Sin And Bone

The Edge, 1:55 p.m.

For the second time today, Bella found herself walking briskly to keep up with Pierce’s hurried strides. She had to admit, seeing the half dozen Chicago PD cruisers out front was enough to have anyone rushing to see what was going on.

Once the call was made, he’d refused to wait at the tow lot until the police arrived. Bella had almost refused to bring him back and then he’d reached for his cell to order a car. She’d had no choice. As much as she’d felt that legally speaking they needed to wait for the police to take possession of the Lexus, she had known she could not allow Pierce out of her sight. He was at the edge—no pun intended.

Whatever had been on that page—he’d thrust it into his jacket pocket too quickly for her to get so much as a glimpse—it had shaken him. The paper was evidence and he’d taken it from the scene. He’d put her in an untenable position. Yet her first responsibility was to the client. She couldn’t say for a certainty that the paper he’d taken was significant evidence—which would present the one situation in which her obligation to him slipped out of first place. Basically until she knew what was on that page, she needed to focus on protecting the client.

From himself as much as any other threat.

They reached the quarantine unit and the door to Maynard’s room was open. The guard was no longer at the door. Bella glanced at Pierce and his face was clouded with that same anger she’d been watching darken his eyes since their conversation with his pretend wife hours ago.

A uniformed Chicago PD officer and two men in suits—detectives, she surmised—were crowded around Maynard’s bed.

“What’s going on here?” Pierce demanded.

“Dr. Pierce,” one of the suits said, “glad you’re finally here.”

The suit glanced at Bella. “Detective Corwin,” he said, then gestured to the other suit. “Detective Hodge.”

He didn’t introduce the uniform, but his name, Laurence, was on his name tag anyway.

“Investigator Isabella Lytle.” She thrust out her hand. “The Colby Agency.”

“We have a situation,” Corwin said.

“Your patient—” Hodge checked his notes “—Cara Pierce.”

“That is not her name,” Pierce snapped.

Bella started to speak but Hodge cut her off. “She called 911 and reported that you, Dr. Pierce, had kidnapped her and held her hostage for two months until she escaped yesterday. That running from you is the reason she had the accident. She said you were holding her here at the hospital as well and that she had to get away so she could hide from you.”

“What?” Pierce demanded. “We spoke to her—Audrey Maynard—just this morning. She claimed to have been paid by some person she couldn’t name or identify to pretend to be my deceased wife. The man who hired her also orchestrated her accident so that she would be brought here. Ask her for yourself.”

The suits and the uniform stepped away from the bed. It was empty.

Bella’s instincts rocketed to the next level. “How long has she been gone?”

“The call came in to dispatch around noon,” Corwin said. “We’ve been here maybe half an hour.” He shifted his gaze to Pierce. “Waiting for you.”

“Where’s the guard who was stationed at her door?” Pierce demanded.

“We’ve interviewed him,” said Corwin, who seemed to be the lead detective. “He’s headed downtown, where we’ll question him some more.”

“What did the guard say happened?” Bella asked before Pierce could make another demand.

“He says she came to the door demanding a phone. When he refused to provide her with one, she took off down the hall. She snatched a cell phone off the counter at the nurses’ station. When we got here,” Corwin went on, “she was gone. We’ve got uniforms crawling all over this place.”

Bella held up her hands when Pierce would have bellowed something not in the least helpful. “Take your time, gentlemen. Interview every member of staff if necessary. Ms. Maynard was not a prisoner here. The guard was for her protection since we couldn’t determine if there was a further threat to her life. Considering the way she was brought here, we were concerned. As for her sudden disappearance, she can’t have gotten far in her physical condition.”

“Hold up.” Corwin shook his head. “What does all that mean?”

“Why don’t we take this discussion to my office?” Pierce suggested. “We’ll explain everything.”

Corwin instructed Laurence to wait at the abandoned room. He and Hodge followed Bella and Pierce to his office. Patricia glanced up as Pierce warned that he didn’t want to be disturbed. She ignored Bella altogether. Apparently she was still unhappy about the questions Bella had asked. There was no help for that.

Once the two detectives were settled in front of Pierce’s desk and Bella had taken a seat at a small conference table, Pierce explained the events that had taken place since Maynard’s arrival in the ER. He walked them through his interview that morning and the information about the car’s license plate and the hotel where she’d met the man who’d hired her. Occasionally he looked to Bella for confirmation. When he reached the part where they looked at the car Maynard had been driving, he allowed Bella to take over.