Ch 711 - The Root of all Evil

Fabian pulled out his phone and made some calls. Moments later, he turned back to Maryann and said, "Apparently, Quality Pharmaceuticals applied for a patent on Golden Health."

Maryann was surprised. "That's an old company that fell on hard times. How did they manage to pull this off?"

Quality Pharmaceuticals had once been a major company in the industry. Its specialty was trauma medicine, but its products were outdated, and its sales had slowly declined. It had laid off most of its workers and had been largely shut down for a while.

"They raised fifteen million dollars in venture capital not too long ago. It's strange." Fabian read the information off his phone. "With that money, they've expanded and updated their factories, and they've hired some research and development staff. Their press release says they received patent approval of the formula the day before yesterday."

He frowned. "Someone in our company must have leaked the formula. There's no other way they could have gotten it. The CEO of Quality Pharmaceuticals is now Norman Fuller, who works for the Naysmith Group. This is a bit of a mystery. As we all know, the Naysmith Group specializes in trauma medicine."

Maryann felt cold. "Norman?" she repeated. "The Naysmith family?"

She knew Norman Fuller. When she had been a child, she had played with Riley Naysmith, who was now the head of the Naysmith Group. Norman had worked for the Naysmith family even back then.

Alex spoke up. "When Riley learned about Golden Health, he must have started scheming."

"Yes," Maryann agreed. "Riley wouldn't ignore Golden Health. He's just the kind of person to want to get control of it somehow. He's probably afraid that we will squeeze him out of the market."

"All right, Riley," Alex muttered to himself. "I underestimated you, and now you've made your move."

Maryann was still puzzled by one thing. "But how did he get the formula? Neither of us gave it to him, and the R&D personnel wouldn't, either. So how could he possibly have it?"

She was stumped, but Alex had an idea. "Julie."

Maryann shook her head. "Alex, you don't know Julie. It's impossible. I've known her for years, and everyone knows she's loyal to me. Besides, she has no access to the formula. It's in my office in the R&D center, and Julie doesn't have access. Although she was my personal assistant at one point, now she's a cleaner in the research department. She wouldn't be allowed into my office, so there's just no possible way she could have done it."

She shrugged. "Without access, she couldn't have stolen it."

Alex wasn't convinced, and he couldn't think of any other possibility.

"The fire," he said thoughtfully. "During the fire, did Julie do anything odd?"

She frowned. "Julie's behavior that day was very strange. Her car was parked in the fire lane, which delayed the fire department's response. That was also the day she asked me if her sister could work in the R&D center. I didn't agree. It would have been a confidentiality risk. She was angry with me about that, and we had an argument."

She shook her head, feeling uneasy. "Julie's been with me for a long time, and that was the first time we'd ever quarreled. It really puzzled me. I thought she was just worried about her sister, but maybe it was something more than that."

Agent Johnson's booming voice interrupted the conversation. "Ms. Robinson, we're finished for today. Your products have not been approved and are being manufactured without authorization, which is in violation of regulations. The raw materials that go into your product appear to be the same as that of the plaintiff's product, but we will take a sample for comparison. In the meantime, you must immediately stop producing Golden Health, and we will be interviewing the manufacturing and research personnel. The entire R&D center will be closed down while our investigation continues."

Production stopped, ingredients were packed up, the lines were cleaned, and the staff were sent away. Within a few hours, the factory was dark and empty.

Lily used her many years of contacts in public relations, but all of them failed. Fabian also pulled all the strings that he could, but it was to no avail.

Maryann was heartbroken.

She asked Lily to go with Agent Johnson to assist in the investigation, and then she put Fabian in charge of everything else that needed to be done.

Then, she and Alex, along with a few others, went to Julie's family's house, which was a cute little place on the waterfront.

"Julie, we need to ask you some questions!" Maryann's voice was shaking as she prepared to accuse her friend of wrongdoing. She walked into the house without stopping to knock.

Julie's mother came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on an apron. "Maryann?" she asked, a little flustered. "What's going on? And who are all these people?"

Maryann had known her for a long time. "Doreen, I'm looking for Julie. Is she at home today? I couldn't find her at work."

She knew where Julie's room was, so she checked inside, but didn't see Julie.

"What do you want her for?" Doreen asked, clearly confused as well as worried. "Isn't she cleaning at the factory? Is something wrong? She isn't there?"

"Doreen, I've searched the entire R&D center," Maryann told her. "Julie wasn't there. I called her, but I couldn't get through, and I don't know where she is."

Doreen was fighting back tears. "Where could she go? Has something happened to her?"

Maryann hadn't expected Julie's mother to know where Julie was at every moment. She was sorry that she hadn't been able to intercept Julie, but it certainly wasn't Doreen's fault, and she regretted worrying the older woman.

She was finally coming to accept that it must have been Julie who had betrayed the Robinson Group. Now that the theft had been discovered, Julie must have realized that Alex would suspect her, and she had taken the first opportunity to run and hide.

Doreen wiped away her tears. "Maryann, I don't know why Julie wouldn't be at work, but your company just hasn't been the same since you got involved with Alex. You gave him the company for nothing, and now he's talked you into blaming your friends for your problems."

Julie must speak ill of Alex for Doreen to have such a poor opinion of him, Maryann thought.

"Please tell me what is going on," Doreen pleaded.

Julie and Maryann had been as close as sisters, and Doreen had felt like family to Maryann, so she decided Doreen ought to know the truth about her daughter.

"It looks like Julie teamed up with Riley Naysmith to steal our secret formula," she said. "Then they registered the patent before we did and accused us of copyright infringement."

Alex added, "Now our multi-billion-dollar business is ruined, and Maryann could end up being arrested. So this is about a lot more than money. We need Julie to admit what happened so that the charges against us can be cleared. If she contacts you, you must tell her this. Without her, we're in huge trouble. So if you do know where she is, please let us know. Otherwise, you'll be helping Julie cover up her crime."

Doreen was shocked. A stolen secret recipe? A false accusation? A cover up? It just wasn't possible.