I glance at the front of the card. It’s from Sinclair Pharmaceuticals, the company that made the hallucinogenic drug that turned my mom into the person she became. I’ve always wondered who else got that drug. They wouldn’t make it for just one person. So who else did they silence with those pills? And what other drugs do they make that are meant to harm people instead of help them?
On the card, under the company logo, it reads William Sinclair, CEO. As the head of the company, William knows exactly what goes on there, which means he knows they make drugs like the ones Royce gave my mom. It’s another reason not to trust him. And yet I want to. I want him to be good. I want an uncle. I want more family.
“Are you going to tell Grace that we met?” I ask him. “Or do you want me to?”
“How often do you talk to her?”
“I try to call her every few days just to check in and make sure she’s okay. I worry about her living alone. Plus, I know she’s lonely without Arlin around.”
He gives me a slight smile. “It’s good that you call her. I’m sure she appreciates that. I don’t call her nearly enough myself. Maybe once every couple weeks, if that.”
“Really? What about Sadie and her sisters? Don’t they call her?”
“No.” He lets out a harsh laugh. “Those girls only call her when they want something their mother won’t buy them. But Victoria buys them whatever they want, so no, they don’t talk to their grandmother much.”
“I didn’t know that. Now I feel bad. I should be calling her every day. I didn’t because I didn’t want to bother her. She always seems busy but I guess she was just acting that way.”
“It sounds like you two have gotten to know each other the past few months.”
“I spent a lot of time with her and Arlin last spring when Garret was—”
“When I was acting like an ass in front of the entire world,” Garret says, interrupting me. I forgot that William doesn’t know what went on last spring and how Arlin orchestrated the bad publicity stunt that ended up saving Garret from the organization’s plan for him.
“That was a difficult time for me,” I say, playing along. “But Arlin and Grace helped me get through it. I got to know them both really well. I went to their house almost every weekend.”
“Their house in the Hamptons?” he asks.
“Yes. We spent a lot of time on their sailboat and Arlin taught me—” My voice cracks and my eyes are all watery. Dammit. Every time I think of Arlin, this stupid crying starts. “He taught me how to sail. Sorry.” I wipe my eyes. “I just miss Arlin a lot.”
“I do, too.” William pauses, then says, “You know, maybe we should get together sooner rather than later. I’m flying out first thing tomorrow morning but perhaps we could have dinner tonight.”
“Yeah. Okay,” I say, without giving it much thought. I feel Garret squeezing my hand and when I glance over at him, he’s giving me a look like I shouldn’t have agreed to dinner. Maybe he’s right. I just met William and as much as I want him to be good, the truth is he could be bad like his brother. Grace said he’s not, but what if she’s wrong?
“I need to go back to my hotel and make some phone calls,” William says. “When I’m done, I’ll stop by your place and we can go.”
“You know where we live?” Garret asks.
“Yes.”
“Because you were spying on us.” Garret says it in an angry tone.
William nods. “I wasn’t, but Walter was.”
“Did Walt take our garbage?” I ask William.
“I’m not sure. You’d have to ask him.” William goes out in the hall and says something quietly to Walt. Then the two of them come back in the room.
“Did you take our garbage?” I ask Walt.
“Yes. Several times. I was looking for receipts, bills, that type of thing.”
“Did you put it back after you looked through it?”
“I did. In fact, that time you saw the garbage can was empty, I had to hurry and replace the bags before you checked it again.”
“That explains it.” I look at Garret as I say it.
A few weeks ago the garbage can got knocked over by the wind and when I went to pick it up, nothing was inside. But Garret insisted there were two bags of garbage in there and when he went to check, they were there. I couldn’t figure out how they just appeared like that.
William is standing by the door. “I have your number so I’ll call before I stop over.”
“No,” Garret says. “Don’t come to the house. We’ll just meet you there.”