Кей Хупер - Hiding in the Shadows

A few minutes later, driving away from Conrad's office, Bishop said, "You know, it occurs to me that half a million dollars to help a friend is a bit excessive. Didn't you tell me this friend of Dinah's had been in a car accident and has been in a coma since?"

"Yeah." Kane paused, then muttered, "Oh, shit. I should have gone by to see her. Dinah went twice a week, regular as clockwork." His guilt was obvious.

"Isn't she in a coma?"

"Yes. I looked in on her that first week, when I went to talk to the hospital staff about Dinah's visits. They couldn't tell me or the police much we didn't already know, and Faith Parker

certainly couldn't help. I gather they aren't expecting her to come out of it."

"Then," Bishop said, not uncaring but matter of fact, "she wouldn't know if you visited or not."

"I said something like that to Dinah once," Kane confessed. "And she gave me the oddest look. She didn't say anything — but she didn't have to. I kept my mouth shut about it after that."

Bishop looked at him. "Dinah told Masterson this woman had been hurt because of her. Was that true?"

Kane shook his head. "Only in that she was driving to meet Dinah when it happened. But she felt responsible and nothing I could say made any difference. Said if it hadn't been for her, her friend would never have been driving that afternoon, and so would never have run her car into an embankment."

"She lost control of it?"

"According to the police report. I asked about it as a matter of course, after Dinah disappeared. The police couldn't see a connection, and I couldn't either. Just a common traffic accident, caused by carelessness."

"And she was a good friend?"

"It certainly sounds that way, although I can't remember Dinah ever mentioning her before the accident. Not that it's all that unusual for her to have old friends I've never heard of. Especially if they're work related. "

"And was Faith Parker work related?"

"Dinah was so upset about the accident, I didn't ask too many questions. All I know for sure is that Faith never appeared in any of Dinah's stories, at least not by name." God knew he was familiar with Dinah's backlog of work; he had spent long hours reading and rereading everything she'd written, looking for clues to her disappearance.

"I don't like coincidences," Bishop said grimly. "A friend of Dinah's, possibly someone related to her work, rams her car into an embankment and ends up in a coma, an accident about which Dinah feels excessively guilty — to the tune of half a million dollars. A few weeks later, Dinah herself disappears. Now, there may be absolutely no connection between the two things, as the police believe. But I think we'd better make sure."

"How? If Faith Parker is in a coma, who do we ask?"

"We'll have to look more closely at the police reports of the accident, maybe take a look at the car, too. Talk to her doctors again, the nursing staff again."

"And ask them what?" Kane was baffled.

"According to the staff, Dinah spent her visits in that room talking to her, not to anyone else. And they don't seem to know anything about Faith's background or history."

"Maybe with a different set of questions to ask, we'll get different answers," Bishop assured him' Kane valued Bishop's intuition as much as he did his investigative training—maybe more so. And he was eager to try anything that might help to point them in a new direction.

"It's worth a try," he agreed. "And maybe Dinah's other lawyer can tell us something as well."

"Maybe. At the very least, we can verify that Dinah really was giving money to worthy causes."

Kane frowned. "You think it could be something else?"

"No, but it never hurts to be sure." He smiled slightly as his friend shot him a look.

"Dinah was... is too smart to pay blackmail money even if she had done something to be blackmailed for, which I very much doubt. But it's possible that someone took advantage of her and — she found out about it later, after the money was handed over."

Kane nodded slowly. "Dinah would have been furious, would have wanted to get her money back and punish whoever had deceived her. She wouldn't have been afraid to face up to whoever it was and threaten retaliation, even prosecution. But then..."

He broke off, and Bishop didn't have to hear the words to know how his friend had silently finished that sentence.

In that case, getting Dinah out of the way for some amount of time wouldn't help. Unless she disappeared permanently.

Bishop knew that Kane had been clinging to what was very likely an unrealistic hope. That if she had an unknown enemy, that person had wanted Dinah out of the way only for a while. That she was being held hostage somewhere, undoubtedly furious and bored but safe. That somehow the crisis would be resolved and Dinah would be released unharmed.

Bishop knew better. He didn't want to know it, but he did. Within hours of his arrival in Atlanta, his training and experience told him that it was only a matter of time before Dinah's body was found.

But he wasn't about to offer that cold knowledge to Kane. Stranger things had happened, and there was always a chance, however slim, that Kane was right.

Bishop wouldn't take that away from him.

There was time enough for brutal reality if and when it had to be faced.

In the meantime, investigating possibilities was one way of keeping Kane busy. He needed to feel he was doing something to help the woman he loved. And they had to find out what had happened, whether or not the information could help Dinah now; if she was already dead, somebody had killed her, and that somebody was going to pay for it.

Before the silence could grow too large and become filled with paralyzing thoughts and fears, Bishop said, "I still think blackmail is unlikely, but it's something we need to look into. And the connection between Dinah and this friend of hers. Since the police didn't see a connection and moved on, I doubt they'll look again, especially now."

"Why especially now?"

Bishop shrugged. "I have a feeling they're going to have their hands full now that your reward has been announced."

"You still don't think that was a good idea, do you?"

"I think a million dollars is a hell of a lot of money. And I think there are quite a few people willing to make something up if they think there's a hope in hell of getting that money. It could just muddy the water, Kane."

"Or it could inspire whoever might be holding Dinah to tip the police as to where she can be found."

"Yes, it could. Especially since you worded the statement to make it plain the money would be paid only if Dinah is found alive and well."

Kane changed the subject. "Getting back to the second lawyer, do you think he'll be willing to talk to us?"

"I don't know. He'll be bound by attorney — client privilege, but given Dinah's disappearance, he might be willing to set that aside in her best interests. We won't know until we talk to him. Assuming we can find out who he is."

"Well, until the banks open on Monday, we can't pursue that lead anyway. Which leaves us with Faith Parker. The hospital is on our way. Do you think...?"

Bishop did.

But at the hospital, they encountered an unexpected obstacle.

"She was released two days ago." Dr. Burnett, hunted down for them by a somewhat startled nurse, had an air of weariness about him. But he brightened when he talked about Faith, clearly feeling a proprietary pride in his former patient.

"Released?" Kane stared at him. "When I was here a month or so ago, she was in a coma."

"Yes, she was. But she woke up a little more than three weeks ago."

"Isn't that ... unusual?" Bishop asked.

"Very. I'm writing a paper for the medical journals. It's also unusual that she awakened with minimal aftereffects. No brain damage, good response to physical therapy, she was on her feet and walking within days, and in better emotional shape than most. Even if she did lose her memory."