13

The station manager replied to Fred's email though it wasn't a lot of help. "Some guy" had contacted him with information that a body had been found at Anacostia Park. He didn't know who it was because the guy didn't leave a name so it could have been a witness or an accomplice.

Fred suggested that it was unlikely to be a witness unless someone was walking around the park in the dark and hoping not to be spotted by however many individuals who were disposing of a body.

And why call a news station manager and not the police?

They had discussed all of this on their way to the University Hospital.

It was a struggle to find a space in the parking lot, and the one they finally found was at the back of the parking lot.

'Jason was adamant that TW Foods is the supplier?' Fred asked.

'Yes, I've checked all of the evidence he sent me, and it all seems legitimate, though I'm not certain conspiracy theories can be taken seriously. I looked into it and TW Foods supplies all of the schools with food.' Daphne explained, 'I told you something was going on there.'

The automatic sliding doors slowly opened when Fred and Daphne stepped close to them.

'Where do we begin?' Fred asked.

'This way.' Daphne pointed to the sign reading PAEDIATRICS WARD.

It was hectic with doctors everywhere and nurses running around and comforting mothers.

'Excuse me.' Fred stopped a nurse who walked by them, 'Are all these kids sick? What's going on here?'

'Yes.' Her face was flushed and she looked exhausted, 'All of them are sick and we don't know why.' She hurried back to her task leaving Fred and Daphne on the ward.

A woman approached them, 'I know why they're sick.'

'You do?' Daphne asked.

The woman nodded. It had been a few days since she brushed her dark hair, and her eyelids were bulging with heavy bags.

'My name is Claire Pollard.' She reached her hand out to them, Fred and Daphne shook her hand, 'I have four children here.'

'What happened to them?' Daphne asked.

Claire Pollard combed her shaking hands through her hair, 'I don't even know.' She laughed a little bit before the tear rolled down her face and she had to sit down.

'It's ok, you can tell us what you know.' Fred said calmly.

'Who are you?' Claire Pollard asked.

'My name is Fred Jones and this is Daphne Blake. We work for the Washington Post we are trying to find out what's going on with all these kids.' Fred explained.

Claire Pollard groaned, 'I don't know what to say.'

'When did they start getting sick?' Daphne asked.

'Ummm…' Claire Pollard ran her hands over her face and she pulled a tissue from her pocket to wipe her eyes.

'I can't remember. They've been in here for a little over a week now.' Claire Pollard explained, 'My husband is at home with our other two children, we're rotating. He's coming here tomorrow so I can go home, but I can't leave them.'

She looked down the corridor towards the children's ward.

'Can you tell me what you noticed happening?' Daphne asked.

Claire Pollard's leg bounced nervously and her hands shook and Daphne sat next to her.

'Arthur and Lily were sick first so I kept them off school. They were vomiting, both were cold and clammy. The girls share a room and so do the boys, so after I stripped all the bedsheets we moved Thea, Alex, Katie, and Jasper into one room and kept Arthur and Lily together so they wouldn't get sick.'

Claire Pollard wiped her nose with her tissue.

'Then Thea and Alex became sick. We were worried about Jasper and Katie being in the same room as them. Lily suddenly worsened and she started fitting so we called an ambulance. And the one by one, the other three started getting worse. Except for the little ones.'

'How quickly from Lily being suddenly worse did the others worsen?' Fred asked.

'Quickly.' Claire Pollard replied, 'I couldn't believe it, I didn't know what kind of illness this was but when we got to the hospital it was pretty much like this. I didn't realize how many kids were so ill.'

'What did the doctors say?' Daphne asked.

'I made the doctors run more tests because they think my children have had some sort of poisoning or something like that.' Claire Pollard explained.

'You don't believe it?' Daphne asked.

'Of course I don't. The doctors think my children were poisoned, but I don't understand how.' Claire Pollard explained.

'So they think it's something they ingested.' Fred suggested.

Claire nodded, 'Yes, in something they ate.'

'Did your children have lunch from school?' Daphne asked.

Claire nodded, 'Yes. Not always though, we used to make their lunches but when Katie came along we realized that we had a lot more on our plate to make the kid's lunches every day as well as do all the day-to-day stuff with all the kids so we decided they would have lunches from school.'

'How long have you been doing this?' Daphne asked.

'Just over a year.' Claire said.

'What school do they go to?' Daphne asked.

'Tyler Elementary School.'

'Thank you for your time Mrs Pollard, we hope your children get better soon.' Fred smiled at her and Claire Pollard smiled back, 'Thank you.' She said quietly.

Daphne and Fred left the hospital.

They sat in Fred's car going over their encounter with Claire Pollard and Daphne wrote everything onto her notepad.

'All the elementary schools in the state have reported sicknesses in children.' Daphne explained.

'And it's not just this state though, is it?' Fred asked, 'Jason said one of his colleagues has got kids off sick?'

'Yes, that's right.'

'Daphne, if TW Foods is the cause of all this and they distribute food countrywide then we need to find out what Theodore Wilkins is doing.'

Daphne's phone rang.

UNKNOWN CALLER

She answered it anyway, 'Hello?' She asked.

'Hello, my name is Rosie Pickett. Is this Daphne Blake? I spoke to your partner a few days ago.'

'I think you did.' Daphne replied, 'Is everything ok?'

'Yes.' Rosie said, 'I imagine your partner informed you of our phone call, but I just wanted to tell you. I'm sitting here with Jenny's family. Ashley, her sister, and I found Jenny's diary in her bedroom. Well…can we talk to you?' Rosie asked, 'We think it might be easier face to face.'

'Yes, of course. Now?'

'If that's ok? Can you meet us at Jenny's house?' Rosie explained.

'Yes, we're on our way now.' Daphne explained and she ended the call.

She keyed in Jenny's address into Fred's sat nav and they set off.

Fairlawn was much quieter than it had been when they first came to Jenny's house. There were no reporters in sight. They must be charging their cameras for Jenny's funeral tomorrow.

Daphne rang the doorbell. The grand chimes echoed even when Ashley Hopkins opened the door they were still ringing.

'Hello, thank you for coming.' Ashley greeted them. They had only ever seen photos of Jenny Hopkins, but they could see similarities between her and her sister. Ashley and Jenny had the same dark hair and dark eyes. But Ashley's facial features were more delicate than Jenny's.

'What did you want to speak to us about?' Daphne asked.

'Come in.' Ashley said, and she led them into the living room where Rosie Pickett sat with Sarah and Timothy Hopkins.

'Hello, thank you for coming.' Sarah Hopkins greeted, 'Can I get you both anything to drink?'

Daphne and Fred both declined her offer and they sat down on the couch opposite Rosie and Ashley. Sarah and Timothy occupied the armchairs.

'Thank you for coming.' Ashley said again, she picked up a book that had been sitting on the coffee table.

'Rosie and I were looking for clothes for Jenny to wear tomorrow when we found her diary. It was buried in the back of her wardrobe.' Ashley explained, 'She talks about discovering something at work.'

'What was it?' Fred asked.

'We didn't read all of it, but in the last entries, she talks about a plan to expose the company for something. And that she was worried about things.' Ashley explained.

'Did it say what she was worried about?' Fred asked.

'She was worried she was being followed.' Rosie spoke, 'She says she thinks she was being followed.'

'Can I have a look at it?' Daphne asked.

'Sure.' Ashley said she passed the diary over the table to Daphne.

It is a pink diary, fake leather Daphne guessed. As she felt it in her hands, it was slightly padded and had a magnetic belt tap to keep it sealed.

Daphne read the last entry of Jenny's diary.

April 19th 2023

At work today, I noticed some unsavory looks from management. I think they know that I know what I know, and I think they know that I am ready to expose them.

I feel like I am being watched at work, and worse outside of work. At home, I can close the curtains and lock the doors. Daddy has the security alarm set so I am safe here. But not out there.

I need to do this now. I won't let LB stop me.

'Can I take this for a few days?' Daphne asked.

Sarah nodded, 'Please. If it will help find what happened to my Jenny.'

'Jenny wrote her last entry the day before she went missing?' Daphne asked.

'It looks like it.' Rosie spoke, 'I think whatever she was planning on doing, she was going to try and do on the day she went missing.'

'You found it hidden in her wardrobe?' Daphne asked and Ashley nodded, 'I'm guessing she didn't want anyone to find out what she was up to.'

'That girl was ever so curious for as long as I can remember.' Sarah spoke humbly of her late daughter, 'But I never thought curiosity would lead to this.'

The Hopkins didn't have a lot more to say and Daphne and Fred didn't want to keep them for too long, with it being Jenny's funeral the following day so they left with Jenny's diary.

Her last entry played on Daphne's mind; I need to do this now, I won't let LB stop me.

LB.

Daphne wondered if LB could be Layla Black.