Catherine Coulter - The Edge

"I like Jilly. When you told me she was in a coma, it really hit me hard because I do like her so much.

She's funny, lights up a room when she swings in, her skirts swishing, her hair bouncing. We did get close, but not close enough that she ever really let me in."

"Bottom line, Laura, you didn't have squat on either Jilly or Paul, and that's because there isn't anything to get. I don't believe my sister would be involved with drug dealers, for God's sake. Both she and Paul are scientists, not criminals. They're moral people, not people who'd develop a drug to feed to kids. You're wrong about them, Laura. At least you're dead wrong about Jilly."

I was being a brother, defensive and angry, but I didn't care. I didn't want to accept it, couldn't accept it.

I looked at Laura, felt mean as a snake, and said, "Did you sleep with Paul? As a sort of quid pro quo?"

"No," she said matter-of-factly, but I felt her surprise and hurt at my question. She dropped the french fry she was holding back onto her plate. "Jilly never mentioned anything like that to me. Actually, she's very fond of Paul."

I said slowly, "Jilly said you'd betrayed her. I assumed it meant you'd slept with Paul, but that isn't it at all.

She found out you're a DEA agent, didn't she?"

"She must have but I don't know how. Maybe I gave myself away somehow, I don't know. But she must have found out that very night. Both she and Paul must have known since then. One of them may have made a phone call to Molinas. He's perfectly capable of everything that's happened since."

"So now you're saying that my sister conspired to commit murder. I'll never believe that. Probably Molinas found out about you. Jilly wouldn't blow the whistle on you."

She took my hand and held it between hers. "She came out of the coma, Mac, and disappeared just as soon as she was able. She knew we were getting close. She went into hiding."

"Then why didn't Paul leave with her?"

"I don't know. There's still no direct evidence against either of them. I thought about that, a lot.

Something else I wanted to tell you. Over the past couple of months, Jilly didn't seem quite right. She talked about sex a lot, how much more she liked it than before. Not just one conversation, she went on and on about it. And she seemed somehow off, the way she spoke of other things, mixing in non sequiturs, like she wasn't really with me."

"You think she was experimenting with her own drug?"

"I don't know what I'm saying, but she was different, Mac."

I let it go. It was just too close to my own memories of Jilly's visit the previous February. "Where is Molinas? Has he met with Jilly and Paul? Has he showed up at their house or at the Tardier house?"

"No. But there's just no getting around the fact that it was Alyssum Tarcher who got Paul and Jilly back to Edgerton. He bought Jilly the Porsche, gave Paul and Jilly the house. I'm sorry, Mac, but you just don't do that for no reason.

"Our assumption is that Paul and Jilly are working on this drug, that they're trying to make it less toxic or more addictive, and then it'll be mass-produced and sold on the street."

"For argument's sake, let's say you're right about all of it. To get people hooked, a drug has to produce a high that will knock the user's socks off. Does this drug do that?"

"We don't know, but we think it has to do with sex."

No, I thought. Jilly and all her talk about sex to both Laura and me. No.

"You mean the user shoots up and just lies there in a semi-stupor having orgasms?"

"Maybe. We don't know. Some of the VioTech data showed some very significant changes in lab animals' sexual drive. It went off the charts and frequently showed itself by intense sexual aggression.

There's got to be more to it than that, of course. Jilly and Paul probably took some of their records with them.

"My boss told me to lie low, but I just can't do that. I don't know how close they are to perfecting the drug. If I can help it, that drug isn't going to make it to the streets. I just don't know how to go about that anymore."

"I'm not going to stop looking for my sister, Laura. I guess I don't see any other choice but to join forces with you."

"You could get in big trouble with your people too, Mac. But more than that, I don't want you in any more danger. You've been an innocent bystander in all of this and it nearly got you killed. I couldn't bear that."

I gave her a crooked grin. "We've known each other for two days."

"That's strange, isn't it?"

"Look, Laura, you know as well as I do that if you don't get on a phone and tell your boss you've been fired at in a car on a public highway, you can forget about your long-term career in the DEA. You're the one in jeopardy. You've got to think about covering your butt, driving to a motel on Bainbridge Island or somewhere and hiding until it's all over. That's what's safest."

"I don't want to call in the cavalry," she said. "I want to find Jilly. I can't just head off to parts unknown and forget about this. If I call my boss, I'll be out of here for sure and the DBA will be all over town.

These people are too smart. The DBA won't find a thing that way."

"And Jilly and Paul might get railroaded. I want to find out whether Jilly and Paul are up to their necks in this, or if they're just innocent bystanders, like I was two days ago."

Laura's eyes sheened, and her hands curled into fists.

"Laura-"

"No, this has to be my decision, Mac. I can't turn my back on Jilly. Or on you. I'm in this with you, for the long haul."

I smiled over at her. "All right. We're both professionals. We both know the risks we're taking." I took her hand, slowly smoothing away the fist. "You want to come to Edgerton with me?"

"Yes. I don't see anything else to do."

I took the last drink of my coffee. It was cold. I gave her a sideways look. "Did Paul really put the moves on you last Tuesday night?"

"Yes he did."

I sighed. "I thought so. Paul's not as good a liar as you are."

"That's because he's a scientist and not a federal agent. It's in our genes. I've had to weave so many lies in with the truth on this case that it's sometimes confused me. Mac, if we go to Edgerton, we're thumbing our nose at them."

"I honestly don't think they'll try anything in Edgerton, not when Alyssum Tarcher is our landlord and everybody knows we're there and I'm protecting you. It's our best cover."

"They could shoot us down on Fifth Avenue. That's not much more gall than trying to kill us on 101. This isn't your assignment, Mac."

"No, you're right. It's more than an assignment. This is about my sister. Give it up, Laura. Consider, you need me. Remember, I'm FBI. Now, I've got the beginnings of a plan. I'm calling two friends of mine in Washington, D.C., Savich and Sherlock, FBI agents."

I had to call collect since I didn't have enough coins for the pay phone. Thank God they were home. It took me fifteen minutes to cover all the ground.

When I returned to our table, I smiled down at Laura. "Our numbers are soon doubling. Sherlock and Savich will be here soon."

When we reached the outskirts of Edgerton, I said, "We'll need to stop by Tarcher's house to get the key to Seagull Cottage. I won't bait him, at least not yet. But he'll know, Laura, he has to. I can't imagine that Molinas has kept him out of the loop,"

It had started to drizzle again. Laura was beginning to shiver. I turned up the heater. "It'll be better in a few minutes, I hope."

"I'm fine." She leaned back and petted Grubster's head. She took him out of his carrier and he was sprawling his full length along the backseat, his nose pressed against Nolan's cage.

Even the magnificent Tarcher mansion looked desolate in the thick dark rain. No hope for it, I thought, and sprinted from the car to the porch. I turned and waved to Laura to stay put, which she did.