“I’m just thinking aloud,” she said, troubled by her own line of reason. “I’m sure Vik had life insurance. And if he wanted to provide for Oksana and his two kids at college …”

Martineau brought a finger to his lip and gazed up at the ceiling. “You think he might have deliberately drowned himself?”

“I don’t know what to think anymore, Luc.” Horton had not cried since hearing of Leschuk’s death, so she was surprised by the sudden torrent of tears that streamed down her cheeks.

Martineau dabbed at the tears with a thumb and forefinger. “Everything will be okay, Ellen. You’ll see.”

She buried her face into his chest. “I can’t imagine how,” she sobbed.

He stroked her hair with his hand. “Well, to begin with I don’t think we have to worry about the FDA any more.”

She pulled back and looked up at him. “What do you mean, Luc?”

“If Oraloxin is the only treatment option for MRGAS.” He shrugged. “Then I don’t think it matters how many monkeys die. They will have no choice but to approve the drug.”

She sniffed and wiped her eyes roughly. “No doubt Viktor would have taken great comfort in that,” she said bitterly.

Martineau cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “But isn’t that what we’ve been struggling for all this time, Ellen?” He shook his head. “I’m sorry about Viktor. I truly am. But life marches on. And we have—” He smiled. “You have done something great. Once we have the FDA approval, the world will see it too.” He stroked her cheek gently.

Horton picked up on the sexual innuendo in his touch, but she moved away from his hand. “Is that what this is about?” she asked quietly.

“What do you mean by ‘this’?” Martineau asked with a soft laugh, as he reached out and fluttered a hand over the skin of her abdomen.

“This!” Horton snapped, pointing a finger from him to her. “You lowering yourself to sleep with the likes of me.”

“Ellen,” he said, his tone even but his expression wary. “What does this have to do with anything?”

She looked away, suddenly self-conscious of her nakedness. “Was it part of the strategy for stopping me from going to the FDA about the dead chimps?”

His eyes narrowed. “What ‘strategy’?”

“I don’t know.” She looked away from him. “The one you and Andrea Byington dreamed up.”

“You can’t be serious,” he said with cold indignation. “You honestly think Andrea and I planned what happened between you and me?”

“I don’t know what I think,” she said in a whisper.

“I’ll tell you this, Ellen. I never had a strategy for keeping you away from the FDA.” He paused. “Look at me, please, Ellen.”

Seeing the hurt burning in his eyes, she felt guilty for having leveled the accusation.