Pam sat next to Jake on the tufted Victorian couch in front of her fireplace. It was snowing out, a good morning for a fire. But neither of them felt like building one. Instead, they were focused on the newspapers spread out on the marble coffee table in front of them, along with cold cups of coffee and a plate of uneaten toast.

Jake picked up the Globe. “This story’s disgusting. Was it planted by DeSilva?”

Pam leaned her head back on the couch. Her eyes were blurry, no sleep and too many tears. She felt lost, cut adrift from the only life she’d known.

At least Jake was here.

“Must have been,” she said. “It’s written to make him and the Langmere look good for having turned on me.”

Jake sighed. “Complete with purple prose. Look at this crap. ‘The Langmere Institute deserves credit for their prompt investigation to expose a devious and misguided rogue scientist.’ How the hell can they print garbage like this?”

He flung the paper on the floor.

“Dumping on me and making it look like he was on top of things is DeSilva’s best shot to come out of this looking good. They’ve decided I’m trash, so that’s all they care about.”

“So he’s totally turned on you?”

“Oh, he made that quite clear,” Pam said. No ambiguity there.

Jake sighed and took her hand. “I’m so sorry this is happening, Pam.”

“I know, thanks for being here.” She tried a smile. Without success. “Fraud and suicide, what could be more perfect for the newspapers. I already got an email from Nature saying they’d be publishing a retraction of my paper, together with an editorial on the case. DeSilva probably got to them even before he told me.”

“What’re you going to do? Is there an appeals process you can use to fight this?”

“The Langmere considers it finished, so I’m going to have to prove my innocence to make them listen. The note Holly left was an attempt to frame me, and I’ve somehow got to establish that. But I think the first thing I need is a good lawyer.”

“Are you thinking of suing them?”

“Maybe, I don’t know. I need to see if that’s a possibility. And I need someone to push them into giving me a full copy of their investigation report. I have to find out what Holly said and what other kind of evidence they think they have. But I’m also worried about criminal prosecution. DeSilva said they were going to contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

Jake frowned. “Criminal prosecution? Does that happen in cases of scientific fraud?”

“Very rarely, usually the penalty is just destruction of someone’s career.”

Just. Her eyes filled with tears again. Everything I’ve always worked for, gone. And they still want more blood.

Jake held her for a minute. “I’m sorry, I know this is awful. But you’re innocent. There has to be a way to fix it.”

She squeezed his arm and took a deep breath. “There have been criminal prosecutions in a few high profile cases, so it could happen. Especially if DeSilva uses his political connections to push for it.”

“Crap,” Jake said. “Well, I can at least help you get a good lawyer. There’s someone I’ve worked with on a number of serious cases, including two murders. She’s first rate, used to be a criminal prosecutor before she went into private practice. Do you want me to give her a call?”