Black Label by James L'Etoile

Author:James L'Etoile [James L’Etoile]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Level Best Books
Published: 2021-06-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Your husband works for Dynalife?”

“Three years. Tommy worked there for three years, and when Emma died, he started asking questions, you know, to find out what happened. And they canned him.”

Dani pulled her hand out from under Jillian’s grip. The recognition of the man’s face caused enough fear that Jillian clamped down on the woman’s arm with a white-knuckled grasp. Dani’s expression changed, and she slid to the far end of the mattress, away from Jillian. The photo dropped to the mattress between them.

“Who are you?” Dani said. Her voice trembled.

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” Jillian said. “Where is your husband now, Dani?”

Her shoulders shrugged, Dani said, “He blamed me for what happened. Tommy never said that, but in my heart, I know he thinks it is my fault for pushing him to get Emma into the drug trial program. About a week ago, Tommy left me, right after he lost his job at Dynalife.”

“What did Tommy do for the company?”

“He worked in a place called Black Label.”

“Black Label?”

Dani nodded.

In countless hours of board meetings and endless organizational reviews, Jillian never came across any division or office within Dynalife named Black Label. She tried another angle. “Did he talk about his job at Black Label?”

“Only once. He never said much about his work. I knew it must be important, the way he carried on about trade secrets and stuff. One time, he got a little drunk and started saying, like how he had the power of life and death. He said he was like Saint Peter, deciding who gets into new drug trials and who got left out.”

“Trials are supposed to be random.”

Dani shrugged. “I don’t know what happened. When our little girl got sick, and the doctors told us nothing worked, I begged Tommy to do something. I pleaded over and over for him to save his daughter. He finally gave in and got her into a trial program for a new miracle drug, or at least it was supposed to be.”

“You remember what it was called? The drug, what was it?”

“Who are you? Tommy said people would try to get me for this.” She looked wary and inched away. “I don’t want to say no more.”

Dani rolled back onto the bed and curled up into a tight little ball. Her small frame shuddered, and soft muffled cries came from the broken woman.

“She’ll be like this for hours,” Annette said from the doorway.

Jillian reached out a hand and stroked Dani’s back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Dani recoiled from Jillian’s touch as if pricked with a jagged thorn. The woman pulled closer to the wall and distance herself from the outside world.

In Dani’s fragile state, she would shatter into pieces if Jillian pressed her for more. Frustrated by the abrupt end of the conversation, Jillian got to her feet and paced in the small room.

“Did she ever mention any of this stuff to you?” Jillian asked Annette.

“She’s said some of that before, in group. We’re not supposed to talk about what goes on in the group sessions.

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