“Brent,” he said quietly. “Don’t.”

“Jeremiah, this has to go into my report. You know that. They’re going to see it. If it’s not in my report it’ll look suspicious.”

Jeremiah let his eyes linger for an instant on Mel’s painting and then looked again at Brent. “Come in the kitchen for a minute,” he said. “I’m going to make a smoothie.”

“We’re not done with the viewing. There’s still twenty minutes left.”

“Fuck that,” Jeremiah said. “Come in the kitchen.”

Over the racket of the ice in the blender, Jeremiah implored Brent to leave Diana’s words out of his report.

“Look, Jeremiah, I’m sorry, I really am. But I have to put it in.”

“You know what happened with my mother. You know as well as I do what those words will sound like to Scott and his goons. You can’t put it in there.”

“Look,” Brent said, “I know you’re upset. I know you’re worried about this. But I think they’re going to be focused on something else here. They’re going to be looking at the fact that the clone thinks she’s having an affair. Maybe that’s what’s really got you all riled up here. That isn’t an easy thing to hear.”

“No, that’s not it,” Jeremiah said.

“You know, maybe the clone’s got it all wrong. We don’t know for sure that she’s having an affair.”

Jeremiah sighed. “No,” he said sarcastically. “Maybe she’s joined a knitting circle and she’s going to surprise me with a new blanket for my birthday. She is having an affair. I already knew about it. I’ve known about it for a long time, before any of this even started. But that’s not what I’m worried about. You know what I’m worried about.”

Brent added more ice to the blender and hit the button. “It was just something she said in the heat of an argument, Jeremiah. It isn’t that bad. She didn’t mean it like that.”

“And what my mother said was just because her memory happened to be failing her. It doesn’t matter to them. We both saw those emails. They’re prepared to neutralize any threats. You know what that means. You saw it. You have to leave her words out of your report.”

Brent sighed. “Maybe I can gloss over them and focus on the affair. But they were said, you know. They’re going to see the tape of that viewing. They’ll see it whether I put it in the report or not. But I don’t believe they’re going to hurt her because of this. It was just an argument.”

Jeremiah added more ice to the blender. “You know, Brent, there are things you don’t know about Charles Scott. He’s not just in this for the science, to make a better future for mankind. This is personal to him. Believe me. And I don’t think he’ll stop at anything to see this through. He’s got too much to lose. More than you even know.”

Brent looked at Jeremiah with an odd mix of confusion and pity and shook his head. “Let’s just finish the viewing,” he said. “Then I suggest you take one of Pike’s sedatives and go to bed. You’ve got to relax. You’ll drive yourself crazy.”