Chapter 10 - The Voice From Arizona
Paul called the number on the Arizona company's incorporation filing. It rang twice and connected to a receptionist who said the company had dissolved. She refused to discuss former clients. Leah obtained records through lawful process while Paul combed old emails for any reference Richard had made to Arizona.
He found a draft message addressed to Paul but never sent. Richard had written about a warehouse, a delivery company, and an employee who asked him to destroy samples before an inspection. He had refused. The final line read: If I'm missing, find Dr. Naomi Park.
Naomi Park had worked at Bellwether's sister clinic in Phoenix. Now she ran a pediatric practice in a small town outside Flagstaff. Leah reached her with a verified official number.
Naomi explained that a doctor who objected to a study could be called uncooperative, difficult, even unstable. Richard had kept asking simple questions: Who approved the medication? Where were the parents' consent forms? Why did the same names vanish from one database and appear in another? Nobody could answer without changing the subject. That was when Naomi knew they had to leave.
At first Naomi denied knowing Richard. Then Leah described the three little stars scratched beneath Room 214's bench.
Naomi went quiet. “There were three children in that series. We were promised it was a nutrition observation project. When we discovered what was really in the dosing schedule, we stopped it.”
“Did Richard leave Bellwether alive?” Leah asked.
“Yes. I drove him to the airport the night after the accident they say killed him.”
Paul gripped his phone so hard his wrist hurt. “Where did he go?”
“I don't know. He said someone had copied his identity. He needed to get the evidence out.”
“Why didn't he contact us?”
“He said his brother worked in a department where somebody was listening.”
Leah asked for a secure meeting. Naomi agreed, then lowered her voice. “There is one more thing. Richard wasn't alone when he left.”
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“Who was with him?”
“A little girl with dark curls. Her name was Maisie.”
