respiratory and cardiac symptoms. The compound or one of its metabolites was beginning to affect multiple organs.
They needed the company’s complete toxicology file.
“Elijah, call Westbridge.”
He dialed Malcolm.
The call went directly to voicemail.
He tried the research director, Dr. Adrian Bell.
No answer.
The third call reached a security supervisor at Westbridge headquarters.
“This is Elijah Sherman,” he said. “I need immediate access to the Varenol B toxicology archive and any emergency treatment protocol.”
The supervisor paused.
“Mr. Sherman, your access has been suspended.”
“By whom?”
“Acting executive authority.”
“I am the chief executive.”
“Not according to the resolution filed with the board tonight.”
Elijah opened his email.
A notice waited at the top of the screen.
An emergency board session had been called after reports of “executive instability and personal interference in protected research.” Until the board met at nine that morning, operational authority had been transferred to Malcolm Voss.
Elijah looked at the clock.
Five forty-seven.
Malcolm had anticipated the discovery.
He had used Toby’s poisoning to distract Elijah while moving against him inside the company.
“Can the board do this?” Naomi asked.
“If enough directors signed.”
“Would they?”
“Malcolm controls the information they receive.”
Naomi looked at Toby.
His breathing remained steady, but his skin had taken on a faint yellow tone beneath the hospital lights.
They did not have four hours.
“Where is the toxicology archive physically stored?” she asked.
“At Westbridge’s research facility outside St. Paul.”
“Is there an antidote?”
“I don’t know.”
Cassandra lifted her head.
“There is.”
Everyone turned toward her.
“I heard Malcolm talking about a reversal compound. They used it when one of the trial animals stopped breathing.”
“What is it called?” Naomi demanded.
“I don’t know. It was kept in a blue case.”
“Where?”
“The restricted laboratory.”
Elijah picked up his coat.
“I’m going there.”
Naomi blocked him.
“You cannot storm a pharmaceutical facility.”
“I own it.”
“Your access has been suspended.”
“My son may die before lawyers resolve this.”
A detective arrived to question Cassandra. Fiona moved closer to Naomi and lowered her voice.
“I can stay with Toby.”
Naomi shook her head.
She did not trust Dr. Marlow, the hospital’s corporate connections, or anyone Malcolm might influence.
“You stay inside this room,” she told Fiona. “No transfer, no new medication, and no visitor without confirming with me.”
“You’re going with Elijah?”
“I know what medical records we need.”
Elijah stared at her.
“You do not owe me this.”
“This is not for you.”
They left through a secured staff exit while detectives took Cassandra’s statement.
The Westbridge facility stood thirty minutes away behind high fencing and reflective glass. By the time Naomi and Elijah arrived, the rain had turned to freezing sleet.
Elijah’s badge failed at the main gate.
He called the security supervisor again.
No answer.
Naomi studied the building.
Only one floor showed lights.
“The laboratory?” she asked.
Elijah nodded.
A black sedan sat near the service entrance.
They approached on foot.
The service door had been left slightly open.
Inside, the corridor smelled of disinfectant and burned plastic.
“Elijah,” Naomi whispered, “someone is destroying something.”
They followed the smell to a laboratory lined with metal cabinets.
Documents burned inside a chemical-disposal container. Computer drives had been removed from several workstations.
A man in a lab coat stood beside a locked refrigeration unit.
Naomi recognized him from company photographs.
Dr. Adrian Bell.
He held a blue medical case.
“Give us the reversal compound,” she said.
Adrian looked frightened.
“I can’t.”
“Toby is experiencing liver injury.”
“I know.”
“Then help him.”
Adrian looked toward Elijah.
“Malcolm has my family’s passports. He has records that can destroy all of us.”
Elijah moved closer.
“My son is four.”
“So were two children in the early trial.”
The room became still.
Naomi’s voice dropped.
“What happened to them?”
Adrian’s eyes filled with tears.
“One recovered.”
“And the other?”
He did not answer.
Elijah reached for the blue case.
Adrian pulled it away.
“You don’t understand. The reversal compound can stop the toxicity, but it also proves Varenol B caused the reaction. If Toby survives because of this, the entire trial is exposed.”
“That is exactly what needs to happen,” Naomi said.
Footsteps sounded in the corridor.
Adrian’s face collapsed.
“He found you.”
The laboratory doors opened.
Malcolm Voss entered with three corporate security officers.
He looked at Naomi, then at Elijah.
May you like
“I was hoping,” Malcolm said calmly, “that the child would die before either of you understood what was happening.”
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