Falling Awake(72)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

“Dr. B. mentioned two meetings in his notes,” she said thoughtfully.

“In addition, it looks like a member of the professional staff signed in for the night shift on the night that Belvedere died. Whoever he was, he used another staff member’s name.”

“Wait a second. If it was a member of the staff, it had to be someone the guard recognized. That means it couldn’t have been Scargill.”

“True.”

“Whose name did the person use?” she asked, curious.

“Dr. Elizabeth Rainey.”

“Rainey? Whoever signed her name must be a woman, then.” She hesitated. “Or maybe not. Those guards never check the signatures if they recognize you. A man could have signed Dr. Rainey’s name.”

“Either way, it still leaves us with the fact that it wasn’t Scargill.”

“You sound annoyed.”

“Looks like he’s using someone else again.” He rested one arm on the wheel. “It complicates things.”

“Well, I doubt that this new assistant, whoever he or she is, will turn out to be a former resident of the Brackleton Correctional Facility or a graduate of the behavior modification program they operated there.”

He watched people coming and going across the parking lot. “What makes you so sure of that?”

“The center runs routine employment background checks. Granted, they are fairly superficial but I’m sure Hopton’s people would have picked up on a conviction and prison time.”

“Anyone who could change computerized hospital morgue records could probably change a prison record without too much trouble.”

“Good point,” she conceded. “Well, the upshot is that it looks like Dr. B. was probably murdered by a member of the center’s staff, one who was in the building that night.”

“Yes.”

“And I was just down the hall,” she whispered.

The self-recrimination in her words worried him. “Stop it. Don’t even think of going there, Isabel. There was nothing you could have done.”

She said nothing.

He wanted to reassure her, but he was far away and the feeling that time was running out was riding him hard.

He looked at the notes he had made. “At least I’ve got a list of suspects. That’s a start.”

“I just realized that, technically speaking, I’m on that list.”

“We’re not speaking technically,” he said. “I seriously doubt that we’d be able to prove murder in any event, even if we exhumed the body.”

“Because the drugs that were used probably wouldn’t show up in a toxicology report?”

“Right. Those scans are very limited.”

“What’s your next stop?”

He checked his notes again. “I’m going to talk to the guard who was on duty that night. Dick Peterson. Know him?”

“Of course. I remember he was one of the people I called after I found the body. You’re in luck. Dick knows everyone at the center and he’s got an excellent visual memory.”

He tapped the notebook against the steering wheel. “I’ll let you know what he says. Everything okay on your end?”

“Well, no, to be honest. I handed in my resignation to Farrell this morning after my first and only class. I was a disaster.”

“Don’t worry about it, honey. Just increase your consulting fees. Lawson and I can afford it.”

“Oh, sure, easy for you to say. I still don’t have signed contracts with either of you. But that’s not the really bad news.”

“There’s more?”

“Farrell told me that he’s facing bankruptcy in three months,” she said.

“Oh, man. That’s gotta be tough to handle. It’s obvious he’s put his heart and soul into Kyler, Inc.”

“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “I’ve been sitting here thinking about his situation.”

“Yeah?” He flipped through his notes, making a mental list of questions he wanted to ask the guard.

“Maybe you could help him.”

“Help who?” He blanked for a few seconds. “You mean your brother-in-law?”

“That’s what you do, isn’t it? Consult for entrepreneurs and investors? Show them how to make their businesses profitable?”

“In my other life.” He closed the notebook. “Look, Isabel, I’m a little busy at the moment.”

“I know. But when this thing with Scargill is finished, maybe you could sort of consult for Farrell.”

He had to smile. “You just can’t stop trying to fix things, can you?”

“People tell me it’s my most irritating characteristic.”

“Lucky you’ve got a lot of other really interesting characteristics that more than compensate for your tendency to hand out free advice.” He pulled his foot into the car, closed the door and fired up the engine. “See you in a few hours.”

“Good. Drive carefully. The fog never did burn off completely today and the weather forecast is calling for more of it this evening.”

Her concern had the customary warming effect on him. It was the same feeling he got when she told him to read romance novels, get acupuncture and lay off the red meat.

“You know, Isabel,” he said, driving out of the parking lot. “When this is over we really are going to have to talk about our relationship.”

“It’s too late. I’ve already fallen in love with you.”

She ended the connection before he could recover from the shock.

35

farrell let himself into the front hall of the big house. He was sweating and his mind was still reeling. Ever since Isabel had left his office he had been trying to think about what to say to Leila. But nothing brilliant or even mildly intelligent surfaced from the maelstrom of emotions, fears and uncertainties that were seething in what was supposed to be his brain.

The house was very still. It occurred to him that he had not even realized that Leila had gone home early until he walked down the hall to her office and discovered she was not there.

That was not like Leila. She was always at headquarters in the afternoons on reception days. The special social events were important. They set a tone and encouraged interaction between attendees and instructors. It was Leila who handled all the arrangements, from supervising the caterers to selecting the flower arrangements. Later she would play hostess to his host.

But today she had gone home early. And he hadn’t even been aware of the fact that she had left. For some reason that shook him almost as much as what Isabel had said earlier. Maybe he really had allowed himself to get sidetracked by the impending financial disaster.