Page 49 of Wild Fever

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“Evelyn was diagnosed with terminal cancer,” Vanessa said. “Stage IV. It had metastasized. Doctors said there was nothing more they could do for her.”

“Evelyn was your stepmother?” By the way she spoke of her, it was obvious.

Vanessa nodded. “We tried everything, and no expense was spared. There were several promising drugs in the pipeline. We tried to get her into one of the clinical trials, but we couldn't. Even with my dad pulling strings. And he was good at pulling strings. We met Dr. Cameron, and his treatment seemed like a viable option. It would buy Evelyn some time. That's what we needed. In two or three years, who knows? It was a chance. It gave us hope. Maybe we were all in denial," she said, still in a daze.

"What about your father?” I asked.

She took another deep breath, then exhaled. “My father loved Evelyn. You have to understand that. He couldn't bear the thought of life without her. Every time there was a hiccup withthe experimental drug or the clinical trials got delayed, he’d lose hope. He felt like he was wasting time. He didn't want to grow old without Evelyn. He thought he could enter stasis, then they could pick up their lives together without losing time with each other. Does that make sense?” she said, squinting at me.

I nodded.

"I mean, can you imagine growing old while the love of your life stays the same age? And when there's finally a cure, maybe 20 years have gone by and you’re 20 years older and you've lost all that time together?”

"Are you telling me your father didn't have a terminal condition?”

Her mouth tightened, and her plump lips went thin. "I'm not sure how much I should say. Obviously, what I say to you is not in confidence.”

"I'm just trying to get a full picture of the situation.”

Her brow knitted with confusion. "What situation? You said there was a malfunction." Her eyes narrowed at me. "Are you saying there was something else going on? Is this an active investigation?”

"We don't know why the equipment malfunctioned," I said. "It could have been a mechanical failure, a software glitch, human error, or sabotage.”

That hung there for a moment.

"Who would sabotage my parents’ cryo-pods?"

"That's what we’re here to find out.”

Vanessa considered it for a moment, thoughts racing behind her eyes. "How would somebody sabotage a cryo-pod?”

"The network could have been hacked. Someone could have manually tampered with the equipment," I said. "We're mounting a full investigation."

Vanessa's mind worked overtime, processing everything. I'm sure she was running through a list of potential suspects.

"Not to be indelicate, but where were you last night between midnight and 2:00 AM?”

"I was here, asleep."

"Can anyone verify that?

She shook her head. "No. I live alone.”

"How would you characterize your relationship with your parents?"

Her brow wrinkled with annoyance. "I loved my parents very much. Evelyn and I had a great relationship. If you're considering me a suspect, you're barking up the wrong tree. It's not me you need to be looking into.”

I shared a look with JD.

"Who should we be looking at?" I asked.

"You said the network could have been hacked, right?"

"Our forensic analysts are looking into it now."

Her face tightened, and she shook her head. "That son-of-a-bitch."