Page 57 of Love Under the Microscope
“He’s registering his product.”
I choke on my beer and cough but manage to swallow without spewing all over the table. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. “Does he even have something?”
“I have no idea. I assume they’ve done some research and prototypes, so he must have something. Enough that Nigel says he’ll take Zentello to court.”
“Unless he’s bluffing.”
“True, he hasn’t proven himself trustworthy, so I have no reason to believe him, but he does have—”
She stops herself and takes a sip from her bottle.
I want to ask what she was going to say. The words are on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t say them. I haven’t spent much time with her, but I’ve spent enough to know Zelda Lowe does things on her terms and no one else’s. I drink from my bottle. The beer goes down smoothly. “Good stuff.”
Her gaze narrows, two lines forming above the bridge of her nose. I can tell by the way she leans forward that she’s been thrown off guard because I didn’t ask her to elaborate. “Don’t you want to know what Nigel has?”
Bingo. I just need to keep playing it cool. “Only if you want to tell me.”
She picks at the label on her bottle, sitting on the table. “I do, but…”
Does that mean what I hope it means? I take another pull from the bottle and realize I’m out of beer. I open a second one from her six-pack. I remove the top of another one and hand it to her. “Yours is better.”
Her gaze bounces from the bottle to me and back to the bottle again. She seems to be having a debate with herself about what to say. I knew being patient would pay off.
She rips off a piece of the label from her original bottle. “Nigel has the original formula that Orchid is based on.”
Whoa. My bottle hits the table with a thud. That’s way more than I ever expected to hear, but I assumed it had to be something vital. This is huge, and I want to know more. Who am I kidding? I want to know everything. “Did Nate and Mr. Z came up with the original formula?”
She peels off another chunk of the label. “Mr. Z.”
Interesting. But something isn’t computing. “Rumor was that Mr. Z tried to put a stop to the Happy Pill and later Orchid.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“But if he created it—”
“For a different purpose. There were fears about how the product could end up being marketed and used.”
“So those missing papers…” I want to confirm what she’s been saying. “It’s the formula for Orchid.”
“The original formula for the Happy Pill, which Orchid came from, but yes.” She grabs the new beer and takes a long sip as if fortifying herself. I don’t blame her a bit. “I’m sure you have questions.”
About a million of them, but I don’t want to overwhelm her. She’s trusting me with this information, which is a huge milestone for a woman who doesn’t seem to trust anyone except herself. “You mentioned you had the notebook at your house. Well, Nigel’s place. Why? Wouldn’t that stay in the lab or with the scientists involved? I mean, that shit should’ve been locked up tight.”
“I know, but I thought—”
“What?”
She cringes, closing her eyes and making a face before looking at me. “That I could trust him.”
That explains her not trusting anyone now, and all I can say is the guy must be a demigod in the sack to make her feel that way. Nothing about his personality would make me want to trust him. He’s the handsome guy who’s the devil incarnate under the pretty packaging. She seems to realize that now, so I won’t make her feel worse than she already does.
But there’s still something I don’t understand. “But why did you have the notebook?”
Biting her lip, she toys with what remains of the beer label.
My journalist instinct tells me something’s coming, something more pivotal than what’s on the pages. The sensation spreads out from my gut to my fingertips and toes. It’s all I can do to remain seated. Even then, my leg wants to bounce, but I keep still and wait.
Zelda takes a breath and then another.
