Mutation

“I just did an IQ test this week,” Marsha said. “He’s tested around 130 since he was three and a half.”

“Okay,” Victor said with some irritation of his own. “The point is that VJ is okay and we don’t have to worry about him. In fact, he is more than okay. He’s put that lab together all by himself. His IQ has to be much higher than 130. And that means my NGF project is an unqualified success.”

Marsha shook her head. She couldn’t believe he could be so myopic. “What exactly do you think you have created with VJ

and your mutations and gene manipulations?” she asked.

“I’ve created an essentially normal child with superior intelligence,” Victor said without hesitation.

“What else?”

“What do you mean, what else?”

“What about this person’s personality?” Marsha asked.

“This person?” Victor questioned. “You are talking about VJ, our son.”

“What about his personality?” Marsha repeated.

“Oh, damn the personality,” Victor snapped. “The kid is a prodigy. He’s already accomplished research breakthroughs. So what if he has a few hangups? We all do.”

“You’ve created a monster,” Marsha said softly, her voice breaking. She bit her lip. Why couldn’t she control her tears? “You’ve created a monster and I’ll never forgive you for it.”

“Give me a break,” Victor said, exasperated.

“VJ is an oddity,” Marsha snapped. “His intelligence has set him apart, made him lonely. He apparently realized it when he was three. His intelligence is so far above everyone else’s, he doesn’t respond to the same social restraints. His intelligence has put him beyond everyone, everything.”

“Are you finished?” Victor demanded.

“No, I’m not!” Marsha shouted, suddenly angry though tears streamed down her face. “What about the deaths of those children that had the same gene as VJ? Why did they die?”

“Why are you bringing that up again?”

“What about the deaths of David and Janice?” Marsha asked, lowering her voice, ignoring Victor’s question. “I didn’t have a chance to tell you before, but I visited the Fays today. They told me that Janice had been convinced that VJ

had something to do with David’s death. She told them he was evil.”

“We heard that nonsense before her death,” Victor said.

“She became a religious psychotic. You said so yourself.”

“Visiting her parents made me rethink what happened back then,” Marsha said. “Janice had been convinced she’d been drugged and poisoned.”

“Marsha,” Victor said sharply. He grabbed her by her shoulders. “Get ahold of yourself. You’re talking nonsense.

David died of liver cancer, remember? Janice went a little crazy before she died. Remember that? She had some paranoia in addition to her other troubles. She probably had a brain metastasis, the poor woman. Besides, people don’t get liver cancer because they’re poisoned.” But even as he said the words, doubts of his own sprang up. He recalled the troublesome bit of DNA that he’d found in both David’s and Janice’s tumor cells. “And about those children’s deaths,”

Victor said as he sat down across from her. “I’m sure they had something to do with the internal politics of Chimera.

Somebody has found out about the NGF experiment and wants to discredit me. That’s why I want someone with VJ.”

“When did you decide this?” Marsha asked, lowering her glass.

Victor shrugged. “I don’t remember exactly,” he said.

“Sometime this week.”

“That means even you think the deaths were really murders; that somebody deliberately killed those children,” Marsha said with renewed alarm.

Victor had forgotten that he’d purposefully kept the information about the cephaloclor from her. He swallowed uncomfortably.

“Victor!” Marsha said with resentment. “What haven’t you told me?”

Stalling, Victor took a sip from his drink. He tried to think of some smoke screen to cover the truth, but couldn’t think of a thing. The day’s revelations had made him careless. With a sigh he explained about the cephaloclor in the children’s blood.

“My God!” Marsha whispered. “Are you sure it was someone at Chimera who gave the children the cephaloclor?”

“Absolutely,” Victor said. “The only place the children’s lives intersected was at the Chimera day-care center. That had to be where they were given the cephaloclor.”

“But who would do such a terrible thing?” Marsha asked.

She wanted to be reassured that VJ could not be involved.

“It had to be either Hurst or Ronald. If I had to pick one, I’d pick Hurst. But until I get harder evidence, all I can do is keep the security man with VJ to be sure no one tries to give him any cephaloclor.”

Just then the back door burst open and VJ, Philip, and Pedro Gonzales came into the family room. Marsha stayed in her seat, but Victor jumped up. “Hello, everybody,” Victor said, trying to sound cheerful. He started to introduce Pedro to Marsha but she interrupted him and said that they’d already met that morning.

“That’s good,” Victor said, rubbing his hands together. He obviously didn’t know what to do.