Once again, Natalie found Aaron staring at his situation board. "What are you thinking? Are you putting the pieces to this puzzle together?" she asked as she entered his lab.
He had added pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Randall and Mrs. Genouski to the board below the Remedcon directors. Below those, he had written the name Shelly Jollenta. "We know that Taylor had paid the trial subjects to keep their mouths shut. We know of at least two people who died from the vaccine. Joanne told us that at least ten additional people died," he said, as he went to the board.
Under Shelly's name, he wrote Victims. Below the word victims, he wrote 12 men - no women.
"Shelly says she has more than just hearsay evidence against Taylor," he said as his eyes stayed on the board. "My first thoughts were that one of the husbands might be responsible for the bombings, but we now know that all the subjects that died were men, so at this point that rules out husbands." He leaned back against his worktable waiting for inspiration.
"Are we meeting Shaun before we get to Shelly's house or will he meet us there?" asked Natalie.
"Shaun and two agents will meet us there. He called earlier and said he wanted you and me to talk with her first. If we felt she had real evidence we are to bring him into the conversation."
"He still feels she will open up if he is not in the room?"
"Yeah, he does. Frankly, I think the opposite. If she has real evidence, I'd have thought she would want to speak to Shaun or one of his men, but he feels strongly so we'll do it his way."
Shelly's house was easy to find. She lived in a modest community of attached and semi-attached row houses. "My parents called these cookie cutter homes," said Aaron as they navigated the streets. "One house looks just like the rest. If not for the individual personalization, there would be no difference in any of these houses."
Shaun and two agents sat in a car four houses down from Shelly's. Aaron acknowledged him and then joined Natalie on the front walk. Shelly must have been waiting at the door. She opened it almost as soon as Aaron pressed the doorbell.
She invited them into her living room, asking if they wanted something to drink. Aaron agreed to her offer of coffee for two reasons. He actually wanted some and he read that people felt better if their offer for a drink was accepted.
The house was modest, but inviting. The main living space was an open room with kitchen, dining, and living areas. The walls were painted a smooth cream color that accentuated the furnishings and art hanging from the walls. Several children's toys were scattered around the room. The home looked comfortable and lived in.
Shelley set the coffee, creamer, and a plate of delicious looking pastries on the kitchen island. "Shall we sit here and talk?" she asked. They took seats at the island and enjoyed the coffee she prepared.
"Thank you for talking with us today. We know you are putting yourself in harm's way by giving us information about the trials," said Aaron. "You said you have more than hearsay evidence. Can you elaborate, Shelley?"
"What do you know about the trials?" she asked.
Aaron and Natalie gave her a brief summary of what they had learned to date without identifying names. "What can you add?" asked Natalie.
"I can add a lot," said Shelly. "Taylor and his people wanted the vaccine to work so they could corner a market with no visible competition, as no other nasal spray vaccines were available at that time. If it worked, they planned to patent the delivery system. They thought they had it made. But things went downhill very quickly," she said.
"How did it all go downhill?" asked Aaron while enjoying his second cup for the day.
"The usual method for testing something like this is to start the process on animals. You use a non-lethal serum and look at blood samples to see if the delivery system worked as planned. If it did, you moved it up a notch with something more involved."
"How did those tests work out?" asked Natalie.
"As I said the normal thing is to ramp up the serums used in the trials. If the animal testing worked without issue on each test, you upped it again. Normally this type of testing takes about two or three years before you put it into human trials."
"I gather that didn't happen," said Aaron. "Taylor wanted it faster, didn't he?"
"Yes. After the second set of animal trials, he decided to move directly to humans. We fought him but lost. He said everything looked too good to waste time with further animal testing." Shelly stopped talking for a few minutes as she looked at the liquid in her cup.
In a soft yet strong voice, Aaron asked, "What happened next?"
"The researchers were told if they didn't like what was happening they could leave. Taylor made it clear that the trials would continue with or without us," said Shelly as she looked at both Aaron and Natalie. "I had received a job offer at that time, but was considering turning it down. When Taylor gave us the ultimatum, I accepted and resigned my position."
"What did Taylor do when you resigned?" asked Natalie.
"He was furious and threatened to prevent me from ever working in the industry again. He said I had a non-compete agreement that he would enforce. I was frightened. This is the only field of work I've done since university. My brother works for a rather prestigious solicitor, so I called him for advice. He looked at the document and said Taylor could indeed enforce it. He said he would send a letter on my behalf and see what Taylor would do."
"Did he send the letter?" asked Aaron.
"Yes he did. Taylor forwarded it to his legal team. They responded with one of theirs saying they would make sure that I never worked in the industry again if I left at that time. I had to leave. I couldn't stay there while Taylor moved the testing to humans. I felt it was too dangerous and was proven correct. So I took my chances and went to work at the other company."
"Did you tell them of the impending threat?" asked Natalie.
"Yes I did. My brother sent them a letter with all the details including Taylor's reply to his initial letter. They felt the threat was a scare tactic and said nothing would come of it. They continued the hiring process and I've worked there ever since."
"Did Taylor try to enforce the agreement after you started working at the other firm?" asked Natalie.
"Once. His legal people sent a letter saying I was in violation of the agreement, which made the company I then worked for equal in liability. With my brother's help, their lawyers sent an extremely strongly worded reply. In essence, they said if Taylor wanted to pursue the legal claim it would go public and cause Remedcon considerable damages. Nothing happened after that."
"So you were not compensated for working on the project like the others were," said Aaron. "Did they ever approach you with an additional nondisclosure agreement or money?"
"After the trials failed, they shut down the project and let everyone go. To receive their severance checks Taylor made researchers sign the nondisclosure agreement. I understand the severance was extremely large. They were buying silence. I was just glad to be out of the company. I could have used the money but had no desire to watch Taylor kill innocent people."
"You said you had more than hearsay evidence Shelly. Do you have any solid evidence to support what you just told us?" asked Aaron.
"One of the researchers was terrified that she would be accused of murdering those people so she gave me copies of all the internal memos on the trials. They include letters to the government regarding the tests, memos to the staff about the initial failure, angry memos stating that each researcher would share in the blame if they didn't find a solution, and more. I even have copies of legal documents they made everyone sign after the project was shut down."
"Would your friend be willing to testify if this went to court?" asked Natalie.
"No! She took the severance money and found another job at a competing company, which since then has perfected the delivery system that Taylor was so intent on owning." Shelly left the room for several minutes. When she returned, she had a box filled with documents. "These are copies of everything I have. You said if I produced real evidence you could make arrangements to protect my children and me."
Aaron excused himself, walked outside and met Shaun near his car. After hearing about the conversation and the box of documents, he agreed to meet with Shelly. As requested, Shelly and her two children received protection.
"It looks like Taylor has some explaining to do," said Natalie as they returned to Andrews after meeting with Shelly. "Did you see the look on Shaun's face as he reviewed some of those documents? If looks alone could kill, Taylor would be dead and buried by now."
"This is powerful information, but doesn't bring us closer to solving our mystery," said Aaron as he looked at the darkening sky.
When they arrived at Andrews, Aaron was given a telephone message. It was from Ian Fachan requesting a meeting. He showed it to Natalie and said, "I wonder if he is also turning against Taylor."