Chapter
Twenty

Kate, sorry to interrupt, but you need to look at this.” Beth stood at Kate’s door, holding some papers clutched tightly to her chest.

“What is it?” Kate was immediately concerned, because Beth was always calm and cool.

“I was opening your mail, but this package was strange. No return address, which made me think it might be junk mail. But I started reading the documents that were enclosed, and I think this is related to your case.”

“Let me take a look.”

Beth handed her the papers, and Kate started reading. Her heartbeat sped up with each additional word that she read. “Beth, do you still have the envelope it came in?”

“Yes. Let me get it.”

These were emails she’d never seen before, but they were what any lawyer who was familiar with this case would call smoking guns. Emails between Ellie Proctor and Pierce Worthington, talking about Celix and Acreda.

Beth brought her a nondescript legal-sized envelope. Kate’s name and address had been typed out and printed on paper that was then taped onto the envelope. No return address.

“And were these emails the only thing in there?”

“Yes,” Beth said. “I can tell by the look on your face that I was right. This is a big deal, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Beth. A huge deal.”

“All right. I’m sure you need some time to figure out what you’re going to do. I’ll leave you alone, but let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks. First, please take these and make some copies, then put them electronically into our system and send them to me via email.” She wasn’t taking any chances on these documents mysteriously disappearing. She’d store copies in as many places as she could think of.

“I already made copies, so you can keep those. I’ll do the electronic filing right away.”

“Thank you for recognizing the importance of this and bringing it to me.”

Beth shut the door, leaving Kate alone with her thoughts. She looked down and focused on the words Ellie used in her email. “You know the powers that be want to move forward on Celix ASAP and these test results may give them the ammunition to do so.”

She thought about what Ellie had told her when they’d met. Maybe Kate had been going about this all wrong, and it was never about Acreda’s side effects.

Could it be that MPC knew Celix caused brain tumors but pushed the drug to market because they had a cure? Acreda was shown as highly effective at treating all types of tumors—and that might even include brain tumors. The pieces were starting to fall together. There were still some holes, but these emails were crucial.

She’d assumed that Acreda had harmful side effects too and hadn’t considered this type of connection between the two drugs. Would MPC have done something this heinous? Knowingly putting a drug on the market because they would at some later date have another drug that could be used to treat the side effects?

How in the world was she going to show that these emails were legitimate? She’d have to argue before the judge that MPC had wrongfully withheld evidence. Just like she’d argued the last time when she’d put forward her motion to compel.

A tiny piece of her worried that these documents could be fabricated. That this could be a setup. But who would do that? No, it made much more sense that someone on the inside at either MPC or Peters & Gomez had sent her these documents. The question was who.

Her mind immediately went to Ethan. They had a strong friendship built over years, but she had a hard time believing that he would breach his client’s trust and send documents outside the normal channels. It was much more believable that he had held these documents back. Either because he wanted to or because he didn’t have much choice, given MPC’s direction. She’d witnessed firsthand the type of man that Royce Hamilton was. There was ice running through his veins, and she was convinced he’d already ordered a hit on one of his own employees. Maybe Ethan felt threatened.

Regardless, she had to talk to him about this and then go to the judge. But first, she wanted to call Landon. He was going to be floored at this news.

She dialed and waited for him to pick up.

“Is everything okay?” he asked instead of saying hello.

“Yes. Sorry, didn’t mean to worry you.”

“I’m just not used to you calling during your workday. What’s up?”

She filled him in on the special delivery she’d received. “I think that even though Celix caused tumors, MPC believed Acreda would be the solution to the problem. That’s why Ellie wanted me to look at other drugs and get all the testing records. She just never got the chance to explain it to me.”

“You think MPC’s plan was to use one drug to cure the dangerous side effect of the other? That’s tantamount to making people sick to cure them for a profit.”

Yes, that was exactly what it was. “And both drugs are still patent protected with no generics for years, so MPC stands to make a hefty profit—leveraging one drug against the other and profiting from them both.”

“This revelation explodes the whole case. How many documents are we talking here?” he asked.

“Just five. But one of them is really the smoking gun.”

“Who in the world would’ve sent them to you?”

“That was my first question too, and I don’t have a great answer. But now I have to tell Ethan about this and hear what I’m sure will be a farfetched explanation for why these haven’t been turned over in the discovery process. Then I’ll have to go to the judge. Explain what happened and try to get these ruled as admissible.”

“Shouldn’t the other side have to face some consequence for not giving them to you?”

“Depending on Ethan’s explanation, it would be proper for me to file a spoliation motion and even go for sanctions. There are even further implications for trial that would take some time to explain, but this is a game changer.”

“That sounds serious.”

“It is. Sanctions are a big deal, and they can be levied directly against the law firm.”

“Just give me a second to think about all of this. The fact that you have these documents in your possession also increases the risks that you face. MPC may lash out if it feels like it’s being backed into a corner.”

“The security plan you put in place has been working.”

“Yeah, but this is a major escalation on the legal side.” He paused. “I hate to do this, but I do have one piece of news.”

“Bad news?”

“After a lot of investigating, Cooper was able to track down Pierce leaving the country and entering Mexico. We have no idea where he went from there, but needless to say, he’s long gone.”

She hung her head. “I was hoping he’d turn up. I wanted to put him on the witness stand.”

“Well, unfortunately, that doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen.”

“They killed off and ran off the two people with the most intimate knowledge about Celix and Acreda—and the worst thing is that I can’t prove any of that.”

“One thing I’ve learned over the years is that there’s always another way.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep you posted.”

She ended the call and immediately called Ethan. It was time for him to face the music.

Ethan knew something was off when Kate practically summoned him to her office. There was no lightness to her voice, none of her usual kindness. Just stern words that held the promise of something he wouldn’t like.

He could imagine Kate had many gripes to confront him about. He’d just have to bite the bullet and see what she wanted.

Once he arrived at her office, however, his anxiety started to rise as Beth, who was normally polite and charming, gave him the cold shoulder. Not a single nicety as she led him to Kate’s office.

He walked in, and Beth shut the door behind her.

“What’s going on, Kate?” He looked at her as she stared him down. This was even worse than he had predicted.

“You should have a seat.”

He did as she directed and waited for her to make the next move.

“I got something in the mail today that I want you to look at.”

“Sure,” he said.

As she slid the pieces of paper in front of him, he saw some of the names on the document, and his stomach sank.

“Why don’t you take a minute and read,” Kate suggested.

That was exactly what he did. Except one minute quickly turned into ten as he read and reread each document in front of him. Five different email strings, but they were all highly damaging. He wasn’t rereading them for content, but to buy himself time. These were the emails Nicole had just found. Had she betrayed him and given these documents to Kate?

But that wasn’t even his biggest problem. Right now, he needed an explanation for Kate’s accusatory gaze.

“Do those look familiar to you? I assume they do, Ethan.” Her cheeks turned crimson.

He couldn’t admit to anything. At least not yet. Not while there was so much uncertainty surrounding this situation. “No, I’ve never seen these. That’s why it’s taking me so long to read them. I’m confused.”

She sighed loudly. “Ethan, do you really think so little of me? C’mon.”

This was the most visibly upset he’d ever seen Kate. What bothered him most wasn’t that she was angry—it was that she was disappointed in him. “I don’t think little of you, Kate. Just the opposite, and you know it.” He looked her directly in the eyes, getting ready to test out his acting skills. “I have absolutely no idea where these emails came from, and I’ve never seen them before.”

“I gave you a chance to come clean, but I hope you understand that you haven’t given me any other option. I’ve got to take this to the judge.”

“The judge? Don’t you think that’s a bit premature? You don’t even know if these are authentic emails.”

“Well, we’re going to find out pretty quickly. I want you to be on notice that I will be filing a spoliation motion along with a motion for sanctions.”

“You don’t have to do that, Kate. We can work this out.” This was going off the rails quickly. “Please give me some time to look into this. Just forty-eight hours. As a matter of professional courtesy, and as your friend, I’m asking you that.”

“Okay, you have forty-eight hours. Then I’m going to the judge.”

“What if I can prove the emails are fake?” He had no idea how he’d make that happen, since he knew they were in fact real, but he had to try something.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, but based on everything I know and have seen, I believe they’re one hundred percent legitimate.”

She’d opened a door, and he wanted to test the waters. “You said based on everything you know. What exactly are you talking about?”

She cocked her head to the side. “I believe there is a link between the two drugs that MPC doesn’t want us to find out about. These emails bolster that fact.”

He was operating in the dark, but for the time being, he had to throw her off the trail. “You’re way off base, Kate. You’re talking crazy talk.”

“Am I? I think I’m actually far too close to the truth, and it’s making you uncomfortable.”

Kate was like a dog that had clamped down on its favorite stuffed animal and refused to let go. He wondered if there was any use in continuing this charade. Maybe he just needed to go. “I’m not uncomfortable, but you’ve given me a lot of information that I need to run down, including the authenticity of these documents. If there’s nothing else, I’m going to leave.”

“Forty-eight hours, Ethan. I mean it.”

He nodded and stood up, eager to get the heck out of there.

By the time he walked out of the building, he was trying to hold himself back from a full-fledged panic attack. He had to force himself to focus on his breathing—in and out.

He needed to go back to his office. He wanted to talk to Nicole ASAP. This could tank his entire case, and the threat of sanctions was looming. Kate had already set this thing up so well by arguing in her initial motion to compel that they were holding back documents. Judge Freeman was going to lose his mind over this, and rightfully so. He only hoped it wasn’t the end of his career—or worse.