Gilded Cage

Chapter 57

Before Bea and I parted ways, my sister brought up the details about the DC trip she was planning, the one in which we were supposed to meet our new stepmother, Andrea, for the first time. I gave her a few dates that would work for me come January even though my mind was elsewhere.

My thoughts were still stuck on our strained conversation from moments ago. The questionable morality behind my plans for Lily weighed on me more than I wanted to admit. My automatic instinct was to push aside all feelings of trepidation. Giving into hesitation or doubt simply wasn't my style. I forced myself to refocus and forge ahead. A monster like Lily deserved everything I was planning to hurl at her.

Right?

With my mood in limbo, I shuffled upstairs to my room and tried to find something to take my mind off of these dark matters. I pulled out my laptop. I plugged in Zac's flash drive to review Mr. Sinclair's files. I clicked and scrolled and clicked and scrolled. It took almost two hours of this mind-numbing bullshit to sort through the hundreds upon hundreds of folders and files from the years leading up to Mr. Mazur's arrest. Right when I was about to call it a night, however, something finally caught my eye.

Mr. Sinclair had a folder titled "McLeary trials."

McLeary? As in, Dr. Sasha McLeary, Aleah's mom? Dr. McLeary was a brain surgeon at Mass Gen and often worked alongside medical research teams at local universities.

The folder was created three years prior to Mr. Mazur's arrest. I clicked into it and immediately began scouring through dozens upon dozens of medical reports and articles and data that seemed to be outlining the effectiveness of some type of pacemaker-like device, code named DBS-243, that could be surgically implanted into the brain of a patient suffering from the early stages of Alzeihemer's. DBS-243's aim was to slow memory loss and potentially improve the quality of patients' lives for a significant number of years. The clinical trial runs were already being overseen by the FDA, and most of the results appeared to be quite promising. Dr. McLeary appeared to be spearheading the entire project.

I clicked out of the folder and clicked into another one named "Biorion."

Madison Harper's father, Jim Harper, was the CEO of this leading medical device company based in Ireland. As my eyeballs drifted across the screen at the shocking data before me, it appeared that Biorion had invested a sizable sum in the development of DBS-243 devices through one of its smaller American subsidiaries, Medtech. A company which specialized in the manufacturing of top-of-the-line pacemaker devices.

Twenty minutes later, I clicked into another folder called "Garvey-Neubauer." Vince Neubauer's dad, Clinton Neubauer, sat on the board of this multimillion dollar American pharmaceutical company. Garvey-Neubauer seemed to be in partnership with Medtech. They had also been gearing up to invest in DBS-243.

By midnight, my head was spinning as I scanned document after document. I learned that DBS-243 never made it to market. The device failed its final round of trials, much to everyone's disappointment, but most of the investors found out too late and suffered great losses for betting their money on the future of DBS-243.

Mr. Mazur, however, didn't lose out. Four years ago, Zac's father had been charged with trading in Medtech shares before DBS-243's findings were publicly released. His preemptive strike involved almost $200 million dollars in illegal profits and avoided losses. Therein laid the rub.

Why were all these documents saved on Mr. Sinclair's computer if he, supposedly, had nothing to do with this insider trading scandal that put Zac's father behind bars?

Why was Zac's father the only one who took the fall when so many other parties had some real fucking skin in the game?

Was it a set up like Zac wanted to believe?

Could Mr. Mazur be innocent?

Or were they all equally guilty?

More and more questions surged through my brain. I began to wonder if my classmates' parents had also been involved. Walter Sinclair of Wyman-Rimmel was definitely guilty of something. Dr. Sasha McLeary might have tipped them off on the progress of the DBS-243 trials. That information should've been classified. Jim Harper and Clinton Neubauer's companies also had a lot riding on the success of DBS-243 as well.

I wanted to call Zac and update him on all my recent discoveries. I was eager to bounce my theories off him, but something held me back. I needed to investigate one more thing before reaching out to my boyfriend. It was already 2:30 am. I had school tomorrow morning. Bea and Trick were probably sound asleep by now, but my adrenaline was strung too tight at the moment for my body to get any rest.

I tiptoed down the stairs to my dad's study. The room was dark. I flipped on the light switch. The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling maple wood bookshelves stained in dark colors. A heavy mahogany desk and a bulky burgundy executive chair, upholstered with real leather, were anchored at the center of the room. I started opening drawers and cabinets, searching for the keys to his filing cabinets. After about thirty minutes, I found nothing.

Right as I was about to throw in the towel, my dad's voice drifted towards me. "What the hell are you doing in here, Cate?"

I spun around, and, sure enough, my dad was standing in the doorway, glaring at me as though I was a criminal.

Shit!

Shit!

Shit!

What was my dad doing back in Wellesley?

His flight from DC wasn't scheduled to fly back until Tuesday!

I smiled brightly and tried not to look suspicious. "Oh, hey! Welcome home, dad. I was just, uh... looking for an extra flash drive. All of mine are full, and I have an important presentation tomorrow."

My dad promptly marched over beside me and popped open one of the drawers to his desk. He took out a brand new flash drive, still encased in its paper and plastic packaging, and handed it to me.

His expression looked downright scary when he murmured, "Was this what you were looking for? Funny how it was right in front of you this whole time."

My smile dissipated as my nerves took over. I fibbed uneasily, "Yeah, I-I could've sworn I looked in that drawer already. I wonder why I didn't see it before? Anyway, thanks for the flash drive. You're a real lifesaver, dad. I guess I should head to bed."

As I turned to go, my dad called out after me, "Cate?"

I paused mid-stride to glance over my shoulder. "Yes?"

His jaw ticked in aggravation. "Don't come in here again without my permission, okay?"

I gulped. "Okay."

"I mean it, Cate."