Tailspin(82)

She shifted her gaze away from him.

“Welllll,” he said. “That was like a puff of cold air on an aching tooth. There’s a man in your life?”

“Past tense.”

She tried to avoid looking at him directly, but he followed the evasive motions of her eyes. “Husband?”

“We weren’t married.”

“But a serious relationship.”

“We lived together for a while.”

“Huh.” His eyes were shadowed by the cap’s bill, but she could sense their intensity on her face. “Your recent kissing ban. Is it because of him?”

With heat behind it, she asked, “If he can help us, does it matter?”

He turned aside and muttered something she thought it was probably just as well she didn’t catch, then came back to her with an indifferent shrug. “When you have a dead stick, you look for somewhere to land, and anyplace will do.”

10:47 p.m.



“So you’re Timmy.”

The former gang member stood accused before a very harsh judge. Richard Hunt looked at him with scorn.

Delores had to agree that Timmy did make for a sorry sight, especially standing beside Goliad, who, as usual, looked handsome and was in total command of himself. Timmy was listing to his left, and his face bore gruesome evidence of the beating he’d received from Rye Mallett.

“This first job was an audition of sorts,” Richard said. “I’m not impressed by your performance so far. People who work for me in this specialized capacity do so under the radar. Stealthily. Do you even know what that word means? It means they don’t commit reckless and stupid acts that bring hillbilly deputies to my home.”

“Yes, sir.”

Goliad stepped forward. “Timmy acted impulsively, sir, but in self-defense.”

Timmy jerked his head around and practically snarled at Goliad, “And you just stood there like a stump and let him have at me!”

“Because I’m too smart to get in the way of a knife,” Goliad returned calmly.

Delores stepped in. “Gentlemen, this finger pointing is getting us nowhere, and it’s taking up precious time that we do not have. The only thing I really want to hear is that you have located Dr. O’Neal.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but no, we haven’t,” Goliad said.

Richard cursed under his breath.

Head down, arms folded, Delores made a circuit of the room, then stopped in front of Timmy. “Will you excuse us, please?”

He cocked his head warily, his ears practically twitching like an animal sensing a predator. “What for?”

“Because I believe you need an Advil, and the housekeeper has some in the kitchen.” Delores gave him her sweetest smile. “Goliad will be along in a moment.”

Timmy’s eyes narrowed. He knew he was being dismissed, but he didn’t have much choice except to go quietly. He was already on quicksand with Richard.

“Which way?”

She motioned him through the double doorway. “Stay left. You can’t miss it.”

He gave Goliad a resentful glance over his shoulder, but he went as told. Delores pulled the doors closed behind him.

Richard asked Goliad, “How much does he know about this situation?”

“Because doctors are involved, he guessed that the contents of the box were medical-related. But he doesn’t know any more than that.”

“Keep it that way,” Richard said. “You’re the only person in our entire organization that we’ve entrusted with the seriousness of the situation. We must get that drug from Dr. O’Neal.”

“I understand.”

“I think we should pull Timmy off the detail,” Richard continued. “For the time being, anyway. He’s a loose cannon. If his particular talents are called for later, we know where to find him.”

“I agree,” Delores said without hesitation. “Knife fights? Jesus. I don’t care how provoking that pilot was.” To Goliad she said, “Make it sound like we’re worried about his injuries. Tell him to take the rest of the night off and go to bed. You’ll call him tomorrow to see if he’s fit to come back to work.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Richard said, “Now to the other matter. Where the hell is Dr. O’Neal?”

Goliad braced himself before answering. “We’ve looked in all the logical places. Her office. The areas of the hospital where she works. Her house. It’s locked up tight. We tried tracing her phone. No luck this time. I’m sure she—more likely Mallett—saw to that.”

“Nate gave you a list of her close acquaintances.”

“Reached about half of them,” Goliad said. “Told them I’d found her phone and was calling her contacts in an attempt to return it. I asked if she had a getaway, lake house, someplace where she might be spending the holiday. No to all that. Only one car is registered to her, and we know where it is.”

“Anything on the father?”

“Long list of O’Neals with criminal records. I’ve got people trying to make a connection, but that will take some time.”

“I could kick Nate for not getting his name out of those deputies,” Delores said.

Shortly before Goliad and Timmy had arrived, Nate had slunk out, leaving the task of finding his wayward colleague to them. Not that his contributions had been of much help, and his unsolicited editorial comments had begun to grate on Delores.