Damned If You Don't (24 page)

Morgan shook her head. She couldn’t waste time worrying about it now. She needed to find evidence. Hard evidence. Anything that would link the notations in that file to Anton Dvorak—and his partner.

A mixture of hurt, regret, and anger ripped through her as she stepped into her lab. Funny, she’d thought she’d walk right back into her cocoon again. Her hand skimmed a countertop as she remembered the hours she’d spent here, the lonely hours, and the empty hours. Jack had changed all that. She didn’t need her cocoon anymore.

In her line of business, to prove that something works the way it’s supposed to, a scientist needs to ask why at least five times. As she searched through her lab for clues of any kind, Morgan started asking those questions. Why would Anton want the project? To have something he coveted from the get-go. Why? Because he wasn’t smart enough to get it on his own.

Okay, so he got what he wanted, then found it didn’t work. Why take the risk of endangering someone’s life? Money. But somehow that didn’t quite ring true. Anton was the type of person to put his efforts into corporate politics, not actual work, and then take the credit for the accomplishments of others. Prestige?

Perhaps. But that would only be part of it. Anton was an egomaniac. He had to be the best. One-upmanship. He was trying to prove he was better than everyone else. Prove it to whom?

E. T
.…Elaine Tanner.

He killed a woman because he was competing with Elaine? Possibly. But there was more. He killed that woman because he was competing with—
her
. Now that made a whole lot more sense.

What else made sense was that because Anton wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, he’d stolen her notes and experimented on that poor woman because he wanted to prove he was smarter and a better scientist than all of them, especially Morgan Mackenzie.

Morgan’s fists tightened. Anton Dvorak was going to burn for this. She was going to see to it—personally.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Morgan left her lab, anger and betrayal simmering just beneath the surface of her skin. She desperately wanted to find something, anything that would slip the noose around Anton’s neck.

All she had was the tie in her pocket.

Frustrated beyond belief, Morgan was about to slam the door when sanity returned. Along with voices. She didn’t dare get caught. Not now. Not until she could prove what was going on.

Morgan’s heart sped up as she slipped into the hallway that led back to the warehouse. She’d come full circle, made an entire circuit of the building and come up empty. Except for the tie. And as disappointing as that might be, it was time to leave.

As she walked closer to the warehouse doorway, Morgan realized the sounds were getting louder. She stopped near the warehouse conference room door. It wasn’t quite closed, and what she was listening to sounded like—what the hell? Damned if it didn’t sound like a porn movie.

Now that was just ducky. Here she was in the middle of putting her life on the line only to stumble onto an interoffice tryst. She shook her head. Could things get any worse?

Probably. She could get caught. Better to get the hell out of there while she could.

Her focus returned, and she shook her head. She approached the room with caution and realized the door was partially open. Morgan didn't consider herself a prude by any means, but this was way too kinky, even for her. She paused, needing to make a decision. Slip past the open door and pray she wasn’t noticed, or turn around and go back through the building and face the risk of getting caught by someone else?

At that moment, one of the participants in the porn movie decided to get vocal. Really vocal. Morgan stilled—in shock. Her blood ran cold. She knew that voice. And all of a sudden, she knew why Anton had done what he’d done. But the other participant?

Cats had nine lives. Morgan hoped she had more than one.

She stood tall, flipped on the tape recorder in her pocket, and pushed the door all the way open. The other participant wore very distinctive cologne, the same cologne she’d smelled on the tie.

“Well, well, what have we here?” she asked, anger and betrayal simmering inside her gut. “I believe this belongs to you, Doctor,” she added, holding out the tie for him to retrieve.

The scene that greeted her reeked. Dr. Huan Chuan Lee and Elaine Tanner. Intimately embraced.

He jumped and twisted his head around, crying out in disbelief as she walked into the room. Morgan tried not to think as her heart shattered in a thousand pieces. What greater betrayal could there be than a surrogate father fraternizing with the woman who had used her process to kill? A ball of ice formed in her belly.

She closed her eyes, unable to believe what refused to leave her sight. When she opened them again, it was to find the one person in the entire world she’d least expected to find in this position, disengaged and zipped up, thank goodness. He had turned away to put himself together before turning back around. When he did, his gaze refused to meet hers.

“Why, Huan? For the love of God, why?”

He didn’t answer. He turned away as if the sight of her reminded him of what he’d done.

However, Elaine Tanner didn’t seem fazed at all. She gave Morgan a knowing smile before turning her attention to Morgan’s mentor.

“You didn’t finish, Lee. Come back here right this instant!” Elaine commanded her lover. When he didn’t, she screamed at him again to continue making love to her. Morgan swallowed hard to keep from getting sick.

“No.” His face grew red, and his gaze never left the floor. “I can’t.”

“Of course you can,” Elaine scoffed. “It’s more fun when someone watches,” Elaine added, looking straight at her, giving her that smile again.

Morgan didn’t know what to say. Or do. But Elaine was a different story. She sat on the conference table where they'd been going at it, her blouse still half open and her skirt barely pushed down to cover herself. Morgan looked away before her stomach contents reached the point of no return.

“Huan, listen to me,” she told the man she’d looked upon as a father. “There’s no mistake that can’t be rectified. Remember that.”

“Mistake?” Elaine cried. “Why would you think this is a mistake?”

“You might not care about anyone,” Morgan answered. “But, Huan—” He stared at her a moment, a guilty flush rising up his neck, before looking away again.

“Really, Morgan,” Elaine retorted. “You’re so plebian.”

Plebian?
“You won’t get away with it, either of you. Murder is murder.” Morgan threatened. “And you definitely won’t be able to explain if anything happens to me.”

This time neither one of them answered.

Morgan stared at Elaine, her gaze accusing Elaine not just of murder, but torture as well. Unfazed, Elaine simply crossed her legs in what was supposed to be a sexy pose. Morgan thought for sure she would really hurl. She had to swallow several times not to.

“Oh, this is going to be so delicious. Darling,” Elaine continued, turning to Huan. “I have an even better idea now. You’re going to do her right in front of me. Then you’re going to do me.”

Horror filled Morgan’s soul at the reality of the truth she’d stumbled upon. And yet, a part of her still couldn’t believe it. “You arrogant, stupid fool. Did you really think I came here without any backup? The FBI knows all about what’s going on. You murdered poor, defenseless women, and then you tried to pin it on me.”

She caught her mentor’s gaze this time and watched him go pale. “I didn’t kill anyone, Morgan.” His gaze flipped from her to Elaine and back again until the reality of his situation finally sank in. “Tell her, Elaine. You have to make it clear. I didn’t kill anyone.”

Elaine licked her lips, and Morgan watched as a glazed look entered the woman’s gaze at the thought of murder. “Oh, Lee, where are your balls? You truly are spineless. And believe me, when it comes to lovers, I’ve had much better.”

A terribly hurt look stole over her mentor’s face along with disbelief. As if he couldn’t believe Elaine would say such a thing. “Elaine, please. You can’t mean that.”

Elaine merely laughed. “Be a good boy. Do what I tell you to and shut up.”

Huan stiffened. It was one thing to be humiliated in private. And for pleasure. It was another to be humiliated in public.

“No.”

Taken aback, Elaine narrowed her gaze. “What? What did you say?”

“I said, no.”

She let her legs part for his view alone. Morgan watched him stare at what was being offered for a long time before turning her face away from the scene in disgust. How could he not know what a bitch this woman was?

“Oh God, you’re both sick.” She shook her head, bile filling her mouth, and swallowed heavily before continuing, “In a way, I almost understand Elaine. She’s always been off center. But you?” she asked Huan. “How could you? All your principles. All your values, your integrity.”

Her friend and mentor raised his head and met her gaze for the first time since she’d entered the room. Several moments later his shoulders slumped and his gaze turned sad. “Look at me, Morgan. Really. Look at me.”

“I can’t. At the moment, you disgust me.”

His eyes closed in pain, but when he opened them, only resignation remained. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

Elaine laughed, the sound brash and harsh, grating on the ears. She jumped off the conference table and sauntered over to him, trailing a finger across his crotch and outlining his semierection. “Men are men, Morgan. They all think with this. And only this.”

Morgan had to turn away as the man she knew and respected crumbled before her very eyes and became a psycho’s lapdog.

“I can’t believe that. You have one of the most outstanding minds I’ve ever encountered, Huan.”

“Mind? You cannot see a mind, Morgan.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I am not very beautiful, am I, Morgan?” he asked her, his tone beyond bitter. “On the outside?”

“So what?” she cried. “It’s what’s inside that counts.” He raised a sardonic brow in answer. “You have a wonderful family, a respected career, the ability to save the world, not destroy it.”

He shook his head, the truth of his words swirling in the misery of his features. “I have an arranged marriage and an icicle for a wife.” He paused, his gaze resentful. “I have a career where I reached the top of my profession at the age of twenty-eight. Do you know what happens when you reach the top?” She didn’t answer. “There’s only one place to go. And that is down.”

“Don’t expect me to feel sorry for you.”

“I’m not.”

Morgan snorted, beyond angry. What a waste. She stared at him, condemning him with her gaze. “Why couldn’t you have waited? You knew I was working with test mice. Poor, innocent women that you don’t know…”

He blanched and had the grace not to even try to meet her gaze. And that’s when it hit her.

There was someone else. Another victim. Someone that made him unable to meet her gaze.

“You’ve killed someone else? Another nameless victim?”

She looked over to see an expression of desperation and delight steal across Elaine’s face. “Sorry to disappoint you, Morgan. You see, you did know her. She worked for me. And you.”

“Rebecca,” Morgan whispered, dread filling her soul. “Oh, God, no, I beg of you. Tell me I’m wrong. Please,” she begged.

“You use the word so well. Well, Rebecca begged me,” Elaine blurted in a rush. “She knew what we were working on. She wanted so badly to lose weight. She’d been obese all her life. I was just giving her what she wanted.”

Tears filled Morgan’s eyes. Pain ripped at her insides as she thought of that sweet, tenderhearted young woman whose only mistake in life was to trust.

What little respect remained for her mentor died, as had her friend. “You’ll both burn in hell for this.”

She watched Elaine shrug and begin to button her blouse. Then she walked over to where her suit jacket and pocketbook sat on a counter. Elaine made sure to catch and hold her gaze. A cold, calculating look entered her eyes. “I’m sorry to disappoint you all, but I have no such plans. No more fun and games.”

“I don’t think so,” Huan told Elaine. “Enough is enough.”

“What? After all this time you’re finally growing a spine?” Elaine shot back at him.

Morgan stared at her, not quite understanding. But obviously Huan did. A frown creased his forehead. “You were always such a fool, darling,” Elaine began, as she shrugged into her suit jacket. “So oblivious. But I tolerated you because it’s so hard to find true submissives.”

She turned and stared straight at Morgan. “You thought I was screwing Anton, didn’t you?”

Morgan nodded. “Well I was,” Elaine answered. “But he was starting to get tired of our little games.”

A horrible thought came to her. “You murdered him too?”

Elaine smiled. “Now that’s where he surprised me. He split before I could. So he’s next on the list.”

She watched Elaine rummaged around in her bag and then turn to Huan. “Get on your hands and knees, Lee.”

“I think not, Elaine.”

Surprise crossed her face. “Get on your hands and knees, Lee. Now!”

Morgan watched them stare, each one fighting for the upper hand. “I’m not going to jail, and I will not crawl,” Huan stated. “Not now. Not ever.”? To her surprise, Elaine merely waved her hand in dismissal. “You were such a wonderful wuss, darling. You still want me, though, don’t you? You see, I’m never wrong about that. Come here and tell me you don’t want what I can give you.”

He barked out a shaky laugh and caught her gaze with his. He seemed bewildered as if the day had turned surreal. Morgan had to warn him it was worse than that.

“Don’t give in to her, Huan. If you do, she’ll kill you. Don’t think she won’t. She’s crazy.”

He blanched as reality reached him. “No you won’t. Come on, Elaine,” he cajoled, trying to buy time. “Let’s get out of here, and I’ll take care of that insatiable appetite of yours.”

Elaine smiled at him, and Morgan felt a chill run up her spine. “I’m sorry, darling. I really would love to, you know. But you’ve become a liability now. So it’s time to clean up the loose ends and get out while there’s still time to leave.”