Chapter 5 - The first report
The report Elena carried was eighteen months old.
Seven pages.
Prepared by Lake & Brower Environmental Consulting.
Not a famous laboratory.
Not a government agency.
A respectable regional firm.
The document did not say:
Mercer House is poisoning Genevieve.
It said samples from the lower mechanical level beneath the west residential wing showed elevated concentrations of a chlorinated industrial solvent and related breakdown products.
The names meant nothing to me.
Dr. Whitaker read it before I did.
Then called an environmental-medicine specialist.
Then a toxicologist.
That sequence saved me from turning a preliminary report into a verdict.
The specialist said:
“These compounds can be associated with neurological, hepatic, renal, and other systemic effects depending on exposure conditions.”
“Could they explain Genevieve?”
“Possibly.”
“The twins?”
“Possibly.”
I hated that word.
“Can you test them?”
“Yes.”
“Do it.”
“We are.”
Money accelerated logistics.
It did not accelerate biology.
Blood and urine testing.
Review of stored specimens.
Re-analysis of Genevieve’s hospital samples if available.
Independent environmental sampling of the mansion.
The Cook County health department and state environmental authorities would need notification depending on confirmed results and property history.
I called my general counsel.
Not Mercer Family Office counsel.
My company’s outside attorney, Rebecca Sloan.
I said:
“Preservation hold. Mercer House, environmental records, west wing maintenance, communications mentioning Genevieve’s testing.”
She answered:
“Who is the adverse party?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Victor?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is the correct answer.”
I hated lawyers when they were useful.
Then Elena gave me the second document.
An email chain between Genevieve and Lake & Brower.
The consultant initially recommended broader subsurface and vapor testing.
Then, three days later, wrote:
Per property representative instruction, our access authorization has been withdrawn. We cannot complete phase-two work.
Property representative:
Victor Mercer.
My uncle.
I called him.
Rebecca grabbed my wrist.
“Do not.”
“He stopped the testing.”
“You do not know why.”
“I can ask.”
“You are furious.”
“Yes.”
“Then you are the least useful interviewer in Illinois.”
Elena said quietly:
“Genevieve called him too.”
I turned.
“What happened?”
“Victor told her she was sick because she was sick, not because of the house.”
That sounded like something he would say.
May you like
It also sounded like something I might have said.
That was worse.
