Page 84 of A Better World

She was tired of diplomacy. “You should go away before I get mad.”

Matt stood there, so she got up and shut her office door. His mouth made a last-secondOof surprise, and he lingered outside, stunned, before his footfalls retreated.

She considered calling Russell. It was possible he’d tell her she was overreacting. It was possible he’d tell her to shut up and play along. But it was also possible he’d be on her side.

“What? You can’t just take patient data,” he said after she told him what had happened. But he didn’t actually sound surprised. She was getting used to the distinction in his voice, when he was surprised by something, and when he was pretending.

“He said they needed to prove to Jack that ActHollow was functional. But I think it’s about my patient, the baby with cancer. I think it’s about idiopathic leukemia.”

“Jack’s involved? That explains it. I doubt it’s about that patient. He probably just wants proof that Daniella’s not embezzling. Or, he’s hoping she is, so he can take Rachel down. Lloyd, too, if he’s lucky.”

“I think there’s something going on, Russell. I think you think it, too.”

“Honey, I told you. There’s nothing.”

She squeezed her device in anger.

“You there? He’s a king. They’re all kings. They don’t ask. You know that.”

Linda considered throwing the device.

“I think you’re overreacting. Don’t blow anything up. You’re helping people. That’s worth something,” he said. “Who cares if they mine a little data?”

New Year’s Eve. For once, the party wasn’t at Sirin’s. It was at Anouk’s dad’s mansion. More than five hundred people were invited, the Farmer-Bowens among them. They were supposed to arrive at exactly eleven p.m. in order to be let in. The invitation said not to be late.

Linda was in no mood for a party. But she thought she might learn something, and invitations from Anouk Parson were not the kind a smart person turned down.

“Where’s Josie?” she asked as the family assembled in the front hall. Hip was in his bespoke tuxedo, carrying a bag with swim trunks. Kids over thirteen were welcome and there was a separate indoor pool, heated just for them.

“Josie?” Hip asked. “Shesaysshe’s sick.”

Linda was so knocked off balance by his tone that she glanced up. “What?”

His upper lip curled in contempt and he used a ten-dollar word. “Malingering.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. She’ll be sorry to miss all her friends. Should we go?” Russell asked. He was worried that if they were late, they wouldn’t be let in. Rules, rules, rules. Who issues them on New Year’s Eve?

“What do you mean, malingering?” Linda asked.

“Just, the usual with her. She’s always miserable,” Hip said.

Linda stink-eyed him for long enough that his posture slackened.

“Fine! I’m sorry! But she’s not sick. She’s faking.”

“What’s the difference? She’s either sick or upset. Either way, it’s nothing to tease.”

He bent lower, his spine aCcurve of regret. “Itry. But she won’t go along with anything. She sits by herself behind that stupid pole at lunch. I even asked her to sit with me and Cathy, though Cathy didn’t want her. Cathy says she’s weird, and sheisweird. She never raises her hand in class. She doesn’t answer teachers when they call on her. She doesn’t dress for PE. She just stands there in her regular clothes and everybody notices. I put myself out, then she makes me look like a jerk.”

Linda had some retorts. For instance, who was Cathy in her lame-ass outfits to call Josie weird? What kind of person comes between twins? “You disappoint me, Hip,” she said. And then, to Russell, “I’ll go talk to her.”

“Do we have time?” Russell asked.

Linda ignored him, was already headed for the stairs. “Josie? You in there?” she called as she knocked.

“No,” Josie called back after a while.

The first thing Linda noticed was that the room was free of clutter. No makeup or perfume. Nothing tossed onto the floor, no baseball caps on the posts of her bed. “What happened here?” Linda asked.

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