Allison Brennan - Cutting Edge

“Who’s Maggie O’Dell?” Nora asked. “Anya doesn’t have a roommate this year.”

“Maggie left last Christmas.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Anya didn’t know, Maggie simply told her she was dropping out of college.”

“Was Maggie one of the gang?”

“Don’t answer that, Leif,” his attorney said.

Cole said, “Where Anya went, Maggie went. They were inseparable. I heard she was back.”

“I want my client released immediately,” Shepherd said.

He glanced at his attorney, then said, “Where’s Anya now?”

“I don’t know,” Nora said. “Possibly the hospital or maybe she’s been transported to the morgue. You don’t want to go in there.”

“I want to see her. Please.”

Nora glanced at Sanger. They really had no reason to hold Cole. Yes, he knew about the arsons and was an accessory after the fact, but he hadn’t said anything that could be used against him. He had been forthcoming without being self-incriminating, a great trick if you were a criminal with information cops needed.

“I’ll take you,” Sanger said.

“I’ll take him,” Shepherd insisted.

Sanger glared at him. “I’ll do it.” He said to Cole, “I’ll let you out if you promise to stay in town. No major trips for the next couple weeks.”

Cole wanted to argue. Then he flipped like a switch. “I understand. Thank you, Lance.”

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

By the time Nora pulled back into Sacramento FBI headquarters, it was after seven in the evening and she was both exhausted and exhilarated. Two long days notwithstanding, she had her first, solid lead.

And no one was in the office.

That wasn’t completely true. Duke was with computer analyst Jason Camp in the small computer room. She poked her head in. “How’s it going?”

“The hard drive was wiped,” Jason said, frustrated. “We’re trying to capture some of the data. If we can get enough, we may be able to rebuild the drive. But we’re not going to have answers tonight.”

“Thanks,” she said. To Duke, “Anything on the backgrounders?”

“On your desk, sweetheart,” he said.

She frowned as she walked away. “Sweetheart”? Did he think that because he’d kissed her she was now his sweetheart?

Her heart raced. She was panicked and excited at once. But now was not the time to think about relationships, especially a relationship with Duke Rogan. She’d turned him down a dozen times in the last four years, couldn’t he take a hint? She did not want to go out with him.

She closed her eyes as she sank into her chair. She was interested in Duke Rogan, had been from the beginning, but she had no time for a serious relationship. And though Duke flirted and joked, when he looked at her she saw that he wasn’t going to be content with a few dinners, hot sex, and sayonara, baby. He wanted a long-term commitment. She didn’t want a relationship. Any involvements were few and far between, and Nora didn’t want to risk her heart again.

She opened her eyes and looked through her inbox, finding on top Dr. Coffey’s autopsy report on Jonah Payne. Attached was a note.

Nora:

I just received two of the three apparent suicide deaths. I’m waiting for the third before doing the autopsy, so if you want to attend it’ll be early tomorrow-seven-thirty a.m .

The tox screens came back on Payne .

Payne ingested a modified version of Rohypnol that included speed and some other things that aren’t identified yet. Since the tests were inconclusive, I sent a blood sample to Quantico to see if they’ve seen anything like it. It almost appears homemade. But if it behaves anything like Rohypnol at the dosage he received he could have been experiencing memory loss, fatigue, insomnia, and dizziness. His reflexes would have been slow, and his hearing and sight impaired. This wasn’t a pill, it was liquid, and could have been ingested with anything, food or liquid. I got this from his stomach contents, which suggests that he consumed it four hours or less from the time he died .

In addition, his blood tested positive for heparin, a blood thinner. It acts fast, generally within thirty minutes, and is always administered as an injection. Other similar drugs take four to twenty-four hours to work. Heparin is not a known street drug, but a pharmaceutical drug. Hope that helps a bit, and I’ll get you the results of the suicides as soon as possible .

— K. Coffey, M.E., Placer County

How the hell did the killer get ahold of heparin? Unless the killer required it for some reason. Nora logged into the FBI database and looked through drug theft reports in the area. Hospitals kept track of their medicine, and certain drugs were flagged if inventory was off. But either heparin wasn’t flagged, or no one had stolen it recently.

Nora also knew some hospitals weren’t so good at record-keeping; if a small amount went missing they might not have noticed, or didn’t want to file the paperwork. But this suggested to Nora that the killer had access to medical supplies …

She picked up the phone while pulling the Langlier file from her desk. She was reading the notes when Quin finally picked up.

“Quin Teagan, at your service.”

“Quin, it’s Nora.”

“You’re back.”

“Yes, and I need information about Langlier. They stored cancer-fighting drugs at their warehouse, correct?”

“That’s their bread and butter,” Quin said.

“What other drugs?”

“I don’t know-it’s in my report. They gave me a list-I attached it.”

“I can’t find it-”

“I’m not home right now. If it’s important, I can be home in thirty.”

Nora heard a male voice in the background. “No, no-here! Found it.”

Quin read the list of losses. The drugs were listed in alphabetical order, and there were only five.

Heparin was third on the list.

“Thanks, Quin.”

“Oh, sure, I solved the whole case,” she said sarcastically.

“You might have, with your detailed reporting. I know now where the killer got the blood thinners used on Payne. Keith Coffey alerted me that the drug used wouldn’t be easy to get, and so I thought of Langlier-”

“But Langlier was nearly two years ago!”

“Speaking of Langlier, there was a triple possible suicide at Rose College today.”

“Suicide?”

“Possible. Or murder. The students who died were definitely involved with the arsons, but I think there’s one more student or former student involved, and I have a line on her. It’s one of the victim’s former roommates.”

“Good luck. This is fantastic.”

“Enjoy your date.”

Nora hung up and pulled all the background reports Duke had run for her. She yawned and her stomach grumbled. She packed everything into her briefcase and walked to Jason’s office. She glanced in. Jason was alone. “Where’d Duke go?” she asked.

“He had a call.”

“Tell him I said good-bye and I’ll see him tomorrow.”

Maggie opened the door to Donnie’s cage and let him walk around. She hated keeping him locked up like a prisoner, but she couldn’t risk him getting away. She didn’t know exactly how the police had tracked down the other ducks, but it had something to do with an implant, according to the news. She didn’t know where it was, had inspected Donnie carefully, and she didn’t want to hurt him. He was the innocent victim in all this. It wasn’t his fault those people had experimented on him. He’d done nothing wrong.

Tears welled in her eyes and she dry-heaved as she remembered what the cruel cops had done to all those ducks. They’d gotten off on it, the sadistic bastards. Snapping their delicate necks like tree branches. One after another after another …