Kiss of Death by Audrey Walker

Author:Audrey Walker [Walker, Audrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

17

“Cody Durand is dead.” This time, Griga pronounced the phrase not as a statement of fact but as a heartfelt lament. He got to his feet and shuffled to the bathroom, leaving the door open.

From where she was sitting, Giselle had a clear view of him. Her desire to afford him privacy was circumvented by a sincere concern for the man’s well-being. She thought he might vomit, overcome by emotion. Instead, he removed the half-smoked cigarette from its holder, lowered it into the bathroom sink, and turned on the tap, dousing it until it was water-logged. He tossed the soggy butt into the toilet bowl and flushed. After carefully replacing the cigarette holder in his silver case, he returned and sat down on the edge of the bed with a blank expression on his face.

She waited a moment before asking him, “Was he a close friend?”

Griga took a few seconds to reply. “We ate lunch together sometimes.”

Something about the tone of his voice filled her with sadness. An image came to mind of two boys quietly eating lunch at a lonely table at the edge of a school cafeteria, banished from the rest of the student body. She took his answer to mean there was a strong bond between the two men.

“I’m very sorry for your loss,” she said.

Griga looked up at her and blinked. He seemed genuinely touched by her expression of condolences.

“They killed him,” he said.

“He was murdered?” She mentally scanned the list of victims taken to the medical examiner’s office in the last couple of weeks. The name Cody Durand did not ring a bell.

“On the same day Sorensen and Ainsworth were murdered. The authorities ruled it a suicide.” Griga scoffed. “He was found lifeless in a Baltimore hotel with enough fentanyl in his system to kill an elephant.”

“Let’s assume for a moment he was murdered,” Andre said. “Who would want him dead?”

Griga replied without hesitation. “Someone who thought he knew too much. Someone who wanted to ensure his silence.”

“Do you have any idea who that may be?”

Griga fixed Andre with a hard look. “It’s always the big fish that eat the little fish, Mr. Winters. Not the other way around.”

Andre narrowed his eyes. “What are you saying, exactly?”

Bobby’s eyes bounced between Griga and Andre. He smiled nervously. “I think Mr. Griga’s made his point.”

“What, someone inside the FDA?” Andre said. “Who are the big fish in the organization? Give me some names.”

Bobby cut in before Griga could reply. “I can send you an organizational flowchart if you’d like and you can draw your own conclusions. At this point, I must advise my client against divulging any names until certain provisos are met.”

“I would give you the name of the guilty on a silver platter if I knew it for sure, but I don’t,” Griga said, ignoring his attorney. “I’m a man of science. I deal in facts, not conjecture. As far as I’m concerned, any of his superiors could have wanted him silenced. Just like they wanted Paul Sorensen to disappear.

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