“I wonder if you could be more pleased than Grubster here.” The damned cat was purring so loudly she’d had to raise her voice. I sat back, tapped my fingertips against the steering wheel for a moment, and said, “That was excellent shooting.”
“Thank you.”
I smiled at her and wondered just how much of a smile it had turned out to be. “At least now I know what you lied about. You’re a cop, Laura. Since you were a reference librarian at the Salem Public Library, it means you were undercover. Isn’t that right?”
A myriad of expressions crossed her face, from doubt, to dread, to guilt. I guess she finally realized it was just too late to go in any direction but toward the truth.
“Laura? You really can trust me. I have no intention of hurting you, or compromising your case, or blowing your cover, or getting you into trouble with your superiors. You’ve just got to deal me in. We’ve been through too much together for you to leave me blowing in the breeze any longer. I don’t want to be helpless, and that’s what I am if you keep me in the dark. Come, it’s time.”
I took her hand as I watched her take a very deep breath. I watched her come to her decision. I swear her eyes turned two shades lighter because she knew the incessant lying was over. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I’m a cop.”
I just nodded for her to continue. Grubster continued purring at high volume, his tail thumping up and down.
“They wanted to kill me,” Laura said, her fingers tightening in Grubster’s fur. “If I hadn’t turned to get some more sunflower seeds for Nolan—”
I quickly took my gun from between us on the seat and eased it back into my shoulder holster. “Meet me halfway,” I said as I smoothed down my jacket, and she did. I pulled her against me, Grubster between us again, and lightly pressed her head against my shoulder. I pulled back, touched my forehead to hers, and cupped her head with my hands. “You’ve been alone in this for too long. You’ve got me in it now. Can you imagine what you and I can accomplish together?”
“There’s really nothing more to accomplish. My cover’s blown now. That’s another reason for me to tell you the truth. My orders don’t make sense anymore.”
“Tell me then. All of it.”
“I’m DEA, Mac. Even when I called my boss from the hospital and told him I’d been poisoned, that obviously my cover was blown to hell, he told me to lie low for a couple of days, that he’d try to find out what they know and how they’d found out. Of course I told him about you. That made him even more adamant. He said we’d worked too hard to have this case blown by the FBI. I’m sorry I had to lie to you, Mac.”
“This guy sounds like a real winner. For God’s sake, they tried to poison you.”
“I was getting to be a pretty good reference librarian. I read just about all the assigned texts for a degree.”
“What’s your real name?”
“I’m really Laura. They just changed my last name. My real last name is Bellamy. I’ve been undercover for over four months now. It involves drugs, of course.”
“And it has to do with Paul and Jilly,” I said slowly, looking closely at her. She paled and hesitated because what she was about to say was going to bring me pain.
“Just spit it out.”
Grubster meowed loudly. “It’s all right, Grubster. Take a nap. You’ve been through a lot.” She closed her eyes a moment and ran her fingers through his fur. His loud purring soon filled the car again.
“About five months ago an electronic surveillance unit picked up a rumor that a new drug was being developed, one that is highly addictive and cheap to produce.”
“A drug dealer’s wet dream.”
“Yes. A man called John Molinas was said to be bragging about it. We think Molinas is a major drug distributor, but we don’t have anything solid on him. He’s been in business in the past with a cartel headed by Del Cabrizo.”
“I’ve heard of him.”
“Del Cabrizo occasionally comes to the United States just to shove a finger in our face. And now the reason I’m here. The word was that there was a wealthy local man involved. It’s none other than Alyssum Tarcher.”
I must admit I was staring at her now. “Tarcher involved with Del Cabrizo?”
“There’s more. John Molinas is Alyssum Tarcher’s brother-in-law. That’s probably why Tarcher’s involved in this thing.”
“A real kicker,” I said. “I knew Tarcher was powerful, but this? He’s a damned crook too?”
“Evidently so. All of this came as a bit of a surprise to us too. You see, John Molinas hasn’t been active for a few years as far as we could tell. Maybe he got religion, maybe he got cancer, we just didn’t know. But when we threw Alyssum Tarcher into the mix, it didn’t take us long to find out that Dr. Bartlett and his wife, pharmaceutical researchers, had just moved to Edgerton from Philadelphia into a house that Tarcher sold them for a nominal price. We put two and two together and put pressure on their employer in Philadelphia, VioTech, to tell us what they had been working on. Paul and Jilly had been working on some sort of memory drug. It sounded nuts, but still, our people went over all the research Paul and Jilly had submitted. It was obvious why VioTech had pulled the plug. Whatever else the drug did, it was toxic as hell, turned some lab animals completely nuts. They’d sunk millions of dollars into a drug that was going nowhere.
“Still, why had the Bartletts suddenly moved to Edgerton? We found out that Paul had grown up there, but there wasn’t anything to draw them back.”
“Alyssum Tarcher was behind it,” I said.
“Right. I set up in Salem posing as a reference librarian because there was no better way I could get closer to Edgerton, to the major players there. I did go to Grace’s Deli to see if she needed help, but she didn’t. I couldn’t just move to Edgerton. Everyone would have known I was up to no good. It’s too small and tight a community.”
“Why the library?”
“God, I’m so sorry, Mac. The reason I became a reference librarian was that we found out that Jilly Bartlett was coming to the library in Salem. At least three days a week, like clockwork. Our surveillance showed—oh God, Mac, I’m so sorry about this—she was meeting a lover there, always in the reference section. If I became the reference librarian, I’d have a good chance to meet her, to make friends with her, and I did. The regular reference librarian got a very nice open-ended holiday, with pay.”
I had only heard one thing. “A lover? Jilly met a man in the library three days a week?”
“Yes. He’s a local thoracic surgeon. No one could find out how they’d met, but as yet we have no reason to think he’s involved in anything going on down in Edgerton.”
I looked up to see a police car cruising slowly by, his eyes on us. I waved and turned the ignition key. “Let’s go to that McDonald’s we passed. I need some breathing space and then a cup of coffee.”
The McDonald’s was about three miles back up the highway off Exit 133. It was tucked between a Denny’s and a Wendy’s, with three gas stations completing the grouping.
Grubster slept through being put back into his carrying case. Nolan didn’t even squawk once when Laura slipped his cover over the cage.
Over Big Macs and coffee, I said, “You’ve been undercover for four months. What have you come up with?”
“You mean against Jilly and Paul?”
“Believe me, I don’t give a damn about Molinas or Tarcher or this Del Cabrizo character.”
“Again, Mac, I’m sorry, but the truth is that Jilly lied to me from the beginning, told me she was here because she wanted to get pregnant. She told me she was the uneducated one in the family. I don’t know if she did this to protect herself or me.
“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 Tarcher 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 DEA will be all over town. These people are too smart. The DEA 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.
Then I realized she was alone, vulnerable to attack. I dashed back through the rain to the Taurus, opened the door, drew my SIG Sauer, and handed it to her. “Keep it close,” I said, and closed the car door again.
A maid, who was dressed in jeans and a swea
ter, let me into the large foyer and asked me to wait. It was better that I drip on the marble than on the highly polished oak floors in the living room just beyond.
Cotter Tarcher was whistling as he came from the kitchen at the back of the house. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me.
“What’s going on? Have you found Jilly?”
“No. I’m here to get the Seagull Cottage key from your father. Laura Scott and I will be staying there for a while.”
“Why?” he asked, watching me drip on the floor. He was wearing sweats and running shoes. He was perfectly dry. I didn’t answer him. “Do both you and your father work here at home?”
“For the most part. I usually knock off about five o’clock to either go to the gym or out running. Why are you and Laura Scott staying at our cottage?”
“Because someone tried to kill her and it seems safer if she’s here, with me, than in Salem by herself. It’s a bit on the wet side to go running, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I’m working out downstairs in the gym. Where’s Laura Scott?”
“In the car.”
“Does she know Jilly?”
“Oh yes, she knows Jilly very well.”
Alyssum Tarcher came striding down the stairs off to my right. He looked arrogant and intelligent, his eyes at that moment maybe even harder than his son’s. He seemed somehow taller to me than he had just the night before.
“Agent MacDougal,” he said, and shook my hand. “Here’s the key to Seagull Cottage. I made sure the place was cleaned up and the phone works. Given this weather, I checked to make sure there’s heat as well. This Laura Scott, she’s with you?”
“Yes, waiting for me in the car. Since someone tried to kill her, she’s keeping my gun on her at all times.” I suppose I should have mentioned Grubster and Nolan, but you never knew about a landlord, and I didn’t want the pets to give him an excuse for us not to use his property. I thanked him and turned to leave.
“Agent MacDougal, call me if there’s a problem—of any kind at all.”
“Yeah,” Cotter said. “My father chews on problems and spits out solutions.”