Standing in the Shadows (McClouds & Friends #2)(135)

Annette hesitated, wide-eyed and wary of a gaffe. "I was just asking about your, ah… girlfriend."

"I don't have a girlfriend. I sure as hell didn't have one then."

Annette blinked. "She came so often, I just assumed—"

"Who came to see me?" he barked. "What was her name?"

Annette's face stiffened. "I don't recall her name. And I don't appreciate being spoken to in that manner."

He let out a long, slow breath through clenched teeth. "I'm sorry, Annette," he said carefully. "Forgive me for snapping at you. I shouldn't have. Could you describe this girl to me, please?"

Annette was mollified, but still suspicious. "She had long brown hair and a lovely smile. She was always dressed in a suit. She came on her lunch hour and read books to you. She signed in every day. I suppose I could look for some old registers, if you're so curious—"

"Please," he said. "Please, Annette."

She went into an adjoining room and rustled around for a minute. She came back out burdened with two thick three-ring binders and dumped them on the desk in front of him. "There you go. Be my guest."

He opened the book at random. The name practically leaped out into his face. Erin Riggs.

He turned the page. There she was again. He flipped over another page. Every time, his eye fell right onto her graceful cursive script, as if pulled by a magnet. Erin Riggs, Erin Riggs, Erin Riggs. His heart was galloping. He riffled through the pages rapidly.

Every goddamned day.

"Did you find what you're looking for?" Annette asked.

He looked up at her. Something naked and desperate in his eyes made the frosty hauteur fade out of her face, to be replaced by cautious concern. "Yes," he said. "More than I was looking for."

A chubby young man with a receding hairline swept into the room in a cloud of flowery aftershave. "Hello, beautiful! I saw your number on my pager, but since I was headed here anyway, I thought I'd just—"

"Do you remember Tonia Vasquez?" Connor demanded.

Geoffrey gave him a blank look. "Who are you?"

"Connor was one of our patients a while back," Annette explained. "He's looking for a nurse who worked here sixteen months ago. I thought you might remember her. That's why I beeped you."

Geoffrey exchanged quick glances and nods with Annette. "Tonia Vasquez? Yes, of course I remember Tonia. You said sixteen months, though? Wait a second." He leaned over the computer. "Can I close out of this document and access the database, Annette, o light of my life?"

"Mi computer es tu computer, cupcake," she responded.

Geoffrey typed with blinding speed, tapping and scrolling. "Here we go. Very strange. Her employee status is still current, but it shouldn't be, because Tonia moved down to San Jose over three years ago. She wanted to be closer to her daughter and her grandchildren."

"Grandchildren? No way! This woman is in her twenties!"

Geoffrey shook his head. "The only Tonia Vasquez who ever worked for us was pushing sixty. Lovely woman. Odd about the employee status. Must be a glitch in the system. I wonder if she's still getting paychecks. Wouldn't that be a howl? I'll have to call payroll and check it out right away."

"Uh, yeah," Connor said.

Somehow he managed to shake hands and thank them for their help. He sprinted down the hall, knees wobbling. He'd thrown out his net, and instead of darting fish, a writhing sea monster had boiled up out of the depths. And Erin had chosen Tonia to accompany her to Mueller's lair. No, Novak's lair. He was convinced. There was no time for the luxury of self-doubt. Erin's life was on the line.

He ran past the slow elevator. He would take his chances with the stairs. He groped for his phone, but there was nothing in his pocket.

Of course. He'd given the phone to Erin, she'd turned it off, and he didn't know where she was. Again. God. It was like a bad joke.

There was a pay phone in the stairwell. He dug for change, and plugged it in with shaking fingers. He tried Erin, for the hell of it. In vain. He was the last person on earth she wanted to talk to.

But she'd come to see him during the coma. Every goddamn day.

He pushed it away. Later for that. No time to process mind-boggling revelations right now. He dialed Seth.

"Who the hell is this?" Seth snapped.

"It's me. Look, Seth, I've got an emergency—"

"Why is your phone turned off? And why are you calling me from a land line? I can't scramble you on a land line!"

"I don't have time for this, Seth. Listen to me. Novak's not dead."

Seth was silent for a moment. "Uh… I heard it was confirmed," he said cautiously. "How do you figure?"

"Erin's best buddy Tonia posed as a nurse at the clinic when I was in the coma. She must've used the employee ID of a real nurse who retired three years ago. I'm at the clinic now. I just found out."

Seth grunted. "OK. Whatever. I'll buy it. I'd rather hunt Novak with you again than have you be crazy. You got a plan?"

"No," Connor said desperately. "I don't know where she is. She went to the millionaire art collector's house today. Mueller is Novak. I would bet my life on it. And I never got the chance to tag her stuff."